123-543: Ivan Earnest Allen Jr. (March 15, 1911 – July 2, 2003), was an American businessman who served two terms as the 52nd mayor of Atlanta , during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Allen took the helm of the Ivan Allen Company, his father's office supply business, in 1946 and within three years had the company bringing in annual revenues of several millions of dollars. In 1961, he authored
246-486: A laissez-faire economic policy and individual action to improve the well-being of farmers. He maintained widespread support among Georgia's rural white communities. The State Senate concluded that Talmadge violated a state law requiring that fertilizer fees collected by the agriculture department be deposited in the state treasury. He was criticized for paying himself and family members more than $ 40,000 in salaries and expenses, and using department funds to make trips to
369-638: A white paper for revitalizing Atlanta. It was adopted by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and became the Six Point Forward Atlanta program. This plan would become his roadmap as mayor for creating an economic surge that established the infrastructure, business, education, arts, sports, and international presence that are the foundations for modern Atlanta. Allen was a founding member of Atlanta's influential Commerce Club, which he chaired until his death in 2003. He became president of
492-452: A 45-year-old restaurant owner and staunch segregationist. Allen was carried to victory by 63,522 votes, while Maddox received 35,922 votes. Allen gained much of his support from the black community, which made up 40 percent of the city's population at the time. He took office in early 1962, replacing outgoing Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield , who was retiring after 23 years in office. In June 1962, during his first term as mayor, Allen took
615-562: A Dream " speech, also calling for racial equality and an end to discrimination, later proving to be a very defining moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Excerpts from Allen's testimony were published in newspapers the day after he spoke in front of Congress: "I am firmly convinced that the Supreme Court insists the same fundamental rights must be held by every American citizen. Therefore, any failure by Congress to pass
738-557: A Los Angeles newspaper that while he didn't have time to read many books, he read Adolf Hitler 's book Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") seven times. The Nazi publication Die Bewegung reprinted the interview with Talmadge and praised him, stating that "Governor Eugene Talmadge, of Georgia, is obviously a very intelligent man." In 1938, Talmadge challenged incumbent U.S. senator Walter F. George . Though George had sided with 34 of Roosevelt's 44 New Deal proposals, he refused to support some of
861-613: A Southern conservative, vehemently attacking the nationalization of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal . He objected to policies favorable to black people, the farm programs, and relief-work programs such as the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps . Talmadge believed the New Deal relief programs were encouraging people to be lazy, telling a reporter: "The way to handle
984-483: A Talmadge supporter threw a canister of tear gas at the students, an incident that attracted much negative comment and led to demands that Talmadge discipline his "hoodlums" who always patrolled his rallies. Talmadge was so unpopular with students that his campaign workers in the university town of Athens urged him not to hold a campaign rally there, predicting that more people would come out to boo him than cheer him. Realizing that Arnall had cast himself as stronger on
1107-555: A better future for humankind. After Allen's death on July 2, 2003, at the age of 92, he was buried at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta. His remains were reinterred at Oakland Cemetery alongside other family members in 2009. Ivan Allen Jr. was awarded a Doctor of Public Service degree from Georgia Tech and honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Morris Brown College , Juniata College , Clark College , Morehouse College , LaGrange College , Emory University , and Davidson College . He
1230-477: A candidate for governor. He alluded to the fact that no Atlantan in forty years had won the race for governor, mostly as a result of rural Georgian apprehension towards the leaders from the "large, liberal cities". Allen wrote, "As a businessman I have analyzed the market and found that I am not a saleable product...No matter how clear and unequivocal I made my support of segregation, I was still from Atlanta". In 1961, he ran for Mayor of Atlanta against Lester Maddox,
1353-547: A convention in Macon, Georgia , in January 1936 that brought together fragments of the old Huey P. Long coalition. The Macon convention turned out to be a media disaster that ended Talmadge's presidential hopes. The populist platform that Talmadge drafted at his Macon convention, with its call for more silver to be mined to support the silver standard , more protectionism, more states rights, more isolationism, and less immigration
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#17327901387421476-502: A conviction about the moral rightness of racial equality – a belief would lead Allen to place himself at the center of a firestorm. Even before becoming mayor, Allen was involved in efforts to bring desegregation to Atlanta for the sake of Atlanta's businesses and city image. As president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, he worked closely with Judge A.T. Walden, longtime African-American leader; Opie Shelton, vice-president of
1599-467: A dean at the University of Georgia, had advocated bringing black and white students together in the classroom, Talmadge launched an attack on the university, charging elitism, and called for the regents to remove Cocking and purge the university of communists, "foreigners" (non-Georgians), and subscribers to racial equality. The university board of regents at first refused Talmadge's demands, but after
1722-683: A leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee claimed that Allen then instructed police to, "get them out of here, if you have to tear it down brick by brick," referring to their homes. Mayor Allen challenged members of Atlanta's prestigious Commerce Club to accept African American businessmen. When Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Allen helped organize a 1,500-person bi-racial banquet to honor him (Atlanta
