Transcript WTKPowerPoint Notes-1i70pn3

Words/Terms of Importance For 20th
Century in Georgia
Use this PowerPoint to help with reviewing the
information that has been presented with the decade
projects and also discussions in class.
The Bourbon Triumvirate
• Democrats controlled Georgia’s government after
Reconstruction.
• Powerful Democratic leaders, known as the
“Bourbon Triumvirate” were Joseph E. Brown,
Alfred H. Colquitt, and John B. Gordon.
• Their goals were:
– expand Georgia’s economy and ties with
industries in the North;
– maintain the tradition of white supremacy.
Decline of the Bourbon Triumvirate
• “Independent Democrats” criticized the Bourbons for
not attending to the needs of the poor or improve
education and working conditions in factories.
• Leaders William and Rebecca Latimer Felton worked
to improve conditions for poor Georgians using
newspapers to highlight problems in the state.
• Rebecca Latimer Felton later briefly served as the first
female United States Senator (from November 21,
1922 until the next day).
• The convict lease system “rented” prisoners to
companies to use as workers. It took many years for
the poor conditions the prisoners endured to be
brought to light and changed.
The New South Era
• Challengers to the Bourbon Triumvirate wanted
Georgia to be more industrialized.
• Henry Grady was a speaker and newspaper
editor.
• Grady described Georgia as a place which could
have competitive industry and more efficient
farming.
• Grady envisioned improved race relations in a
“New South” which left its antebellum past behind.
Business in Georgia
• First International Cotton Exposition was
held in 1881. Helped to show off the
economic recovery of the South after
Reconstruction. Other International Cotton
Expositions were held in 1887 and 1895.
• 1895 International Cotton Exposition
– 800,000 visitors in three months
– designed to show economic recovery in the
South
– encouraged investments in southern
businesses
Education in the New South Era
• Funding to provide elementary education for all
children in Georgia grew slowly from 1868-1895.
• Teachers were paid a little more than farm hands
and had little or no training. Normal schools were
started to train more teachers.
• The “school year” was only three months long
which allowed children to work on farms or in
factories.
• The state constitution of 1877 did not allow for
school beyond 8th grade and segregated black
and white students.
Agriculture in the New South Era
• Crop prices declined through the 1870s.
• The Grange and the Farmers’ Alliance started out
as social groups but began to reorganize to put
pressure on lawmakers to find ways to help
farmers. This was knows as populism.
• Georgia created the first state to have a
Department of Agriculture.
• Co-ops allowed farmers to work together to buy
goods and equipment at a lower cost.
The Progressive Movement
Goal: Progress!
Society
•fight poverty
•Improve child
labor laws
•improve working
conditions
•votes for women
•prison reform
•outlaw alcohol
Business
Government
•break up large
corporations
•regulate businesses
•decrease corporate
power in
government
•greater voice of
“the people”
•more voters
•did not seek to
increase
participation of
blacks in elections
The People’s Party
• Populists: Supporters of a political idea (populism) that
supported the rights of the “common” people in their
struggle with the wealthy people
• Poor farmers and low wage workers were followers of
Populists
• Grange and Farmer’s Alliance worked to protect farmers’
rights – joined with unions to create People’s Party
• Wanted “Australian ballot” – printed by the government,
not local political parties, then collected and locked in
ballot boxes
• Tom Watson, famous Georgia populist, worked for Rural
Free Delivery bill to deliver mail to rural areas for free
Georgia’s Progressive Era
Governors
• Hoke Smith: worked to concentrate political power
in the rural counties instead of larger counties and
cities
– white supremacist
– led passage of law requiring land ownership before a
person could vote – excluded many blacks
– better funding of public schools
– child labor laws passed
– Smith-Lever Act (1914): created Agricultural Extension
Service to teach improved farming methods
– Smith-Hughes Act: helped establish vocational schools
for youth
• “Little Joe” Brown: son of Civil War era governor
Joseph E. Brown
1906 Atlanta Riot
• Began as a result of racial tensions between white
and black citizens of Atlanta
• In 1906, Hoke Smith (former publisher of the
Atlanta Journal) and Clark Howell (editor of the
Atlanta Constitution) were running for election as
Georgia’s governor in 1906. Both men used their
influence in the media to try and take away voting
rights for black citizens.
