Ronnie Thompson (Georgia Politician) - Congressional Campaign, 1972

Congressional Campaign, 1972

Mayor Thompson was unopposed for the Republican nomination for the 8th Congressional District seat, whereas W. S. Stuckey defeated two intraparty opponents, State Representative Mitch Miller (no relation to the entertainer of the same name) and Harry Powell, a newspaper publisher from Dublin, who was active in the anticommunist John Birch Society. (John Birch grew up in Macon.) Stuckey declined to discuss Thompson's mental breakdown, for fear of evoking sympathy for the mayor. Thompson's announcement that he had been offered $50,000 by an undisclosed person in Stuckey's organization to withdraw from the race reinforced questions of mental stability in the eyes of many voters.

Campaign issues in the race were similar to those in other districts: the status of the Vietnam War, forced busing to achieve school integration, welfare, inflation, and taxation. Thompson stressed "law-and-order", his most familiar mantra. Stuckey said that "Ronnie and I were agreeing on most of the issues in that campaign. . . . He wanted the job that I had."

Stuckey and Thompson conducted mobile campaigns and went from town to town to shake hands. Stuckey distributed pencils; Thompson serenaded voters with his rendition of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" or "Have a Little Talk with Jesus". Stuckey repeatedly refused Thompson's request for a television debate. Thompson called Stuckey "a rich playboy" who "socializes with the Kennedy crowd in Washington". Thompson described himself as a "cotton-sock Republican running against a silk-stocking Democrat."

The national GOP steered clear of Thompson either because of his perceived ultraconservative philosophy or the mental depression episode. When Nixon visited Atlanta, Thompson was not invited to ride in the parade. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew journeyed to Augusta and Columbus but never mentioned Thompson or the 8th District race. Thompson was overwhelmed in fund-raising, having spent about $16,000 in the race to Stuckey's $250,000. Thompson disliked asking potential donors for contributions and instead depended on the sale of machine-gun pins for funding his campaign, insufficient as such sales proved to have been.

Thompson received 33,539 votes (37.8 percent) to Stuckey's 55,247 votes (62.2 percent). Thompson found a unique way to justify his defeat in Macon: city voters who repudiated his congressional candidacy had decided that Thompson should remain mayor. Thompson said that black voters who overwhelmingly backed Stuckey were "voting to keep Machine Gun Ronnie in Macon. I hope they realize that."