1845-479: A little dictator in him?" Talmadge's biographer, William Anderson, wrote that Talmadge's admiration for Nazi Germany, his tendency to surround himself with paramilitary followers, and his frequent calls for martial law gave "an eerie backing" for his words. At the same time, the Cocking Affair had badly damaged Talmadge's reputation. Arnall was a supporter of segregation, whose views on race were essentially
1968-587: A major. When the War ended, an old college friend who was also the progressive young Governor of Georgia, Ellis Arnall , went to Washington and asked the Secretary of Defense to release Allen from his duties. Allen was discharged and immediately became executive secretary to Governor Arnall until March 1946. He was later chief of staff for Governor M.E. Thompson (1947–1948). While working at Ivan Allen–Marshall Company, he began to participate in civic affairs, such as
2091-506: A majority of 246 county unit votes, while Talmadge won just 102,464 popular votes and 148 unit votes. Talmadge's victory over Roosevelt's candidate Camp, who secured just 78,223 popular votes and 16 unit votes, surprised his critics. Talmadge was elected again as governor in 1940 and returned to the governor's office in 1941, emerging as the leader of racist and segregationist elements in Georgia. Responding to reports that Walter Cocking ,
2214-590: A majority of the county unit votes and therefore the primary. Winning the nomination of the Democratic Party was tantamount to automatic victory in the general election. He was sworn in on January 10, 1933. Because all counties were given equal weight, the County Unit System gave outsized power to the rural counties, which were Talmadge's base. He boasted, "I can carry any county that ain't got street cars." He made twelve campaign promises,
2337-557: A member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society and Sigma Nu fraternity. In 1909, he married Mattie Thurmond Peterson and the couple had three children, including Herman Talmadge . In 1908, the Democratic-dominated legislature passed a constitutional amendment that effectively disenfranchised most African Americans in Georgia. This institutionalized the Democratic Party's dominance in the state, in
2460-666: A member on the Atlanta Citizens Advisory Committee on Urban Renewal. He was elected president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in 1960 and, in 1961, proposed the Six Point Forward Atlanta program, which became the cornerstone of his platform in his successful campaign for mayor in 1961. In 1954, Ivan Allen Jr. made a brief bid for Georgia Governor on a segregationist platform. In a field of nine candidates, he lost to segregationist Marvin Griffin . In 1957, Allen resigned from his position as president of
2583-462: A note requesting a private meeting with the president. His staff responded by a note apologizing for Roosevelt not having the time to see the governor, and vaguely promising him a private meeting at the White House sometime in 1935. By early 1935, Talmadge was working on an alliance with US Senator Huey Long (D-Louisiana), who was planning on running against Roosevelt in 1936. When asked what
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#17327901387422706-468: A pattern that had been repeated across most of the former Confederate states since 1890, when Mississippi was the first to pass such legislation. He started his legal career in Montgomery County where he also owned a farm. From 1918 to 1920, he started his political career as the solicitor for McRae, Georgia . He was the county attorney for Telfair County between 1920 and 1923. He joined
2829-424: A press conference and asked Massell to immediately withdraw from consideration "for an office which requires intuitive integrity and instinctive withdrawal from even the suspicion and appearance of evil." Despite the backlash he received, Allen wrote, "Had my candidate, Rodney Cook been involved in the same affair I am convinced I would have taken the same action – except... I would have gone into greater detail to make
2952-541: A relief program was like how Mussolini was handling it in Italy, namely to line these people up and take the troops and make them work". Talmadge tried to build a region-wide coalition, making a national speaking tour in preparation for a challenge to FDR in 1936. Talmadge's main allies were the Reverend Gerald L. K. Smith , who had been the principal organizer of Long's Share Our Wealth Clubs; John Henry Kirby ,
3075-474: A scale make possible a reasonable American standard of living". For all his populism and his self-image as the defender of the small white farmers of Georgia, Talmadge tended to side with the interests of the wealthier land-owning families of the state. He was strongly opposed to Roosevelt's efforts to raise wages in the South, believing that this would undercut the South's only economic advantage, namely of having
3198-503: A segregationist. However, his business pragmatism led him to become an advocate for African American rights. He believed that to flourish, Atlanta must address its racial issues. Eventually, however, Allen was deeply affected by daily, firsthand dealings he faced with racial issues, as well as the profound questions African American citizens posed to him about their humanity and the cultural system that refused to recognize them. His pragmatic support of racial integration transformed rapidly into
3321-585: A spot on the honor roll. In 1929, he enrolled in the School of Commerce at the Georgia Institute of Technology . During his first year at Georgia Tech, he was one of only five students in the student body of about two thousand to make straight A's. He graduated cum laude in 1933, with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce. While at Georgia Tech, he served as president of the student body, vice president of
3444-503: A supporter of segregation, albeit not in quite the same crude terms as Talmadge had, meant that for many white Georgians there was no difference between the candidates on "the Negro question", and therefore neutralized Talmadge's advantage as a defender of white supremacy. Furthermore, men were more likely to vote for Talmadge than women, and in 1942, many Georgian men were serving in the military, thus leading to women being over-represented in
3567-540: A very personal basis. And I think I took some of my friends with me". Allen continued to engage racial issues throughout his eight years in office. He worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. By the time he stepped down, Atlanta was at the forefront of progress in public accommodations, school desegregation, voting rights, housing, and employment. Black citizens occupied positions on
