Eugene Talmadge - Governor

Governor

In 1932, Governor Richard B. Russell, Jr. sought a seat in the United States Senate. Talmadge ran for Governor and won a majority of the county unit votes in the Primary (then tantamount to election, since the Georgia Republican Party was practically non-existent). The County Unit System gave power to the most rural counties, which were Talmadge's base. He boasted, "I can carry any county that ain't got street cars." He made 12 campaign promises, the most controversial of which was to lower the price of an automobile license to only $3, which put them within reach of the poorest farmers. The state legislature intensely debated the $3 license issue, but did not pass it. After adjournment, Talmadge fixed the $3 fee by proclamation.

He was re-elected in 1934, carrying every county but three in the state's Democratic primary, though he was often tied to both controversy and corruption. When the Public Service Commission, a body elected by the voters, refused to lower utility rates, he appointed a new board to get it done. When the Highway Board resisted his efforts to control it, he declared martial law and appointed more cooperative members to the board. When the state treasurer and comptroller general refused to cooperate, the governor had them physically removed from their offices in the state capitol. Critics denounced him as a dictator, a demagogue, and a threat to the tranquility of the state while his supporters considered him to be a friend of the common man and one of the state's most outstanding governors.

The governor's reaction to the textile workers strike of September 1, 1934 was to declare martial law in the third week of the strike, and direct four thousand National Guard troops to arrest all picketers throughout the state. Those prisoners were to be held behind the barbed wire of a former World War I prisoner of war camp for trial by a military tribunal. While the state only interned a hundred or so picketers, the show of force effectively ended picketing throughout most of the state. On balance, when Talmadge discovered that one of the employers had hired the notorious strikebreaker Pearl Bergoff, he had Bergoff and his 200 men deported back to New York City.

Though Democratic, Talmadge governed as a conservative, and vehemently attacked the liberalism of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, singling out policies favorable to blacks, the farm programs, and relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps. He tried to build a region-wide coalition. making a national speaking tour in preparation for a challenge to FDR in 1936. His Southern Committee to Uphold the Constitution, organized a convention in Macon, Georgia, in January 1936 that brought together fragments of the old Huey P. Long coalition.

Talmadge pledged to defend the "sovereignty of our States and local self-government" at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. But Roosevelt, who visited Georgia often, was more popular with the poor farmers. Unable to run for re-election in 1936, Talmadge chose to challenge Senator Russell in the primary, but Russell defeated Talmadge by a landslide, and Talmadge's presidential hopes collapsed. Talmadge's handpicked candidate for governor Charles Redwine lost the 1936 Georgia gubernatorial election to pro-New Deal Democrat Eurith D. Rivers by an overwhelming margin.

Talmadge challenged Senator Walter George in 1938. Though George had sided with 34 of Roosevelt's 44 New Deal proposals, he refused to side with some of the proposals in Roosevelt's second term and the President believed George had now been "put out to pasture." Roosevelt tried to purge George and campaigned for his own candidate Lawrence Camp. George, however, refused to criticize Roosevelt during the campaign and blamed the purge on Roosevelt's advisers. Despite the divide among the New Deal vote, George would easily win the renomination, securing 141,922 popular votes and a majority of 246 unit votes, while Talmadge would only manage secure just 102,464 popular votes and 148 unit votes. However, Talmadge's victory over Roosevelt's candidate Camp, who managed to secure just 78,223 popular votes and 16 unit votes, surprised his critics.