• Newspapers began to publish stories about
African American men attacking white women.
• Rioting began on September 22nd and lasted until
September 26th. Military forces are eventually
brought in to help end the riots.
• 21 people killed; hundreds of others wounded
and large amounts of property were destroyed
The Trial of Leo Frank
• 1913: man accused of killing a 14-year-old
employee, Mary Phagan in Atlanta
• Mr. Frank was a Jewish man from New York
• Little evidence against Mr. Frank, but he was
convicted and sentenced to death
• Governor Slaton changed death sentence to life
imprisonment
• Armed men, calling themselves the Knights of
Mary Phagan, took Frank from the prison, and he
was lynched
• White supremacist Ku Klux Klan reborn from the
members of the Knights of Mary Phagan
The County Unit System
• In 1917,the Neil Primary Act created the “county
unit system”.
• Plan designed to give small counties more power
in state government so that the larger counties
(which contained large numbers of black voters)
would have less power
• Smaller counties had more county unit “votes”
even though they had fewer voters
• People could be elected to office without getting a
majority of votes
• Declared unconstitutional in 1962
Separate But Equal
• Civil Rights: rights a person has as a citizen
• Jim Crow laws passed to separate blacks and
whites; legal basis for segregation (separation of
people based on race)
• Plessy v. Ferguson: Homer Plessy, in an act of
planned civil disobedience, was arrested for sitting
in a white only train car. Plessy, who was only 1/8
black, was considered colored in Louisiana.
• Supreme Court decided that segregation (Jim Crow
Laws) was allowed by federal law in public
institutions as long as they were “separate but
equal” – decision in place until 1954 (Brown v.
Board of Education).
Booker T. Washington
• Outstanding civil rights leader of the era
• President of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
• Supported good relations between blacks and
whites
• Worked to improve the lives of African Americans
through economic independence
• Believed social and political equality would come
with improved economic conditions and
education (known as accommodationism).
• Gave the famous “Atlanta Compromise” speech
in 1895; discussed his ideas of shared
responsibility and the importance of education
over equality.
W. E. B. DuBois
• Professor at Atlanta University
• Recognized the importance of speeches given
by Booker T. Washington but did not agree
with accommodationism
• Believed in “action” if African Americans and
whites were to understand and accept each
other
• Thought Booker T. Washington was too
accepting of social injustice
• Began urging black activists to organize
together in protest against segregation and
discrimination.
African Americans
Organize
• W.E.B. DuBois founded the Niagara movement; group
which met in Niagara Falls to assemble a list of
demands, which included the end of segregation and
discrimination
• NAACP (1909): National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. Worked for the rights
of African Americans
• W.E.B. DuBois left Atlanta to work for the NAACP in
New York
• National Urban League formed in 1910
– Worked to solve social problems of African Americans in cities
– Assisted people moving from rural South to urban North
John and Lugenia Burns Hope
• John Hope was a Civil rights leader from
Augusta, GA
• President of Atlanta University
• Like DuBois, believed that African
Americans should actively work for equality
• Part of group that organized NAACP
• Hope’s wife, Lugenia, worked to improve
sanitation, roads, healthcare and education
for African American neighborhoods in
Atlanta
Atlanta Mutual Insurance
Company
• Alonzo Herndon started barber business
• 1905: Purchased small insurance
company and managed it well
• Now one of the largest African American
businesses in the US
• Worth over $200 million and operates in
17 states
Women’s Suffrage
• Suffrage: the right to vote
• Seneca Falls, NY – famous meeting of
suffragettes
• 1920: 19th Amendment gives women
the right to vote – Georgia did not
ratify (approve) the amendment
Causes of World War I
• On June 28, 1914, an assassin gunned down
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary
• Austria-Hungary believed that Serbia's government
was behind the assassination.
• When the fighting began, France, Russia, and Great
Britain backed Serbia. They opposed the Central
Powers, made up of Austria-Hungary and Germany.
• Austria-Hungary seized the opportunity to declare
war on Serbia and settle an old feud.
World War I
1914-1918
Allied Powers
Central Powers
Leading Countries
Leading Countries
France
Germany
Great Britain
Austria-Hungary
Russia
(United States joined in
1917)
• President Woodrow Wilson declared the US would be
a neutral country.