3690-595: A wealthy Texas businessman who had been a leading Long supporter; and novelist Thomas Dixon Jr. , a white supremacist whose books glorifying the Ku Klux Klan were very popular at the time. Talmadge's bid was being financed with some $ 41,000 contributed by Alfred Sloan , CEO of General Motors , together with money from the Raskob and du Pont families. His Southern Committee to Uphold the Constitution organized
3813-458: Is going to help ya". This message was intended to appeal to the white farmers who traditionally supported Talmadge, but may have inadvertently hurt him as even many of Talmadge's rural supporters knew that a better education represented their children's best hope of escaping poverty, and did not appreciate the implied message that the best thing that could happen to their children would be to follow their parents in lives of drudgery and poverty. As
Ivan Allen Jr. - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-578: Is presented annually. A memorial statue of Ivan Allen Sr., Ivan Allen Jr., and Ivan Allen III was commissioned for the Olympic Games and stands in Centennial Olympic Park , adjacent to the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce headquarters. The Atlanta Braves ' museum and hall of fame at the now-demolished Turner Field was named in his honor. List of mayors of Atlanta This is a list of mayors of Atlanta , Georgia . The mayor
4059-422: Is the highest elected official in Atlanta. Since its incorporation in 1847, the city has had 61 mayors. The current mayor is Andre Dickens who was elected in the 2021 election and took office in January 2022. The term of office was one year until Cicero C. Hammock 's second term (1875–77), when a new city charter changed it to two years. The term was changed to four years in 1929, giving Isaac N. Ragsdale
4182-946: The Boy Scouts and the Community Chest . He served as a member of the state Board of Education and the state Department of Veteran Services. He was a director of the Bank of Georgia, a trustee at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, an executive board member of the state's Family Welfare Society and of the Atlanta YMCA, president of the Young Democrats Club of Georgia, and president of the Atlanta Improvement Association (1951). For almost ten years, he led
4305-590: The Democratic Party and twice ran for the Georgia state legislature , losing in 1920 and 1922. He was elected as the Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture in 1926, defeating J. J. Brown. Talmadge was re-elected commissioner in 1928 and 1930. As commissioner, Talmadge used the newspaper of his department to give advice to farmers and promote his political views, extolling the virtues of
4428-477: The Kentucky Derby . Accused of "stealing" $ 20,000 in order to raise the price of hogs, Talmadge told one group of farmers, "Sure, I stole it! But I stole it for you." The State House declined requests to impeach Talmadge but agreed to sue him to recover state funds spent on the hog price manipulation scheme. When Governor Richard B. Russell Jr. referred the suit to the state attorney general, however,
4551-409: The U.S. Congress in support of a federal law mandating public accommodations for African Americans. This law, particularly directed at those [restaurants and hotels] in the South that continued to close their doors to blacks by arguing private property rights, would force any private business, however remotely involved in interstate commerce, to open its doors to every person regardless of race. Against
4674-573: The University of Georgia . During one summer as a college student he served as postmaster, strung tennis rackets, and worked as a counselor for young campers at Camp Greenbriar in Alderson, West Virginia. He was paid $ 500 and invested this money in Coca-Cola stock, of which he wrote was "my first investment and probably the greatest I ever made". After graduating from Georgia Tech in 1933 during
4797-545: The primary , but Russell defeated Talmadge by a landslide and Talmadge's presidential hopes collapsed. Talmadge's handpicked candidate for governor, Charles Redwine, lost the 1936 Georgia gubernatorial election to pro-New Deal Democrat Eurith D. Rivers by an overwhelming margin. In 1936, according to a United Press (UP) article printed in the Atlanta Constitution on August 21, 1936, titled "Gene Selects Hitler as Favorite 'Author'", Talmadge reportedly told
4920-425: The "Equal Primary". Talmadge's family and advisers sought to persuade him not to run, warning that due to his failing health that a grueling campaign might kill him, but he refused to step aside in favor of his son Herman who had been groomed as his heir, saying "Naw, I'm the only goddamn son of a bitch who can win". Talmadge's campaign was noted for its violent racist rhetoric as he boasted about assaulting and flogging
5043-533: The "arsenal of democracy". He said that money spent in aiding Britain, China and the Soviet Union would have been better spent on helping the poor farmers of Georgia. The fact that Talmadge had an admiration for Hitler and voiced such strong support for Japan's war against China that the Japanese government invited him to visit Japan on all-expenses paid vacation (an offer he declined) led to allegations that he
Ivan Allen Jr. - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-403: The $ 100 million Peachtree Center complex were all built during Allen's mayoralty. Between 1965 and 1969, convention business in Atlanta doubled, with 400,000 delegates spending $ 60 million. Mayor Allen also played a key role in bringing Major League Sports to Atlanta. In a politically risky move, he backed the construction of the $ 18 million Atlanta-Fulton Stadium, which attracted
5289-466: The African American community, along with his advocacy for the public accommodation of African Americans in the white community, allowed Allen to guide Atlanta through the turbulence of racial integration without the violence that occurred in many southern cities. In a key address to the public, he asked Atlantans to eliminate racial segregation and in doing so, to set an example to inspire "all
5412-540: The Allen family to carry forward Mayor Allen's legacy, Georgia Tech 's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts awarded the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service from 2001 to 2010. In 2010, Georgia Tech established the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage . Awarded for the first time in 2011, it recognizes those around the world whose life and work embody Mayor Allen's moral imperative and compassion in shaping
