The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics - Hardcover

Bullock III, Charles S.; Buchanan, Scott E.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0820347345 ISBN 13: 9780820347349

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2015

Synopsis

The death of Georgia governor-elect Eugene Talmadge in late 1946 launched a constitutional crisis that ranks as one of the most unusual political events in U.S. history: the state had three active governors at once, each claiming that he was the true elected official.

This is the first full-length examination of that episode, which wasn’t just a crazy quirk of Georgia politics (though it was that) but the decisive battle in a struggle between the state’s progressive and rustic forces that had continued since the onset of the Great Depression. In 1946, rural forces aided by the county unit system, Jim Crow intimidation of black voters, and the Talmadge machine’s “loyal 100,000” voters united to claim the governorship.

In the aftermath, progressive political forces in Georgia would shrink into obscurity for the better part of a generation. In this volume is the story of how the political, governmental, and Jim Crow social institutions not only defeated Georgia’s progressive forces but forestalled their effectiveness for a decade and a half.

About this title

Book Description:

A rousing account of a watershed event in American politics

About the Author:

Charles S. Bullock III is Richard B. Russell Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia and the author and editor of numerous books on American political culture, the South, and electoral politics. Scott E. Buchanan is an associate professor of political science at The Citadel. He is the author of Some of the People Who Ate My Barbecue Didn't Vote for Me: The Life of Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin. Ronald Keith Gaddie is chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma and the general editor of Social Sciences Quarterly.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0820347345
• ISBN 13: 9780820347349
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312