Georgia Historical Society Georgia and the Election of Jimmy Carter Author(s): Phinizy Spalding Reviewed work(s): Source: The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Spring, 1977), pp. 13-22 Published by: Georgia Historical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40580339 . Accessed: 05/07/2012 11:41 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Georgia Historical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Georgia Historical Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org Georgiaand the Electionof JimmyCarter By Phinizy Spalding November 1976 the Americanpeople, by votingin Jimmy Carter of Georgia as their new president,shattered the long held belief that no one from the South-least of all from Georgia-could be elected to the highestoffice in the United States. Whether it be the triumphof New South principles,a victoryover the partyof Watergate,or a formof psychological reparationdone by the othersections of the nation to the South as a kind of late paymentfor injuriesdone in the past,one thing is certain from the vantage point of Georgia: the state took, has taken, and is still taking enormouspride in the victory of the man fromPlains. Articlesabout Georgia, Georgians,Georgia politics,Georgia social mores,Georgia customs,Georgia speech, Georgia cooking, the Georgia man, the Georgia mind, and a dozen otherstate-related topics seem to be read with some avidity not only by the Eastern Establishment(many of whom are fromthe South to begin with) but also by the rest of a mobile nationin search of what makes Georgia tick. Whither,in short, Georgia's roots? While many Georgians can look upon all of this with a degree of bemusedobjectivity, even the most jaded will admit, when pressed,that it's nice to have a home grown boy in the White House. Georgia's pride manifesteditself in ground swell proportionsa bit over a year ago when Carter-aided by a phalanx of Georgia volunteerswho invaded New Hampshire- won that primaryand became a "major" candidate for the Democraticnomination. Pride swelledto feverpitch in the Florida and Georgia primaries,and manifesteditself once again at the November general election.Few political eventssince secession ♦Associate Professor of History, University of Georgia. 14 Georgia Historical Quarterly itselfhave so excitedGeorgians. One of the hearteningthings about the Carterphenomenon is thatblack Georgianswere as excitedby it as the whites,for Carterhad come to symbolizea new awakeningand a new chancefor the black man too. An AtlantaConstitution editorial, writtenin the warmglow of 3 November,may have put its fingeron the significanceof the black supportCarter received nationallyas well as locally."Jimmy Carter is thePresident-elect of the UnitedStates now, the firstGeorgian in the historyof thenation to win thattitle. He is a manof theNew Southand a man of the nation,a whiteSoutherner whose earliestmost sturdysupport came fromblack Americansin criticalprimary states."1His backingwas indeednational in scope, but some of Carter'smost effective supporters in Georgia-particularly in theearly going- came from such able blackpoliticians as Andrew Young, MaynardJackson, and Ben Brown. When the votes were cast on electionday the Atlantablack precinctsproved thedepth of theirloyalty by rollingup almostunbelievable ma- joritiesfor theirfellow Georgian.Morehouse Gym precinct showed832 votesfor Carter, 16 forFord; Morris Brown reported 620 forCarter, 16 forFord; PryorStreet School 133 forCarter, Ford 3. Princinct3B (Free For All) came in with 557 Carter votesto one singlelonely Ford ballot.At the sametime, Young ran at almostexactly the same percentageas Carterin these fourprecincts.2 In the rest of Georgia,it would appear that almostevery segmentof societyvoted for the state's ex-governor. Only with the countryclub set did Carterfare poorly, but thiscame as no particularsurprise to him or to his strategists.Democratic candidateson the nationalticket have not done well withthe countryclubbers since FDR's firstterm. Every one of the nine- teenprecincts in and aroundSandy Springs, for example,went to PresidentFord, some by a 2-1 ratioor better.3The sameis truefor similarupper urban and Suburbaneconomic precincts elsewherein the state.The less affluentwhites in Atlantaand Georgia and Carter's Election 15 other Georgia cities,though, apparently supported Carter, who also showed considerablestrength with blue-collarand farming elements.The white academic sector backed the Georgian-the Emory precinct by almost 2-1- and all Athens city precincts