5535-465: The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; and 25 owners and managers of Atlanta's leading department, variety, and chain stores to come to an agreement of the full desegregation of downtown stores and lunch counters. On his first day in office, he ordered all "white" and "colored" signs removed from City Hall and desegregated the cafeteria. This was the first of many steps he took to advance integration. Allen authorized black Atlanta policemen to arrest whites, hired
5658-609: The Atlanta Rotary Club. That year, he refused to publicly endorse any particular candidate in the mayoral race, until just days before the runoff between Sam Massell and Rodney Cook, when reports surfaced suggesting that Allen's vice-mayor and mayoral-elect, Massell, had abused his power as vice-mayor through misuse of the Atlanta Police Department. On the Sunday before the election, Allen called for
5781-674: The Community Chest and United Way, president of the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. In 1947, he was selected to head the Community Chest fund drive, during which time he became the first white member of the Community Chest leadership to attend the opening fundraising dinner for the black division of the Community Chest. In 1958, he served as
5904-495: The Democratic primary. In the primary, Arnall won 174,575 votes to Talmadge's 128,394. Even the "county unit system", which worked to Talmadge's advantage in the past, failed to save him in 1942. Arnall won 242 unit votes to Talmadge's 149. Just after Talmadge left office in January 1943, it emerged that since 1940 he had been receiving food grown on the state prison farms for free, an allegation that he admitted to, saying he
6027-706: The Georgia National Guard and deported to New York City. Although often tied to both controversy and corruption, Talmadge was re-elected in 1934, carrying every county but three in the state's Democratic primary. When the Public Service Commission, a body elected by the voters, refused to lower utility rates, he appointed a new board to get it done. When the Highway Board resisted his efforts to control it, Talmadge declared martial law and appointed more cooperative members to
6150-518: The Georgia State Chamber of Commerce, hired a press agent, and delivered speeches across Georgia as a potential candidate for the 1958 Gubernatorial Election. Again, he ran on a segregationist platform, but emphasized the "peace and tranquility necessary to continue our economic development program". In the coming years he would drastically change his political philosophy on segregation. In December 1957, he announced that he would not be
6273-787: The Inter-Fraternity Council, cadet colonel of the ROTC , president of Omicron Delta Kappa , vice-president of ANAK, president of the Georgia Phi chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, was a member of the Honor Roll, and a member of the Dean's List. At one point, he led a student protest against Governor Eugene Talmadge when the board of regents abolished the School of Commerce at Tech and moved it to
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#17327901387426396-785: The Interstate 285 perimeter and the Downtown Connector, and presided over the creation of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) , which would take over the old Atlanta Transit system and build the MARTA rail system. The $ 13 million Memorial Arts Center (now the Woodruff Arts Center ) was established as a memorial to the victims of the 1962 Orly plane crash. The $ 10 Million Atlanta Civic Center and
6519-479: The Ku Klux Klan), an organization that Talmadge had at least been friendly with. His 1946 death right before his inauguration precipitated the 1947 " three governors controversy " among Arnall, Melvin E. Thompson , and Talmadge's son Herman . While the general assembly elected his son, Herman Talmadge to take his father's place, the newly elected lieutenant governor Melvin E. Thompson claimed his right to
6642-539: The Milwaukee Braves baseball team in 1965, the new NFL franchised Falcons football team in 1966, and the St. Louis Hawks basketball team arrived in 1968 Local Black leaders criticized him for demolishing a Black neighborhood to build it. His building program, with its emphasis on developing downtown, was opposed by some of Atlanta's black leaders as not adequately meeting the need for low-income housing. Despite
6765-558: The United States's entry into World War II because he wanted to create the social changes that would end white supremacy, causing him to engage in long tirades against Roosevelt, the New Deal, World War II and black Americans. Talmadge's newspaper, The Statesman printed editorials written by himself claiming that Roosevelt was compromising American sovereignty, making the allegation that the British prime minister Winston Churchill
6888-414: The [Civil Rights] bill would amount to an endorsement of private business setting up an entirely new status of discrimination throughout the nation... I submit that it is not right to allow an American's citizenship to be changed merely as a matter of convenience.... I want to emphasize again that now is the time for legislative action. We cannot dodge this issue. We cannot look back over our shoulders or turn
7011-470: The allegations that it was Talmadge who led the lynch mob at Moore's Ford, the historian Robert Pratt stated: "I'm not surprised ... historians over the years have concluded the violently racist tone of his 1946 campaign may have been indirectly responsible for the violence that came at Moore's Ford. It's fair to say he's one of the most virulently racist governors the state has ever had." In 1946, Talmadge won Walton County by only 200 votes. Talmadge lost
7134-523: The black sharecroppers who worked for his family as a young man and he claimed to have chased a black man down the street with an ax because he sat next to a white woman. His 1946 campaign is described by historians as explicitly white supremacist . In June 2007, previously sealed FBI files revealed that Talmadge was investigated by the FBI over suspicions he sanctioned the Moore's Ford lynching . Though Talmadge
7257-444: The board. When the state treasurer and comptroller general refused to cooperate, the governor ordered state police to remove them physically from their offices in the state capitol. Critics denounced him as a dictator, a demagogue, and a threat to the tranquility of the state. His supporters considered him to be a friend of the "common man" and one of the state's most outstanding governors. In October 1934, Talmadge ousted John Cohen ,
7380-583: The brother of a white man stabbed by a black man named Roger Malcolm, outside of the courthouse in Monroe, Georgia, promising he would "take care of the Negro" in exchange for the Hester family using their influence to help win Walton County. On July 25, 1946, the car carrying Malcolm, who had been bailed out of jail, was stopped by a group of about 30 white men at Moore's Ford. Malcolm, his wife Dorothy, and
