Eugene Talmadge
Eugene Talmadge was one of Georgia’s most charismatic and controversial politicians. He lived from 1884 to 1946 and spent 20 of those years in service to the government of Georgia. Because of his personality and actions, many voters in the state were divided into Talmadge and anti-Talmadge groups. Some saw him as a political hero. Others viewed him as a racist bully.
State government changed greatly when Talmadge became governor. Talmadge was a conservative white supremacist who did not like federal government intervention or government debts. He disliked relief efforts, public welfare, and federal assistance programs.
Early Career
Talmadge began his career as commissioner of agriculture. He supported an economic policy that benefited farmers. He was very popular with farmers and people in rural areas. Conflicts about government money caused Talmadge trouble during his time as commissioner. He was accused of plotting to illegally raise the price of hogs. He was also accused of using government money to take his family to the Kentucky Derby. The Georgia legislature talked of impeaching him. Others threatened to sue him for misspending funds. In the end, none of the charges against him were pursued. He was elected to three terms as commissioner of agriculture before being elected governor in 1932.
The Governor
During Talmadge’s first two terms, he proved to be a strong governor. To fulfill his campaign promise to lower the price of automobile registration tags, he invoked an executive order. An executive order is an act by a governor or president that does not have to be approved by the legislature. The state legislature had voted not to lower the tag’s price. Talmadge overruled their decision with his executive order. When the Public Service Commission refused to lower the price of utilities, Talmadge fired them, although they were elected by the public. He then appointed new people to the commission who would lower prices. Governor Eugene Talmadge of Georgia (left) listens as Assistant Solicitor Dan Duke of Fulton Superior Court waves a heavy leather lash to emphasize his opposition to mercy for six convicted KKK members of East Point, Georgia. The governor took the pleas under advisement.
Talmadge was an outspoken critic of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He especially did not agree with Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. Talmadge did what he could to keep New Deal programs out of Georgia. He used the federal funds to build highways more often then to help the unemployed.
The Third Term
Because the law would not let him run for governor three times in a row, Talmadge ran for United States Senate in 1936. He lost to the incumbent, the senator who had already been serving as one of Georgia’s senators. Two years later, he ran against Georgia’s other U.S. senator and lost that race as well.
Talmadge was eligible to run for governor again in 1940. He won and began his third term as governor of Georgia. This era of Talmadge’s governorship is probably best remembered for what is called the Cocking Affair.
Walter Cocking was the dean of the College of Education at the University of Georgia. He was hired into that position to improve academic standards, a goal which he accomplished. In May of 1941, Talmadge met with the Board of Regents, the committee that runs the university. Talmadge accused Cocking of supporting racial integration. Talmadge and other members of the board were firmly opposed to integration and they voted not to rehire Cocking.
The president of the university heard about the Board of Regents’ decision and threatened to quit unless Cocking was given a chance to defend himself and save his job. Many other college professors came out in support of Cocking. At a June meeting of the Regents, Cocking was reappointed as the dean of the College of Education.
Talmadge was furious and began to attack Cocking in the newspapers, for his background and political beliefs. Once again, Talmadge replaced members of a committee with people who agreed with his point of view, this time it was the Board of Regents. When another vote was taken at a July meeting of the Regents, Cocking was again voted out of his job.
This began a chain of events that seriously damaged the state’s university system. Over the next year, ten excellent educators were fired, the libraries suffered, the Board of Regents became less powerful, and academics began to have a low opinion of Georgia’s universities.
An investigation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools declared that “gross political interference” had damaged the state’s colleges. As a result, they removed accreditation, or official approval, from the public universities for white people. This disaster caused Talmadge to lose the next gubernatorial election.
In 1946, however, he was elected governor for a fourth term. His victory was largely due to his opposition to the Supreme Court decision to allow black people to vote in primary elections. He died before taking office, but his son went on to serve in Georgia’s government for many years. However, his career ended when the Senate denounced him for pocketing money from his supporters.
1. How did he serve Georgia government?
2. Why did some people like him?
3. Why did some people hate him?
4. What was his early carrerr like?
5. What is an executive order and how did Talmadge us it?
6. What did he think of the new deal?
7. Why did Talmadge not want to rehire Cocking?
8. Why did the Sourthern Association of Colleges remove accreditation from Georgia?
9. What allowed for Talmadge to get elected for a 4th term?
10. Did Eugene Talmadge do a good or bad job running Georgia?