The United States Enters
the War
• President Wilson worked to keep the US
out of the war
• 1915: German submarine sank passenger
ship Lusitania killing 128 Americans
• 1917: sub attacks resumed sinking
American cargo ships
• Zimmerman telegram: Germany tried to get
Mexico to attack the US
• Wilson finally joined the Allied powers
Georgia and World War I
• ±100,000 Georgians volunteered to join
the US armed forces
• Training in Georgia at Camp Benning,
Fort McPherson, Camp Gordon, and
Camp Hancock helped Georgia economy
• Georgians contributed manufactured
goods and farm produce
• 3,000 young Georgians killed in the war
• On November 11, 1918, Germany
surrendered ending what President
Wilson called “the war to end all wars”
Life in the Roaring Twenties
• Life in US after World War I was good
• More modern conveniences freed women
from household chores
• Electricity became more available
• Other inventions included gas stoves,
toasters, sliced bread, baby food
• Radio: WSB started in Atlanta
• 1927: first talking motion picture
• Walt Disney creates Mickey Mouse
• Charles Lindbergh makes first ever nonstop
flight from New York to Paris, France.
The Destruction of King Cotton
• Boll weevil: insect which ate Georgia’s most
important cash crop
• Price of cotton also dropped
• 1924: major drought (period with little or no
rain) hit Georgia
• Georgia farmers did not have the “good life”
that many Americans enjoyed
• Farms closed forcing banks and farm-related
business to close
• Great Migration – Many tenant farmers leave
Georgia to work in northern factories.
The Klan Strengthens
• Targeted African Americans, Jews,
Catholics, and immigrants
• Number of members increased in every
state
• 1925: Klan march on Washington with
40,000 members
• Declining membership by the end of the
decade as members were linked to
racial terrorism
The Bottom Drops Out
• Stock Market: Place where shares of
ownership in corporations (stock) are bought
and sold
• “Black Tuesday” – October 29, 1929: Stock
market prices fall greatly; millions of people
loose all their wealth
• Total losses by end of year: $40 billion
• Example: U.S. Steel was $262 per share –
dropped to $22 per share
• Some stocks worth less than 1¢
Causes of the Great Depression
• Many people had borrowed too much money
• Factories produced more goods than they could
sell
• As people and businesses had problems making
money, banks did not get paid for loans
• “Speculation” in the stock market: paying only a
portion of the price of a stock hoping that the value
will go up
• Runs on banks: people were afraid they would
lose their money if it was left in the bank
• laissez-faire: attitude that the economy would fix
itself if left alone
Living Through the Depression
•
•
•
•
1932: 13 million unemployed
9,000 banks closed
31 Georgia banks failed
Hoovervilles: named for President Hoover –
shacks where homeless people gathered
• Soup kitchens set up by charities and
governments to feed hungry
• Schools were often forced to close or shorten
schedules
• Georgians were already suffering from economic
problems before Black Tuesday
The New Deal
• 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected
president
• New Deal: Roosevelt’s plan to end the
depression
– Examined banks for soundness
– Give jobs to unemployed workers
– Tried to improve American’s lives
• Paved the way for recovery though all
programs did not work
Georgia and the New Deal
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – Created
jobs for young men. Men worked in exchange
for housing, food, and money. Built many of
GA’s parks, sewer systems, bridges, etc.
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) – Raised the
price of farm products by limiting supply.
Farmers were paid to produce less to drive the
price up so each farmer made for money for
their crops.
• Rural Electrification Authority (REA) –Brought
electricity to the rural (country) areas of the U.S.
• Social Security Act – Passed in 1935. Helped to
provide old-age benefits for retiring workers.
Also offered insurance for the unemployed and
disabled.
African Americans During
the New Deal
• Did not benefit from many New Deal
programs
• WPA: Works Public Administration – did
employ many African Americans
• Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet”: influential
African Americans working with President
Roosevelt:
– Mary McLeod Bethune
– Clark Foreman
– Robert Weaver
– William Hastie
Georgia’s New Deal
Governors
• Richard B. Russell
– Worked to reorganize state government like a successful
business
– Elected to U.S. Senate and served for 38 years
• Eugene Talmadge
– Did not like New Deal programs in Georgia
– Elected Governor of GA in 1932 and 1934.
– Outspoken critic of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New
Deal programs in Georgia.