7503-498: The city Chamber of Commerce in 1961 and during this same year ran for mayor, defeating the staunch segregationist, Lester Maddox . Convinced that the South could never thrive economically under segregation, Allen supported the demands of African Americans for their accommodation at public facilities. On his first day in office, he ordered the removal of all "white" and "colored" signs from facilities in city hall. Racial alliances forged by Allen with Martin Luther King Jr. and others in
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#17327901387427626-646: The city board of aldermen and the board of education. Ivan Allen Jr. married Louise Richardson Allen (1917–2008), granddaughter of the influential Atlanta businessman, Hugh T. Inman, on New Year's Day in 1936. They were married for sixty-six years before Allen's death. They had three sons, Ivan Allen III (1938–1992), Hugh Inman, and Beaumont (1951–2014). At the time of Allen Jr.'s death, he was survived by his wife, sons Hugh Inman and Beaumont, daughters-in-law Margaret (Mrs. Ivan Allen III), Tricia (Mrs. Hugh Inman Allen) and Sally (Mrs. Beaumont Allen), seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Ivan Allen Jr. graduated in
7749-478: The city's first black firefighters, and quickly put Atlanta ahead of every other city in the South as far as hiring black workers for positions "other than the most menial jobs". He painstakingly negotiated agreements for the accommodation of African Americans at 18 private and public facilities including hotels, swimming pools, and restaurants. Many Atlanta restaurants and other public facilities desegregated by mutual agreement between their owners and Mayor Allen before
7872-508: The city's twelve tallest buildings were constructed during the sixties, and the Atlanta International Airport (now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ), acquired its first direct international air routes and saw its ranking change from the tenth-busiest airport in the nation to the third-busiest. In an attempt to manage the city's vast increase in traffic, Allen oversaw the early phases of construction of
7995-434: The clock back to the eighteen-sixties. We must take action now to assure a greater future for our citizens and our country.... Now the elimination of segregation, which is slavery's stepchild, is a challenge to all of us to make every American free in fact as well as in theory..." Allen described that to be the moment which made civil rights a very personal matter to him: "I have to be honest with myself and admit that up until
8118-415: The counsel of even Atlanta's most prominent black leaders, Allen chose to go to Washington and deliver his testimony, knowing it would most likely ruin his political career and deeply affect his personal and business relationships. Nevertheless, with the support of his wife and very few others, Allen risked his place in society, his political future, the safety of his family, and ultimately his life to advocate
8241-447: The criticisms, however, there was more low-income housing built during Allen's eight years as mayor than the entire thirty years prior to that. Allen wrote, "It is wonderful to be idealistic and to speak about human values, but you are not going to be able to do one thing about them if you are not economically strong. If there is any one slogan I lived by as mayor of Atlanta, that would be it". As mentioned earlier, Allen had initially been
8364-642: The depths of the Great Depression , Allen refused offers from other companies and began his lifetime of work in the family business, which was at the time called the Ivan Allen–Marshall Company. That summer, he worked in the basement of the business, learning from a black employee named Arthur Wright and earning $ 100 per month. At the time, the business consisted of one Atlanta store and grossed $ 196,000. In 1936, he married Louise Richardson, granddaughter of Hugh T. Inman , and member of one of
8487-420: The education issue, Talmadge changed tactics and announced simply that the loss of accreditation to Georgia's universities did not matter, saying at one rally in a rural area: "They talk about education. It ain't never taught a man how to plant cotton. It ain't made a garden bloom. It ain't never taught the experience necessary to raise cows and chickens. You gotta git out and do them things, and no school education
8610-411: The futures of all the students attending the universities. At a time when most Georgians were living in poverty and few attended higher education, the possibility that those young people who were lucky enough to attend university or might be would lose their chances to escape lives of poverty was widely regarded as unacceptable. Those Georgians whose children were attending the university were outraged that
8733-603: The futures of their children had been at risk, and those whose children were not attending university had hopes that someday they might. The students at Georgia's universities and colleges campaigned vigorously against Talmadge, putting on skits that mocked the governor as a power-crazed buffoon just before football games. They were disproportionately over-represented as volunteers in the Arnall campaign. When Talmadge held campaign rallies, students showed up to chant "To Hell with Talmadge!" At one Talmadge campaign rally on July 2, 1942,
8856-417: The governor and became president his father's company in 1946. In 1948, Marshall died and willed his half of the Ivan Allen–Marshall Company to Allen Jr., giving the Allen family ownership of the firm. By 1949, the firm had more than two hundred employees and annual revenues of several million dollars. Together with his father, he changed the name to the Ivan Allen Company in 1953. The company would flourish over
8979-497: The governor restructured the board, the university dismissed numerous staff. This intervention into academic affairs caused the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to remove accreditation from the Georgia state universities. It also contributed to Talmadge's defeat by Ellis Arnall in 1942. In 1940–1941, Talmadge took a strongly isolationist line and was opposed to Roosevelt's policy of having America be
9102-483: The lowest wages in the United States. Roosevelt by contrast believed that raising wages would increase consumption and hence spur the economy out of the Great Depression. When Georgia textile workers went on strike on September 1, 1934, Talmadge declared martial law during the third week of the strike. He directed four thousand National Guard troops to arrest all picketers throughout the state. He ordered
