The 1946 Georgia Election

Georgia’s Three Governors Controversy
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Georgia's "three governors controversy" of 1946-47, which began with the death of Governor-elect Eugene Talmadge, was one of the more bizarre political spectacles in the annals of American politics. In the wake of Talmadge's death, his supporters proposed a plan that allowed the Georgia legislature to elect a governor in January 1947. When the General Assembly elected Talmadge's son, Herman, as governor, the newly elected lieutenant governor, Melvin Thompson, claimed the office of governor, and the outgoing governor, Ellis Arnall, refused to leave office. Eventually, the Georgia Supreme Court settled the controversy.

Background
In the summer of 1946 Eugene Talmadge won the Democratic primary for governor for the fourth time. His election was assured because the Republican Party in Georgia was not viable and had no nominee. However, Talmadge was not healthy, and his close friends began to fear that he would not live until the November general election or would die before his inauguration in January 1947.

After a great deal of legal research, Talmadge's followers found dubious constitutional and statutory precedence for the state legislature's electing a governor if the governor-elect died before taking office. According to their findings, the General Assembly could choose between the second- and third-place vote-getters from the general election. Because no Republican candidate would be running, the Talmadge forces reasoned that a write-in candidate with enough votes statewide would be second or third behind Talmadge, and the General Assembly could choose that candidate if the situation warranted. The Talmadge stalwarts therefore chose to run Talmadge's son, Herman, as a secret write-in candidate.

There was one problem with this plan: the new state constitution created the office of lieutenant governor, which would be filled for the first time in the 1946 election. The lieutenant governor would become chief executive if the governor died in office. The constitution was not clear about whether the lieutenant governor–elect would succeed if the governor-elect died before he took the oath of office. Melvin Thompson, a member of the anti-Talmadge camp, was elected lieutenant governor in 1946. Naturally, the Talmadge forces were not eager for Thompson to become the next governor.

Two Claimants
Eugene Talmadge died in late December 1946. When the General Assembly convened in January 1947, the immediate order of business was to fill the vacant governorship.
The Talmadge forces wanted the legislature to elect Herman Talmadge, while Thompson's allies lobbied for the General Assembly to declare Thompson the governor. According to the state constitution, election results were not official until certified by the General Assembly. Thompson wanted the General Assembly to certify the returns so that, as the official lieutenant governor–elect, he would have a stronger claim to the governorship. Talmadge forces, however, won a close vote to delay certifying the vote and to move immediately to select a new governor. On January 15, 1947, the General Assembly elected Herman Talmadge as governor. Meanwhile, Thompson began legal proceedings to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.

The Third Claimant
As the legislature was electing Herman Talmadge governor and Thompson was preparing a court fight to dispute Talmadge's election, the outgoing governor, Ellis Arnall, announced that he would not relinquish the office until it was clear who the new governor was. Arnall's actions galvanized Talmadge's supporters, who bitterly hated his anti-Talmadge policies. The legislature's election of Talmadge provoked a confrontation between the Talmadge and Arnall camps. Although the two protagonists maintained their decorum, fistfights broke out among their followers.

Talmadge asked Arnall to honor the General Assembly's election. Arnall maintained that the legislature had no right to elect a governor and refused to step aside. Talmadge then ordered state troopers to remove Arnall from the capitol and see that he returned home safely. On January 15, the day of the legislative election, both Herman Talmadge and Ellis Arnall claimed to be governor of Georgia and shared the same offices in the capitol. By the next day Talmadge had seized control of the governor's office and had the locks on the doors changed. Arnall continued to maintain his position as governor and even set up a governor's office in exile in an information kiosk in the capitol. Ultimately, Arnall relinquished his claim as governor and supported Thompson.

An Anticlimactic Ending
After Ellis Arnall surrendered his claim to the governorship, Georgia was still left with two governors, each of whom had appointed government officials. The result was two months of chaos.

In March 1947 the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that Melvin Thompson was the rightful governor because he was lieutenant governor–elect when Eugene Talmadge died. In a five-to-two decision the justices ruled that Thompson would be the acting governor until a special election could be held to decide the remainder of the original term, which would have run from 1947 to 1951. Within two hours of the court decision, Herman Talmadge left the governor's office. His apparent capitulation surprised many who thought that he might challenge the ruling. Almost immediately he began campaigning for the special election in September 1948.

In hindsight, the controversy seems almost comical, a relic of an era of Georgia politics that is long dead. At the time, however, it was a source of great embarrassment for business leaders of the state. Georgia's national reputation, already unsavory, took an even further blow.

