Georgia Government Documentation Project Series B: Public Figures Interview with George T. Smith August 19, 1992 & August 20, 1992 Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library DISCLAIMER: Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well- informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. 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Reproduction of any item must contain the complete citation to the original. CITATION: Smith, George T., Interviewed by Clifford Kuhn, 19-20 August 1992, P1992-15, Series B. Public Figures, Georgia Government Documentation Project, Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library, Atlanta. Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library GGDP, George T. Smith, Date: 8/19/1992 & 8/20/1992 GEORGIA GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTATION PROJECT GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY SERIES B: PUBLIC FIGURES NARRATOR: GEORGE T. SMITH INTERVIEWER: TOM CHAFFIN DATES: AUGUST 19, 1992; AUGUST 20, 1992 [TAPE 1, SIDE A] CHAFFIN: Last time we talked, which was for a profile that appeared in the Fulton County Daily Report on October 11, 1989, for anyone who is interested, you talked about your judicial and political philosophy and tendency to a kind of Populist approach to government. There seems to be another theme in your political career that you didn't really talk about and it interests me that you come from a rural background in south Georgia. It seemed like from the beginning when you entered politics, at least when you got to the state legislature, your star was, in a sense, hitched to the rising--the ascendancy of the more urban politics of the state, with the election of Governor Sanders; etc.--is that fair? SMITH: Yeah--Are we on? CHAFFIN: With the demise of the Talmadge--Yeah. SMITH: The interesting thing about it is, although I was born and reared on a small Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library farm in southwest Georgia, very poor, I was elected by the urban vote. And that had a couple of reasons for it. The Lieutenant Governor at that time, Peter Zack Geer, had the backing of the Talmadge group, generally speaking; and I was--of course, got to be 1 GGDP, George T. Smith, Date: 8/19/1992 & 8/20/1992 Speaker of the House with the influence of Governor Sanders, which--and I was also the presiding officer of the House, of course, when--well, it started in 1962 before I became Speaker in 1963; and I helped at that time to reapportion the Senate. And that got the Senate more urban. And, then in 1963, from there on, I was in on all of the reapportionments up through and including the redistricting of the Congressional districts in 1964. CHAFFIN: I wanted to ask you, though, when you were first getting into politics, did you have any ties to any of--I am thinking of Frank Twitty, Fred Hand-- SMITH: Yes, now, they really put me in the right place to do what I did. I was born and raised in Mitchell County. Frank Twitty was born and raised in Mitchell County, and Fred Hand was born and raised in Mitchell County. And my folks supported them politically. Mine and my wife's. My wife was born and raised in Mitchell County. Our people always supported those people. And when I came to the House in 1959, George L. Smith was Speaker of the House; and Frank Twitty was a Floor Leader for Governor Vandiver. Frank had known all my people and all my people were still living in Mitchell County, although I had moved to Grady County to practice law. He was very politically conscious of that fact. And there had been a friendship of our people over the years. Frank just--through Frank's influence, he just got me some super committee appointments as a freshman. Just the kind of committee appointments you can stay in the legislature Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library for ten years and never get. I got--I was on the Appropriations Committee--no, not the Appropriations Committee--the Judiciary Committee, the University of Georgia Committee and what 2 GGDP, George T. Smith, Date: 8/19/1992 & 8/20/1992 they called the--ohhhh--it was a committee that all the Governor's legislation was placed in; and I don't remember the name of it. But it was a top committee. And those were three committees that you just don't get on. And they were all three committees sought after heavily by everyone. So they put me in a position to be recognized. And, then, at the end of my first term and the beginning of my second term, the third year I was in the legislature, I was appointed vice-chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Good Lord, you don't get on the Appropriations Committee when you've been there just three years, much less be vice chairman. And, then, Jack Ray, who was chairman of that committee, resigned to become state treasurer in December of '61; and I was made chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Here I am chairman of the Appropriations Committee and hadn't been in the House three years yet! Well, the Appropriations Committee didn't play the part then that it does now in the overall scheme of things. But the legislation was born and created, drawn up, introduced and passed in 1962 by the Appropriations Committee, of which I was chairman; and that legislation is still in place, with certain refinements. And I went from the Appropriations Committee then to the Speaker of the House, because--simply because having been chairman of the Appropriations Committee, that gave you some name recognition--politically, locally, I mean--on the hill. So when Carl started running for Governor, he asked me to support him; and I did. And in print, it looked good for the chairman of the Appropriations Committee to Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library endorse and support Carl Sanders. So I supported Carl Sanders. And the people who had the seniority and the experience and the background to be Speaker of the House when Carl was elected governor all supported Marvin Griffin. So when Marvin was defeated 3 GGDP, George T. Smith, Date: 8/19/1992 & 8/20/1992 and Carl was elected, as Charlie Pannell told me, he said: 'You are all we've got left.' Well, that didn't bother me as long as they elected me Speaker of the House. And so Carl got behind me, and I was elected Speaker of the House. That's the real history of how it came about, simply because of Frank Twitty's friendship with our families over the years. He just put me in and just kept me right there in the spotlight. CHAFFIN: I am still not clear. How did you end up with--why not Vandiver? SMITH: Why? CHAFFIN: How did you come to--in a sense, Sanders represented a more urban constituency. SMITH: Yeah. CHAFFIN: How did you end up gravitating towards him? SMITH: Sanders--whenever I supported him and helped him get elected, as Speaker of the House, naturally, I gravitated toward him because he was my friend. He was the one who got me in the position I was in. See, you support the hand that feeds you or selected you, whichever way you want to put it. So I gravitated toward him. So when I ran against Peter Zack Geer in '66, I was referred to in the rural areas as a liberal, of course, because I was--and the urban areas are the ones that selected--elected me. I didn't carry but forty counties--I think it was forty--thirty-nine or forty counties out of a hundred and fifty-nine and won the election something like by forty, fifty, or sixty thousand votes. Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library CHAFFIN: Well, were you concerned about losing your main constituency base in the rural-- SMITH: I didn't ever have a rural constituency. I just had one county, Grady 4 GGDP, George T. Smith, Date: 8/19/1992 & 8/20/1992 county. I never did have a constituency in the rural areas, as such, because the people that--you see, when the reapportionment came along and the new congressional districts, I stuck with the urban people in contending that they should have districts within themselves not watered down by large areas outside.