• Eurith “Ed” Rivers
– Worked with Roosevelt to increase New Deal spending in
Georgia
– Began programs for public housing
– Term ended with corruption problems
Georgia’s New Deal
Governors (Cont.)
• Talmadge re-elected in 1940
– Began to use some New Deal programs
– Used his power as governor to remove state
officials working to integrate Georgia’s state
colleges
• Ellis Arnall
– Reformed Board of Regents and state prisons
– Removed poll tax
– New state constitution
Increasing Tensions
• Dictator: individual who ruled a country through military
strength
Country
Leader
Quick Facts
Japan
Emperor
Hirohito
Attacked China seeking raw
materials
Italy
Mussolini
Attacked Ethiopia and Albania
Germany Adolf Hitler
Soviet
Union
Josef Stalin
Nazi leader; began rebuilding
military forces, persecuting Jews,
and silencing opponents
Built up industry and military,
forced peasants into collective
farms, eliminated opponents
World War II Begins
• 1938: Hitler’s Germany attacks France to
“take back” land lost in WWI (Rhineland)
• Sent troops to take over Austria,
Czechoslovakia, and Poland
• Great Britain and France declared war
• Soviet Union invaded nearby countries
and agreed to split Poland with Germany
• By 1940, Hitler controlled Denmark,
Norway, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg
and a large part of France and began
bombing Great Britain
A Neutral United States
• Most Americans did not want to get
involved in the war, but Roosevelt wanted
to help Britain
• Hitler turned on Stalin in 1941 and invaded
the Soviet Union
• Lend-lease: policy to lend or lease (rent)
weapons to Great Britain and the Soviet
Union
• American ships began escorting British
ships in convoys
“A Day that Will Live in
Infamy”
• President Roosevelt stopped exports to Japan to
protest its expansion into other countries
• Exports of oil, airplanes, aviation gasoline and
metals were stopped
• The Japanese attacked the U.S. Navy fleet at
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941
• Japan hoped to destroy the fleet giving them
control of the Pacific Ocean
• The USA declared war on Japan
• Allied Powers: USA, Great Britain, Soviet Union
• Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan
American Military Forces
• Millions of Americans enlisted after the attack on
Pearl Harbor
• 330,000 women joined – could not serve in
combat roles
• Segregation in the military kept African American
and white service men in different units
• Tuskegee Airmen: famous African American
flyers of the Army Air Force
• After the war, women and African Americans did
not want to go back to the kind of life they had
before the war
The War in Europe
• 1942-1943: British and American troops won
control of Africa
• 1943: Mussolini overthrown and Italy joined the
Allies
• American general Dwight D. Eisenhower
coordinated plan to recapture Europe
• D-Day: June 6, 1944 – Allied forces land in
northern France at Normandy
• Early 1945: Germans pushed out of France
• April 1945: Soviet and American troops meet
and Germany surrenders – Hitler commits
suicide
The Holocaust
• The Holocaust: name given to the Nazi
plan to kill all Jewish people, and others
deemed “undesirable”
• Auschwitz, Buckenwald, Dachau,
Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen infamous
concentration camps where Jews and
others were executed
• 6 million Jewish people killed in the
Holocaust; approximately 5 million other
“undesirables” also killed
Roosevelt’s Ties to GA
• President Roosevelt visited Georgia often
at his “Little White House” in Warm
Springs
• His polio symptoms were eased in the
mineral springs
• April 24, 1945: President Roosevelt died at
Warm Springs
• Millions of Georgians and Americans
mourned
• Vice President Harry Truman became
president
The War in the Pacific
• 1942: Japan expanded its territory throughout the
Asian Pacific region
• 1945: Allied forces began to retake Japanese
controlled lands
• Japan refused to surrender
• President Truman authorized the use of atomic bombs
to force Japan’s surrender
• Enola Gay: plane that dropped first atomic bomb on
Hiroshima, Japan (between 70,000 and 100,000
people died)
• Japan surrendered after a second atomic bomb
dropped on Nagasaki (killed approximately 40,000
people and injured 40,000 additional people)
• August 15, 1945 – Japan surrenders ending WWII
• Over 50 million people died in the war
Georgia During World War II
• 320,000 Georgians joined the armed forces – over 7,000
killed
• Military bases (such as Fort Benning) were built in the
state which improved the economy
• Farmers grew needed crops – income tripled for the
average farmer
• Limits were put on the consumption of goods such as
gasoline, meat, butter, and sugar (rationing)
• Students were encouraged to buy war bonds and
defense stamps to pay for the war
• POW (prisoner of war) camps were made in Georgia at
some military bases
• Brunswick and Savannah Shipyards supplied ships for
the US Navy and Bell Aircraft helped to create planes.