supportedhim. Carter'svote was especiallystrong in the Cedar Creek subdivision,where there is a significantgrouping of the Universityof Georgia's academic middle class.4 On the belief that most people missed seeing the complete Georgia returnsfrom last fall's presidentialelection, the Quar- terlyoffers the figuresfrom all of the state's 159 counties.The certifiedreturns printed below are stored in Secretaryof State Ben Fortson's office,and the editor would like to thank Mr. Fortson and his staff for the cheerful cooperation offered. Severalfeatures of the Cartervote in Georgia mightbe pointed out. Even the "traditionalRepublican counties" in the mountains along the North Carolina and Tennessee borderswent strongly forCarter. Union, Fannin, and Towns cast 7,983 votesfor Gover- nor Carter and 4,975 for Gerald Ford- roughly 60% of the vote for Carter. (Admittedlyconsiderably below the average for the rest of the state, but strong North Georgia support nonetheless.) In the congressionalrace in the same counties, Democrat Ed Jenkinspulled almost as many votes as Carter, but his Republican opponent drew just over half an many as Ford.5 Also in North Georgia, Gilmer county went almost 2-1 for Carter,White went over 3-1, and Rabun and Murray coun- ties about 4- 1. In the last four counties Carter's share of the vote rose to an impressive75%, therebyincreasing his full share of themountain vote in the sevencounties to 68%. These counties are relativelysparsely populated and have an overwhelmingpre- ponderanceof whites in their makeup. Carter,then, ran about as stronglyas any Democrat has in these selected mountain countiesin recentyears, pulling a total of 18,516to Ford's 8,341. The returnsfrom an eight county area of NorthwestGeorgia show resultsthat are somewhatdifferent, but not dramaticallyso. Walker and Catoosa, fast becomingbedroom countiesfor Chat- tanooga,evinced the strongestsupport for Ford, who also demon- 16 Georgia Historical Quarterly stratedsome strength in Floyd (Rome) and Whitfield(Dalton). Even so, thesefour countiesgave Carter65% of theirvote. On the otherhand, the more rural,lightly populated, almost whollywhite counties of Dade, Chattooga,Gordon, and Murray, presentedCarter with 76% of theirvote. The ten countieschosen for NortheastGeorgia show an in- terestingpattern.6. Elbert county,with a roughly32% non- whitepopulation, voted almost 5-1 forCarter; Jackson, with less than13% non-white, supported the Georgiacandidate by a 4-1 margin.Greene county, with over 50% of its populationnon- white,also optedfor a virtually4-1 ratio.Madison, Barrow, and Waltonwent 3-1 or betterfor Carter. Only Clarkeand Oconee, wheremany who workin Athenslive, failed to supportCarter by less than 2-1. Clarke,Athens, and the Universityare well knownfor political lemming instincts that go back to the days of Abit Nix and BlantonFortson. Athens and the University were later hotbedsof supportfor Carl Sanders(defeated by Carterin the 1970 gubernatorialprimary). After Sanders' loss, Clarkecarried its politicaldeath wish to new heightsby being the only countyin the stateto vote for RepublicanHal Suit in his generalelection race againstCarter for the governorship. ExcludingClarke and Oconee,Carter received a whopping77% fromNortheast Georgia. The Georgiapeanut farmer, in fact, did verywell indeedin the sevencounties in the statewhere the fewestnumber of totalvotes were cast. His majoritywas 73%, and in tinyEchols (Statenville)he receiveda landslide 84%. The sayingthat a prophetis last recognizedin his own land is not quiteborne out by the figurefor Sumter county (72%), but it is a fact thatthe eightcounties touching Sumter gave the Georgiana higherper cent (73%) of theirvote thandid Carter'shome county. Marion (Buena Vista) opted for Carter at roughly5-1; Dooly and Macon at betterthan 4-1. The latter twocounties have more non- whites in theirpopulation but Carter's supportwas drawnfrom all elements.Other rural counties with similarracial makeups showed roughly similar reactions. Hancock Georgia and Carter's Election 17 county,with almost74% of its populationnon-white, backed Carterbetter than 3-1; Taliaferrocounty about the same.The polarizationthat existed in manyAtlanta precincts was not so easy to detectin the rural countieswhere the white farmer apparentlyfound Carter, the hometown boy and man of the soil, easierto equate with thanFord and his midwesternisms, his religion,and his golf matchesor skiingjaunts to Vail. On the otherhand Sandy Springers,many of themwith as many Georgia"ties" as Philadelphiascrapple,