9225-461: The modern stay in office. Though a political party is listed where known, the mayoral election is officially non-partisan, so candidates do not represent their party when elected. In recent history, the viable candidates in the race have primarily been Democrats . See the mayors of Atlanta category for an alphabetical list by surname. — acting Mayor Eugene Talmadge Eugene Talmadge (September 23, 1884 – December 21, 1946)
9348-511: The more so as the social changes caused by the war were threatening Talmadge's vision of what an ideal America should be. In particular, the first tentative gains made by the Civil rights movement in the war years enraged Talmadge, who predicated that even the modest gains being made by black Americans during the war would eventually lead to the end of white supremacy in the South. Talmadge convinced himself that Roosevelt had deliberately engineered
9471-528: The most controversial of which was to lower the price of an automobile license to $ 3, putting them within reach of the poorest farmers. The state legislature intensely debated the $ 3 license fee issue, but did not pass it. After it adjourned, Talmadge fixed the $ 3 fee by proclamation. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt developed the New Deal with programs to hire unemployed men to work on various public works projects. These were often for needed infrastructure identified by
9594-636: The most prominent families in Atlanta. He continued working at the company until he was called to the army to serve in World War II from 1942 to 1945. After the War, he worked in the Georgia State Capitol statehouse from the fall of 1945 until the spring of 1946. In March 1946, Allen Sr. asked his son to return to the family business, in light of the fact that his partner, Charles Marshall, was in poor health and had decided to retire. Allen resigned from his position as executive secretary to
9717-420: The next four decades under his leadership and that of his late son, Ivan Allen III, becoming the region's preeminent office supplies and furniture dealer, with 17 offices across the South. Ivan Allen Jr. was president of Ivan Allen Company from 1946 to 1970 and chairman from 1970 to 1995. In 1988, the Ivan Allen Company boasted $ 116 million in revenues. In 1999, the supplies division of the Ivan Allen Company
9840-517: The other black couple riding in the car, George and Mae Murray Dorsey, were marched out of the car, lined up and shot. The FBI agent investigating the lynching called the allegation that Talmadge led the lynch mob "unbelievable", but he forwarded the allegation to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover "as it may be of some possible future interest." Talmadge's grandson, Herman Talmadge Jr, told the press: "I don't think my grandfather's involved in any lynching. If y'all are that far off, I feel sorry for you." About
9963-571: The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. By January 1964, 14 major Atlanta hotels and motels had publicly pledged to accept reservations regardless of race."I wasn't so all-fired liberal when I first moved into City Hall", Allen wrote. "But when I saw what the race-baiters were doing or could do to hold back the orderly growth of Atlanta, it infuriated me and eventually swung me to the extreme end opposite them". Despite his claims to have been committed to integration one of his first actions
10086-473: The popular vote in the Democratic primary to James V. Carmichael but won a majority of the "county unit votes". He died in December 1946, before he could be sworn in for his fourth term. The cause of death was hepatitis complicated with the effects of liver cirrhosis caused by his heavy drinking. Talmadge's coffin, while lying in state at the Georgia capital, was decorated with a wreath reading KKKK (Knights of
10209-465: The posture of representing these families and, indeed, the entire city of Atlanta, Georgia. I knew nothing about protocol, foreign relations, aviation, international agreements, or any of the other details I might become involved in. I was nothing but the Mayor of Atlanta and a friend and neighbor of 106 people who had been killed at this same airport only the day before...These were my lifelong friends. This
10332-453: The president. In 1933, one sharecropper wrote to Talmadge: "I wound't [wouldn't] plow nobody's mule from sunrise to sunset for 50 cents a day when I could get $ 1.30 for pretending to work on a DITCH". A disgusted Talmadge forwarded the letter to Roosevelt, together with his own letter that stated: "I take it that you approve of paying farm labor 40 to 50 cents per day". Roosevelt wrote back: "Somehow I cannot get into my head that wages on such
10455-425: The prisoners to be held behind the barbed wire of a former World War I prisoner of war camp for trial by a military tribunal . While the state interned about one hundred or so picketers, the show of force effectively ended picketing throughout most of the state. When Talmadge discovered that one of the employers had hired the notorious strikebreaker Pearl Bergoff , he had Bergoff and his two hundred men detained by
10578-567: The pro-New Deal chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party, and replaced him with Hugh Howell , a Talmadge partisan. Roosevelt met with Talmadge to ask him to save Cohen's job, a request that was refused, leading the president to suspect that this was the first step by Talmadge toward a possible presidential run in 1936. By late 1934, Talmadge's relationship with Roosevelt was fraying. In December 1934, when Roosevelt decided to spend Christmas at Warm Springs, Georgia , Talmadge sent
10701-476: The proposals in Roosevelt's second term. The president believed George had been "put out to pasture". Roosevelt tried to purge George and campaigned for his own candidate, Lawrence Camp . George, however, refused to criticize Roosevelt during the campaign and blamed the purge on Roosevelt's advisers. Despite the divide among the New Deal vote, George easily won the renomination, securing 141,922 popular votes and
10824-467: The public accommodation of African Americans. On July 26, 1963, Allen spoke before the U.S. Congress and the nation in support of what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He was the only prominent white southern elected official to do so. As a result, there were death threats made towards the Allen family, and many white friends and constituents never spoke to him again. Just one month after Allen's testimony, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his " I Have