Richard Russell and
Carl Vinson
• Richard Russell – US Senator from GA; worked
to bring over a dozen military bases to GA.
These military bases helped to bring jobs and
resources to the state.
• Carl Vinson – US Representative from GA;
helped to build the US Navy in the years leading
up to World War II. Vinson wrote many bills that
expanded the US Navy and helped to supply our
allies during the Lend-Lease Act and to
overcome the damages of Pearl Harbor. Many
of the ships were built at the Savannah and
Brunswick shipyards.
End of the White Primary
• White Primary – Used, after the Civil War, to keep
African Americans from voting.
– 1900 Democratic Primary – Democratic leaders decided
that only white Democrats could vote in the primary
election.
– GA was essentially a one-party state (Republican and
Independent candidates got little support from white
citizens).
– As a result, white, Democratic candidates were often
elected with little or no African American support.
– End of the White Primary – King v. Chapman Supreme
Court case made the white primary systems in GA
unconstitutional (illegal).
The 1946 Governor’s Race
• Governor Ellis Arnall’s term of office was due to end in 1946.
• Eugene Talmadge was elected to his 4th Term as Georgia’s
Governor but died before taking the Oath of Office.
• Began the “Three Governor’s” Controversy:
– Herman Talmadge (Eugene’s son) was chosen as governor by the
legislature due to the amount of write-in votes he had received and
were “found” after the election.
– Current Governor Arnall declares that Lieutenant Governor Melvin
Thompson was the new Governor as he was the rightful successor.
– January 15, 1947, Herman Talmadge’s men broke into the
governor’s office and changed the locks and readied themselves to
run the state.
– Governor Arnall set up a temporary office at the Capitol Information
counter; Arnall officially resigned three days later.
– Finally in March 1947, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled Thompson
was the governor until a special election could be held in 1948. At
this election, Herman Talmadge was elected governor.
Early Civil Rights in GA
• Herman Talmadge – Served as governor of GA
briefly in 1947 and again from 1948-1955. Later
served in the U.S. Senate.
– Segregationist – Worked to keep African
American and white citizens separate
– As a politician, Talmadge worked to help GA’s
farmers and tried to stop Civil Rights.
• 1956 State Flag – In 1956, GA’s state flag was
changed to prominently display the Confederate
Battle Flag; changed in 2001 as citizens found the
flag offensive.
The Supreme Court and
Education
• 1948: racial integration ordered in armed
forces
• 1950: Brown v. Board of Education – case
struck down “separate but equal” concept;
schools were to be integrated
• Sibley Commission: found that most
Georgians would rather close schools than
integrate
• More private schools opened
• 1961: Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes
first African American students at UGA
• 1971: All Georgia public schools integrated
Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Dec. 1, 1955: Rosa Parks, African
American, refused to give up her bus
seat to whites in Montgomery, AL
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the
NAACP organized civic leaders and
prepared marches
• Supreme court ruled segregation on
public transportation unconstitutional
A Nonviolent Movement is Born
• Benjamin Mays – President of Morehouse College;
educator and mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. of
Atlanta and as a Civil Rights advocate.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. developed a nonviolent
approach to social change
• Four-prong approach:
–
–
–
–
direct, nonviolent actions
legal remedies
ballots
economic boycotts
• SCLC: Southern Christian Leadership Conference –
civil rights group led by Dr. King
• Sit-in: Dr. King’s strategy to people refuse to leave a
public building until their demands are met
The Albany Movement
• 1961: Albany, GA becomes center of civil
rights activity
• SNCC: Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee – challenged segregated bus
system in Albany
• Nearly 500 people jailed
• Biracial committee formed to study
concerns of African Americans
Protests Move to Alabama
• 1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. begins work to
integrate all aspects of public life in
Birmingham, AL
• Over 3000 people arrested
• 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing – KKK
sets a bomb which killed 4 black children in
their church in Birmingham, Alabama
• African Americans and whites from the
north and south began to join together to
stop the violence
The Civil Rights Act
• President Kennedy created new civil rights
laws
• Kennedy was assassinated before the new
laws came into effect
• Lyndon Johnson became president and
pushed for passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964
• All public facilities had to be integrated
• Discrimination was prohibited in business
and labor unions
The Voting Rights Act
• 1964: Freedom Summer – Martin Luther
King, Jr. and SNCC worked to get African
Americans registered to vote
• Selma-to-Montgomery, AL march led by Dr.
