Melvin E. Thompson - Family and Early Career

Family and Early Career

Melvin Ernest Thompson was born in Millen on May 1, 1903, the son of Eva Edenfield and Henry Jackson Thompson. Melvin Thompson He married Ann Newton, and they had one son, Melvin Ernest Jr. After graduating from Emory University in 1926, Thompson became a high school principal and coach at Emanuel County Institute. He earned a master's degree from the University of Georgia and completed most of the requirements for a doctorate. Thompson then served as superintendent of the Hawkinsville public school system until he accepted the position of state school supervisor in the Georgia Department of Education. In 1937 Governor E. D. Rivers appointed him assistant state school superintendent.

Thompson actively supported Ellis Arnall's successful campaign against Governor Eugene Talmadge in 1942. He served in the Arnall administration, first as the governor's executive secretary and later as state revenue commissioner. Early in 1946 Thompson received Arnall's backing for a campaign for state school superintendent. However, Thompson decided instead to run for the office of lieutenant governor, a position created by the state constitution of 1945. Arnall had already promised to support Senator Frank C. Gross for that position. Undeterred, Thompson ran for the state's second highest office anyway, and did so without aligning himself with any of the gubernatorial candidates. Thompson won the Democratic nomination under the state's infamous county unit system with less than 30 percent of the popular vote.