10947-500: The public fully understand the seriousness of the situation". Sam Massell went on to win the election and succeed Allen as the 53rd mayor of Atlanta. Under Mayor Allen's Forward Atlanta program, the city's population grew more than 30 percent. Atlanta ranked in the top ten in the nation in downtown construction, with more than 55 new buildings constructed and 22,000 new jobs created each year. In 1969, Atlanta's unemployment rate at one point plummeted to an astonishing 1.9 percent. Eleven of
11070-492: The request to sue Talmadge was rejected. In 1932, Governor Richard B. Russell, Jr. ran as a candidate for the United States Senate. Talmadge ran for governor, appealing to white rural Georgia by idealizing the small farmer, and preaching what he said were the true values of rural America, such as rugged individualism, frugality, governmental economy, segregation, limited government, and low taxes. Talmadge won
11193-452: The same as Talmadge's, but he presented himself as a supporter of better education for Georgians. Arnall noted that nobody could beat Talmadge in what he cynically called the "nigger-hating contest", and argued that the issue in the "Cocking Affair" was not white supremacy, as Talmadge claimed, but education. Arnall charged that Georgia's universities losing their accreditation, which Talmadge presented as an achievement on his part, put at risk
11316-451: The scene of the riot, climbing a police car in an attempt to talk to and calm the crowd. He toppled from the car, uninjured, when the crowd repeatedly rocked the vehicle. Afterwards, he walked the streets – refusing to wear a riot helmet as the police did – urging the black residents to "please go home." "This is a good city", he shouted. "Help keep it that way, and go home". In his 1973 autobiography, The River of No Return , Cleveland Sellers
11439-479: The siren call of change that Gene found himself with one hoary root left, one last undeniable link to yesterday-the black. He alone anchored the old consciousness, the tenacious culture, the old consciousness. Gene Talmadge knew if this one tie was uprooted, his world would be gone forever." When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1944 Smith v. Allwright decision that white-only primaries were illegal and ordered Southern states to hold color-blind primaries, Talmadge
11562-562: The solemn responsibility of flying to France to help identify and bring home the bodies of 106 of Atlanta's art and business leaders who, on an art appreciation tour, died in the Air France Flight 007 plane crash at Orly Airport in Paris. Many of the deceased had been personal friends of Allen. In his book, Allen wrote about going to Paris immediately after the crash: "I realized how insignificant I was, but I knew I had to assume
11685-415: The state Chamber of Commerce in industrial development projects. With friends Mills B. Lane, Jack Glenn, Philip Alston, Richard Rich, Lawrence Gellerstedt Jr., and others, he founded The Commerce Club, which served as a venue for business networking and hospitality. He served as chairman until his death. Allen was an active member of the Atlanta Rotary Club from 1939 until his death. He served as president of
11808-406: The states. In the South, these jobs offered higher wages than men could obtain in the private sector, and black men were paid the same rate as white men. Many of the wealthy white land-owning families in Georgia soon complained to Talmadge that their sharecroppers preferred to work on the better-paying New Deal public works projects rather than as sharecroppers, and asked the governor to intercede with
11931-506: The streets and reassuring the black community. Mayor Allen went to great lengths to ensure the city remained peaceful when nearly two hundred thousand people gathered to mourn Dr. King's death. King's widow, Coretta Scott King , honored Allen with the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1981. "I was convinced now that voluntary desegregation of public facilities, worked out on a local level, had gone as far as it
12054-428: The time I had to make the decision to go to Washington or not go, my liberalism on the race issue had been based to a large degree on the pragmatism: it was simply good business for Atlanta to be an open city, a fair city, a "City Too Busy to Hate", a city trying to raise the level of its poorest citizens and get them off the relief roles...I am certain that at this point I had finally crossed over and made my commitment on
12177-542: The top five students of his class at Georgia Tech (Commerce, 1933). He was president of the Student Body and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, to which he offered lifelong support. For many years, he hosted the annual Ivan Allen Rush Party for his fraternity in the meadow behind his home. In 1990, the liberal arts college at Georgia Tech was renamed the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts . Entrusted by
12300-454: The wealth of the richest Americans and redistribute it to the poor, whereas Talmadge was essentially an old-fashioned Southern conservative. Long criticized Roosevelt for not going far enough with the New Deal, while Talmadge had felt he had gone too far. Finally, both men wanted to run for president and wanted the other to serve as vice president, which proved to be the issue that ended their alliance and made them enemies. Talmadge governed as
12423-552: The white section of the old state mental hospital at Milledgeville . When Pearl Harbor was struck in late 1941, he was called into the army as a reserve officer. During World War II, he served as a supply officer and directed the field division of the Selective Service System in Georgia for the United States Army . He entered the service in 1942 as a second lieutenant and was discharged in 1945 as
12546-435: The world beyond would destroy everything that he held sacred. At the same time, Talmadge, always a heavy drinker, started to drink on a scale that began to seriously damage his health. Anderson described Talmadge as "a ghost's voice hellbent on halting the future. But it was a frightened voice, scared that the wave of history had at last washed over the impenetrable culture of his fathers. So easily had his people succumbed to
12669-554: The world". At the behest of President John F. Kennedy, Allen testified before Congress on behalf of what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . He was the only white southern politician of significance to do so. After his testimony, Allen and his family were under death threats and required police protection for a year. Ivan Earnest Allen Jr. was born in Atlanta on March 15, 1911, the only son of Ivan Allen Sr. (1876–1968) and Irene Beaumont Allen (1889–1972). His father Allen Sr.