King
• Nearly 30,000 marchers
• Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of
1965 – one million African Americans were
registered to vote
A Shift in Mood
• Some people moved from the nonviolent
strategies to more aggressive ones
• SNCC and “Black Panthers” confronted police
• Malcolm X preached black separatism
• Race riots in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Newark
• Lester Maddox became governor of Georgia in
1967. Had forcibly turned black activists who
challenged segregation at the restaurant he had
owned. Very popular with Georgians who
supported segregation.
• April 1968: Dr. King assassinated in Memphis, TN
while working with striking sanitation workers
Atlanta: A Case Study in
Change
• Integration in Atlanta was relatively peaceful
• Church leaders get much credit for this peaceful
change
• William Hartsfield: Atlanta mayor who expanded
Atlanta’s airport and worked with African
American and white leaders; worked to integrate
Atlanta’s schools
• Ivan Allen: Atlanta mayor ordered removal of
“white” and “colored” segregation signs in the City
Hall; integrated police and fire services and city
government
• Troubled times followed but were overcome
• The city became known as “the city too busy to
hate”
African Americans Take
Office
• Maynard Jackson: Elected mayor of Atlanta
in 1973 (1st African American mayor of a
major southern city).
• Andrew Young: An aide to Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. and Executive director of the
SCLC. In 1972, won election to the U.S.
House of Representatives (1st African
American from GA to be elected to
Congress since the 1860’s).
New Technology
• Television use expanded in the 1950s
– ABC, CBS, NBC were major networks
– Entertainment was important
– Entertainment was important; People could now watch
news events almost as they happened
• Transformation of Agriculture:
– New synthetic (man made) fabrics became popular.
– Examples: Rayon and Nylon
– Reduced the need for cotton; as the demand for cotton fell
other crops/plants began to be grown in place of cotton;
trees, peanuts, soybeans, and corn were some of the
major examples
– New farming technology (i.e. tractors and harvesters)
helped improve the amount of products that farmers could
grow.
Industries Move into
Georgia
• Businesses continued to move into the state
• Air conditioning began to be installed
making year round work more comfortable
• Georgia’s low taxes were attractive to
workers and businesses
• Lockheed became largest employer
• CDC: Centers for Disease Control – Atlanta
headquarters established
The Cold War
• Relations between the US and USSR
became tense
• Cold War: a war of words and diplomacy
• US and USSR were world’s most powerful
countries
• USSR kept eastern Europe in communism
behind the “iron curtain”
• Containment of communism led to war in
Korea and Vietnam
The Korean War
• Korea was divided after WWII
• 38th parallel was line between communist North
and democratic South
• June 25, 1950: North Korea invaded South
Korea
• United Nations countries sent troops to assist
South Korea
• 25,000 Americans killed; 500 Georgians
• Peace declared in July 1953; no winner
• Many businesses benefited from doing business
with the military bases and armed forces
The Three Governors
Episode
• Newly re-elected governor Eugene
Talmadge died before taking his 4th term of
office in 1946
• The previous governor, Ellis Arnall, the
Lieutenant Governor, and Talmadge’s son,
Herman, fought over who would govern
• The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that a
special election must be held
• Herman Talmadge was elected governor in
1947
Georgia Governors
• Melvin Thomas: purchased Jekyll Island to
build a state-owned resort; established UGA
Veterinary School
• Herman Talmadge: Strict segregationist.
Minimum Foundation Program for Education
Act – established 9-month school year
raised standards for schools
• Marvin Griffin: began educational television;
oversaw purchase of Stone Mountain for
park
Georgia Governors (Cont.)
