Thank you for posting this, it was a very interesting read about an apparently very colorful character that I previously hardly even knew by name alone.
Apparently, he
did support Carter for governor later on:
With his support, Jimmy Carter was elected governor and, not long after, began planning a bid for the White House in '76.And who knew that the he actually
lost to the Republican candidate in the race, but that the Georgia Democrats got him installed anyway??
In the general election, Calloway edged Maddox by only 3,000 votes, but Georgia law required a majority, so the election was turned over to the heavily Democratic State House of Representatives, which decided in favor of Maddox.As for the following assertions, wouldn't it be easy for somebody with the necessary interest to validate them?
Maddox shakes his head. In a quiet voice, his eyes still focused on the TV, he says, "Nobody ever got hit with a pick handle at my restaurant."
"Nobody ever swung anything," he says. Not him, not his friends, not his 20 white employees, not his 40 black employees. A racist? "Would a racist hire 40 African-Americans?" he asks. Would a racist appoint more blacks to state government during his term in office than any Georgia governor before him?
Would a racist, asks Bob Short, Maddox's former press secretary, join up with a black musician and play nightclubs for 20 months under the headline of "The Governor and the Dishwasher"?
"Lester Maddox did more for black people than any governor in the history of Georgia," Williams says. "He talked that racist talk, but the walk he walked was much different."
He lists Maddox's accomplishments. During his one term, which lasted from 1967 to 1971, Maddox appointed the first African-American to head a state department (the Board of Corrections). He also named the first black GBI agent, the first black state trooper and the first blacks to draft boards. He integrated the lines of farmer's markets throughout the state. He ordered state troopers to address African-Americans without using the "N" word. He expanded food stamp programs from 13 to 158 counties.
McKinney has one word for all that: "tokenism."
James Cook, professor of history at Floyd College in Rome, Ga., and author of The Governors of Georgia, sides with Williams.
"Maddox is a misunderstood, unique person," Cook said last month on the telephone. "He was not as anti-black as it was perceived. He genuinely believed in state's rights."
Cook doesn't believe Georgia has ever had a more unlikely governor. He writes that Maddox lacked legal training, a college education (Maddox dropped out after eleventh grade), political experience, family prominence, professional distinction, financial backing, military service, inhibitions and guile. And, if that's not enough, he adds that Maddox was "physically unimpressive."
This last bit, for what it's worth, certainly makes him one of this country's most original governors, am I right? Talk about being an underdog.
This was also news to me:
among those who got career boosts in his administration were future Gov. Zell Miller and future Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, both of whom he appointed as executive secretaries, and future House Speaker Tom Murphy, who was his House floor leader.Also worth quoting is the closing part:
Does he still consider himself a segregationist? The answer is yes. He believes in the right to segregate one's business.
He proudly admits that he is an active member of the Council of Conservative Citizens -- the rightwing group that current politicians like Barr and Lott disavow when their links to the organization are exposed in the media. He opposes "the amalgamation of the races." He speaks out against the "New World Order."
No, he will not repent like George Wallace, who recanted at the end of his life and acknowledged that he did things for political gain. Maddox says he has no regrets, no need of repentance for anything he's done or said.
"I was Lester Maddox," he says. "How could I do anything different?"Linked from the page in question is a
letter in which Maddox himself responds to the article. I've just skimmed through it so far but he seems to offer some interesting insights. They certainly don't make Democrats like him much anymore, for better or worse. And while I have no reason to pine for the old days, they're still part of Democratic Party history, and as such better being discussed than swept under the rug.
This article was from 1999; Wikipedia tells me he died in 2003. I hope he found peace.