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Who was Eugene Talmadge?

SS8H8 The student will analyze the important events that occurred after World War I and their impact on Georgia.

c. Discuss the impact of the political career of Eugene Talmadge.

Eugene Talmadge Questions

1. Who was Walter Cocking?

2. What did Walter do that angered Talmadge?

3. What does integration mean?

4. What does segregation mean?

5. How did Talmadge feel about racial integration?

6. What is the Board of Regents?

7. What did the Board of Regents agree to do?

8. How did the president of UGA react to the Board of Regents’ decision to fire Walter?

9. How did Talmadge ensure that things went his way?

10. What is accreditation?

11. What happened after the Board of Regents again voted not to rehire Walter?

12. By refusing to allow African Americans to enter UGA, the accrediting association said that UGA was in violation of what law?

13. Who replaced Talmadge after the next election and restored UGA’s accreditation?

Ellis Arnall to the Rescue!

During the next gubernatorial election, Talmadge was defeated.

Arnall promised voters that he would restore accreditation to the colleges.

This meant that college degrees from

Georgia colleges would be worthless.

People were very upset about that! They

started to see that Talmadge was ruining Georgia because of his foolish decisions.

Seriously,

Talmadge!?

The Board of Regents voted NOT to rehire Cocking.

As a result, this statement was released by the association that accredits colleges in the south east:

"In light of the decision to release Walter Cocking from his position at the University of Georgia and the failure of the state to acknowledge the Fourteenth Amendment that provides ALL citizens, regardless of color, equal protection under the laws, the SACSCC has decided to revoke Georgia state school accreditations. "

So then, this happened...

The Board of Regents would vote again

to decide if Cocking would be rehired.

Before the vote, Talmadge removed

members who he knew were on the side of Cocking and Caldwell and replaced them with people who would vote his way. He used his power to get what he wanted.

This made the President of UGA pretty upset.

Students and Faculty,

I am saddened by the news of the Board of Regents decision to support Governor Talmadge’s demands for the University of Georgia to support only staff that agree with Talmadge’s beliefs. The University of Georgia is open to all students that want to learn. To deny African Americans this right is to deny them the freedoms granted to them by the U.S. Constitution. I cannot condone such behavior. If this error in judgment is not corrected, I will submit my letter of resignation to the Board, and leave my position here as President of the University of Georgia.

President Caldwell

"The Cocking Affair"

In the summer of 1941, Talmadge set out to fire Walter Cocking, the dean of education at the University of Georgia. Cocking had allowed the school to permit African Americans. Talmadge was absolutely against integration. He convinced the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia to remove Cocking from his position, in order to restore segregation to the college.

In 1940, Talmadge ran for governor for a 3rd time and won by telling white voters the New Deal was trying to end segregation. He wouldn't let that happen. (As I said before, he was a white-supremacist...)

When the Social Security Administration was created, Talmadge made sure to veto measures that would have included Georgians in the program. Dissent for Talmadge started to grow more after that.

Foolishness, to Talmadge

His Views on the New Deal

"Talmadge wanted the labor paid on public works projects to be set in accord with Georgia's prevailing low wages, or even lower, so workers would have incentive to return to work for private employers. Appealing to white supremacy, he criticized New Deal programs that paid black workers as much as whites. To Talmadge, the New Deal was "a combination of 'wet nursin,' frenzied finance and plain damn foolishness." He courted the rural poor but allied himself with conservative business interests by opposing government regulation, welfare spending, and the interests of organized labor."

  • Governor Talmadge did not like President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs
  • Elected for the first time in 1932, he was admired by followers because of his white-supremacist, pro-evangelical, anti-corporate tirades
  • During his first two terms, from 1933-1937, he opposed and subverted many early New Deal assistance for Georgia

Career as Governor

  • Known for being flamboyant and opinionated
  • He is one of the most controversial governors in Georgia history
  • He used the county-unit voting system to his advantage by winning over rural farming communities
  • He won the governorship 4 (nonconsecutive) times, but died before he could be sworn into office on his fourth term.

Background Info

Eugene Talmadge was born on September. 23, 1884 in Forsyth, Georgia. He obtained a law degree from the University of Georgia in 1907. After unsuccessful races for the Georgia House and Senate, he ran for the office of Commissioner of Agriculture in 1926 and won. In 1932, he successfully campaigned for governor - the first of four times he would be elected to the state’s highest office (1932, 1934, 1940, and 1946).

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