• Carl Sanders: elected in 1962; worked to
diffuse racial violence; increased spending
on education; used television ads to
campaign
• Lester Maddox: elected 1967; surprise
winner; appointed more African Americans
to state office than all other governors
combined; integrated the State Patrol;
“People’s Days” – any Georgian could visit
and talk with the governor
Atlanta’s Mayors
• William Hartsfield: Served as Atlanta’s mayor
longer than any other person (6 terms from 19371961). Presided over many building projects
including expressways and parks throughout the
city. After his death in 1971 the Atlanta airport
was renamed after him.
• Ivan Allen, Jr.: Served as Atlanta’s mayor from
1962-1970. Only politician from the South to
speak in favor of the Civil Rights Act. Helped to
bring the Braves from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to
Atlanta.
Major League Sports Teams
• Atlanta Braves: Moved to Atlanta in 1966.
Bought by Ted Turner in 1976. Braves
games began being broadcast nationwide
on TBS. Won the World Series in 1995 (first
professional title in Atlanta’s history).
• Atlanta Falcons: Played their first NFL game
in 1966. Played in the Super Bowl in 1998.
• Atlanta Hawks: NBA team, moved from St.
Louis, Missouri to Atlanta in 1968.
Ellis Arnall
• Elected Georgia’s governor in 1942
• Helped to fix the accreditation issues with
the University of Georgia (during Eugene
Talmadge’s time as governor) by helping the
board of regents become a separate body
from the governor’s office.
• Removed Georgia’s prison system from
under the control of the governor.
• Under Governor Arnall, Georgia became the
first state in the Union to grant 18-year olds
the right to vote.
Transportation Systems
• Interstate Highway System: Makes transportation
through the city easier. Interstates, such as I-20, I-75,
and I-85, go through the city of Atlanta. I-95 goes from
Florida to Maine and I-75 goes from Miami to Michigan.
• Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport: One of the
busiest airports in the world. Named after two Atlanta
mayors (William Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson).
• Georgia’s Deepwater Ports: Two major deepwater ports
(Savannah and Brunswick). Goods (products) made in
Georgia are frequently shipped to other parts of the
world through these ports.
• Railroads: Allowed for efficient transportation of people
and products over land.
• These four transportation systems are important to GA’s
economy as they allow people and goods to move
throughout the state.
Political Changes
• “One Person, One Vote”: The concept that
each citizen’s vote should equal every
other citizen’s vote
• County-unit system was declared
unconstitutional in 1962
• This change caused more representatives
to come from urban areas
• Reapportionment – General Assembly had
to reapportion (redraw) voting districts to
ensure districts of equal population size
Georgia in the 1970s
• Ted Turner: TBS television network expanded
from one station to a national network
• MARTA: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit
Authority – began rapid rail service in Atlanta
• James (“Jimmy”) Earl Carter: 1970 – elected
governor of Georgia; 1977-1980 served as
President of the United States
– As president, negotiated peace between Israel and
Egypt
– Problems as president: high energy costs, high interest
rates, high inflation, 52 American hostages held in Iran
• Georgia cities began to lose population to the
suburbs; cities have began to work to attract
residents
Jimmy Carter
• Born: October 1, 1924 in Plains, GA.
• Elected to the GA Senate in 1962 and 1964.
• Elected as governor of GA in 1970. Worked to
streamline Georgia’s government and improve
education in rural areas.
• Won the presidential election in 1976. Worked to
develop peaceful relations between numerous
countries. Due to the Iranian hostage crisis and
economic problems during his presidency,
President Carter lost the 1980 election to Ronald
Reagan.