Moreover, the episode had several far-reaching consequences. First, it strengthened Herman Talmadge's political reputation. His handling of the court decision earned him a great deal of respect among younger voters and returning World War II veterans. Hard-core Eugene Talmadge supporters, the "wool hat boys," flocked to young Herman because of their perception that the anti-Talmadge forces had stolen the election. The events of 1946-48 also marked the last gasp of the anti-Talmadge faction. After Herman Talmadge's easy victory over Thompson in 1948, no avowed member of that faction ever occupied the governor's office again.


Notes:

Ellis ARNALL, provided four years of progressive reform, replacing the state's "Tobacco Road" national image with that of a progressive and forward-looking state. He successfully led efforts to restore accreditation to Georgia's institutions of higher learning. He reformed the state penal system, repealed the poll tax, lowered the voting age, revised the state constitution, established a teachers' retirement system, and paid off the long-existing state debt. Promising to end gubernatorial dictatorship in the state, Arnall led efforts to create eight constitutional boards in an effort to reduce the power of the governor. He also created a merit system for state employees and the State Ports Authority. Arnall successfully led the South's fight against discriminatory railroad freight rates, which had hampered the region's industrial development. As a result of his reform program, members of the national press found themselves in the unusual position of praising rather than condemning a governor of Georgia.

In 1942 Arnall ran against Governor Eugene Talmadge, who was seeking reelection. Talmadge's interference in the running of the state's university system, in what became known as the Cocking affair, had resulted in the loss of accreditation of most of the state's public colleges. On this issue, the thirty-five-year-old Arnall defeated Talmadge to become the youngest governor in the nation.

Eugene TALMADGE was born in Forsyth, Georgia, on Sept. 23, 1884. After he graduated from the University of Georgia in 1907, Talmadge practiced law in Atlanta before moving to Montgomery County.

A member of the Democratic Party, he successfully ran for the office of Commissioner of Agriculture in 1926. Six years later he was elected governor of Georgia. Talmadge's main support came from white farmers and his right wing views earned him the name, the "Wild Man from Sugar Creek".

Once in power Talmadge dramatically cut budgets resulting in massive reductions in state services. He also helped local businessmen in their opposition to trade unions.

Talmadge was an outspoken opponent of President Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal policies that he described as a combination of wet nursing, frenzied finance, downright Communism and plain dam foolishness." He also controversially claimed that the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were "bums and loafers." He also disliked what he considered to be Roosevelt's pro trade union legislation such as the National Labor Relations Act. When a textile strike broke out in 1934, Talmadge declared martial law and sent troops to deal with strikers.

Talmadge was also opposed to black civil rights and in 1941 attempted to fire two University System administrators, allegedly for advocating integrated public schools. When the Board of Regents refused, Talmadge dismissed all of them and replaced them with people amenable to his will. This led to ten Georgia public colleges and universities losing their accreditation.

Talmadge was elected as governor of Georgia in 1932, 1934, 1940 and again in 1946. However, he was in poor health and died before he could take office. He was now replaced by his son, Herman Talmadge, as governor of Georgia.

In 1954 Stetson Kennedy published his book, I Rode With the Ku Klux Klan, revealing how Talmadge used the Ku Klux Klan during elections to stop African Americans from voting in Georgia.

Herman Eugene TALMADGE, a Senator from Georgia; born on a farm near McRae, Telfair County, Ga., August 9, 1913; attended the public schools in McRae; received a law degree from the University of Georgia at Athens in 1936; admitted to the bar in 1936 and commenced the practice of law in Atlanta, Ga.; volunteered for service in the United States Navy in 1941; saw extensive action in the Pacific theater, attained rank of lieutenant commander and was discharged in November 1945; upon the death of his father, Governor-elect Eugene Talmadge, was elected to the governorship by the State legislature in 1947; served sixty-seven days, then vacated the office due to a decision of the State supreme court; elected in September 1948 to fill the unexpired term; reelected in 1950 and served until January 1955; farmer; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1956; reelected in 1962, 1968 and 1974 and served from January 3, 1957, to January 3, 1981; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1980; denounced by the Senate in 1979 for financial misconduct; chairman, Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (Ninety-second through Ninety-fifth Congresses), Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (Ninety-fifth and Ninety-sixth Congresses); resumed the practice of law; was a resident of Hampton, Ga., until his death on March 21, 2002; buried on family farm near Hampton, Ga.

Melvin E. THOMPSON, Acting Governor, 1947-1949, was born in Millen, Jenkins County, Georgia, in 1903. After a career as educator and public servant, Thompson was elected Lieutenant Governor for the term beginning January, 1947. Following the death of Governor-Elect Eugene Talmadge, shortly before his inauguration, Thompson became Acting Governor until the next scheduled general election. During his term as Acting Governor, one of his contributions to the state was the acquiring of Jekyll Island for $675,000. The state acquired Jekyll Island by a court condemnation decree, a bargain which has been compared to the original purchase of Manhattan Island.