The Women’s Rights
Movement
• Women’s Rights Movement: women gained
confidence that they could do the same jobs as
men and should have the same rights
• Women often could not get credit at banks
• NOW: National Organization for Women –
promoted women’s rights issues
• ERA: Equal Rights Amendment – never became
part of the Constitution
• 1972: Title IX – President Nixon signed law which
prohibited discrimination in education (academics
or athletics)
Vietnam Divides America
• North Vietnam: communist
• South Vietnam: democratic
• USA began support South Vietnam against
the North
• 1968: Over 500,000 Americans involved in
Vietnam War
• Protests against the war increased
• 1973: war ended with no clear victor –
Vietnam is now united and communist
Watergate
• 1972: Group of men arrested for breaking
into the Watergate building in Washington,
DC to “bug” Democratic National Committee
offices
• Evidence supported that President Nixon
knew of the burglary and tried to cover it up
• Nixon resigned and Vice-President Gerald
Ford became president
The Energy Crisis
• 1973: US supports Israel in its war with
Egypt
• Arab nations stop selling oil to the US
• Price of gas went up and there were
shortages
• Georgians began to drive less and purchase
fuel-efficient cars
• Prudhoe Bay, Alaska: Alaskan Pipeline
brought oil to the “lower 48” states
The End of the Cold War
• Ronald Reagan: “Great Communicator”
elected president – served 1981-1989
• Reaganomics: “supply-side” economics, tax
cuts, heavy defense spending, limited
government, limited regulation on business
• Reagan tough with USSR
• By end of 1980s, Cold War ending
• Mikhail Gorbachev: leader of USSR
• 1989: Berlin Wall came down
• 1991: Communist USSR government
collapsed
Rise of the Two-Party System
• Political shift in Georgia (and other southern states) during the
1980’s and 1990’s.
• Increase in the amount of conservatives (mainly Republicans),
especially in national elections. As more Republicans were
elected to office Georgia began to have a real Two-Party
(Democrats and Republicans) System for the first time in over
100 years.
• Notable Elections in the rise of the Two-Party System:
– 1980 – Mack Mattingly becomes first Republican elected to
the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.
– 1992 – Republicans win most Georgia’s congressional
elections; however, Atlanta Democrat Cynthia McKinney
became the first African American woman from GA to be
elected to Congress.
– 1994 – Republicans gain a majority in the U.S. House of
Representatives for the first time in 40 years; GA’s Newt
Gingrich is elected Speaker of the House.
– 2002 – Sonny Perdue elected Governor of GA; first
Republican Governor since Reconstruction.
1996 Olympic Summer
Games
• 1996 Olympic Summer Games held in Atlanta,
Georgia. Events were also held in the cities of
Savannah, Columbus, Athens, Gainesville, and
Cleveland.
• Major economic impact on Georgia. Hotels added
7,500 new rooms and new sports venues and event
sites were created (such as the Georgia Dome and
Centennial Olympic Park)
• More than 72 million visitors came to Atlanta during
the Olympics
• Helped to create large amounts of tax revenue for
Atlanta, Georgia. Also, helped to increase the
popularity and media exposure of Atlanta as a
major southern city.
Immigrants Coming to GA
• Immigrants – People who move to an area from other
countries.
• 1965 – Large numbers of immigrants began coming to
the United States.
• By the 1970’s almost 4.5 million people legally entered
the country.
• In the 1990’s almost 9 million people came to the
United States. 80% of these came from Asia, the
Caribbean, or Latin America.
• Many of the immigrants coming to the United States
are illegal immigrants. In 1986, the Immigration Reform
and Control Act created penalties and punishments for
companies that hire illegal immigrants. However, these
immigrants often times help fill jobs in farming and
manufacturing.
“The Day That Changed
America”
• September 11, 2001: Islamic terrorists hijack US
passenger planes and crash them into the World
Trade Center and Pentagon
• One additional plane (United flight 93) was retaken by passengers but crashed in Pennsylvania
• WTC towers collapse killing 2,774
• The War on Terror began shortly after 9/11 as the
United States began to fight against countries that
harbored and funded terrorist groups.
Enduring Freedom and
Iraqi Freedom
• al-Qaeda linked to the September 11 attacks – based in
Afghanistan
• October 2001: Operation Enduring Freedom – US and
other nations’ troops invade Afghanistan to destroy alQaeda camps and destroy Taliban government
• Osama bin Laden escaped
• Saddam Hussein in Iraq continued to violate UN
resolutions regarding weapons of mass destruction and
inspections
• March 19, 2003: US and coalition forces attack Iraq –
combat phase over by May
• Weapons of mass destruction were not found
• Saddam Hussein captured and later executed on
December 30, 2006.
Challenges for the Future
• 8 million people live in Georgia – large increase
puts demands on environment; more traffic,
pollution and less resources.
• Three main challenges:
1. water resources
2. differences between urban (city) and rural (country) GA
3. tremendous population growth
• Alabama, Florida and US government have
demanded Georgia reduce water use and pollution
• Difficult to fund services such as schools in rural
areas as those areas do not generate enough tax
revenue (mainly through property and sales taxes).