12792-453: Was King's hometown). Furthermore, he shamed many of the white leaders in the city into supporting the event beyond pragmatic grounds. Many attended the dinner, making it a turning point in Atlanta's race relations. Upon hearing that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot in Memphis , Mayor Allen immediately rushed to the support of Dr. King's wife. Allen and his wife were with Mrs. King when it
12915-734: Was also awarded the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation Award for achievement in urban affairs in 1974, the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1981, the Shining Light Award in 1995, and was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia in 2004 (cite). In 1999, The Commerce Club created the Ivan Allen Jr. Leadership Award, which
13038-436: Was always the case, Talmadge presented himself as an aggressive defender of white supremacy, arguing that keeping the black people disfranchised and segregated was far more important than education, a message that appealed to his core supporters, but to nobody else. At one campaign rally, Talmadge stated: "We in the South love the Negro in his place-but his place is at the back door". The fact that Arnall had also declared himself
13161-427: Was an Axis-sympathizer. Some commentators felt that Talmadge was merely naive, a man who knew nothing about the affairs of Europe and Asia, while others charged that his authoritarian style of leadership made him naturally sympathetic towards fascist regimes. About the charge that he acted like a dictator, Talmadge replied: "I'm what you call a minor dictator. But did you ever see anybody that was much good who didn't have
13284-462: Was an attorney and American politician who served three terms as the 67th governor of Georgia , from 1933 to 1937, and then again from 1941 to 1943. Elected to a fourth term in November 1946, he died before his inauguration, scheduled for January 1947. Only Talmadge and Joe Brown , in the mid-19th century, have been elected four times as governor of Georgia . A member of the Democratic Party , he
13407-416: Was being allowed to "meddle" in the affairs of Congress with Roosevelt's support. In the 1944 election, The Statesman ran a headline reading "Election of Roosevelt Means Promoting Negroes in Georgia". Anderson wrote during the war Talmadge became a "total cultural isolationist", a man who saw the world outside of the United States as a dangerous, menacing place and believed increasing American involvement with
13530-435: Was co-founder of the Ivan Allen Company (1900), an office supply and furniture store that, by 1925, had about fifty employees and was one of Atlanta's best-known businesses. Allen Sr. was also a founding member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, served as president of the new Atlanta Convention Bureau (1913–1917), president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (1917), two years as senator in the Georgia state legislature (1918–1919), and
13653-449: Was confirmed that Dr. King was dead. Two days after Dr. King's assassination on April 4, 1968, he participated in a march across the west side of Atlanta, leading the way in a police car for the nearly four thousand black students walking in memory of Dr. King. Along with Atlanta's police chief, Herbert Jenkins, he visited every black neighborhood in Atlanta during the traumatic days between Dr. King's death and his funeral, walking up and down
13776-422: Was discussed at his meetings with Long, Talmadge replied: "We both cussed Roosevelt". But, Long had a low opinion of Talmadge's intelligence, saying: "That Talmadge ain't got the brains to match his ambition". Beyond a shared antipathy to Roosevelt, the two had almost nothing in common politically. Long, a left-wing populist, had the slogan of "share the wealth", promising if elected president he would confiscate all
13899-534: Was enraged; his attempted political comeback was based entirely on a virulently racist platform of upholding white supremacy. During Arnall's term, the state legislature lengthened his term to four years and prohibited him from seeking re-election in 1946. Talmadge ran for governor and used the Smith v. Allwright decision, ruling that the closed white primary was unconstitutional, as his main red flag issue. Talmadge promised that if he were to be elected, he would restore
14022-499: Was going to go in the South and much of the rest of the United States....", Allen wrote. "It was obvious that the President was going to have to push through a very plain and airtight law that would, once and for all, abolish the practice of segregation. And segregation, as I intended to say in my testimony, was 'the stepchild of slavery'". In 1963, President John F. Kennedy made a direct request asking Ivan Allen Jr. to testify before
14145-522: Was known for promoting racial segregation and white supremacy , and for advocating for racism in the University System of Georgia . Eugene Talmadge was born on September 23, 1884, in Forsyth, Georgia , the second of two children to Thomas and Carrie (Roberts) Talmadge. He attended the University of Georgia and graduated from the university's law school in 1907. While at UGA, he was
14268-408: Was my generation. This was also the backbone of Atlanta's cultural society, the city's leading patrons of the arts. There was no precedent for this kind of agony". In 1965, Allen made a very private commitment to himself and to his wife Louise that he would not seek a third term in office. This was not revealed to the public until January 1969, when Allen formally announced his decision at a meeting of
14391-704: Was one of the few students to own a car. That same year, his father's name was published for the first time in the Social Cities Register, an annual list of elites in Richmond, Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, and Augusta. He regularly attended the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta with his parents, and would later serve as an elder for many years and an active member until his death. Initially an indifferent student, Allen asserted himself during his last year at Boys High , earning
14514-484: Was saving the state of Georgia money by not paying for his food. Shortly afterwards, it emerged that he attended a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan , which he again admitted to, saying that "everyone had a good time" at the Klan banquet. In his retirement, Talmadge grew increasingly bitter and became consumed with a violent hatred for Roosevelt. The isolationist Talmadge also deplored the United States fighting in World War II, all
14637-578: Was sold to Staples, Inc. The furniture division, now known as Ivan Allen Workspace, is headed by his son, Iman Allen. In 1936, Allen actively campaigned for Georgia Governor Eurith D. Rivers , serving in a number of state-government positions during the Rivers administration between 1936 and 1940. As treasurer of the State Hospital Authority, he raised $ 2.5 million by passing the state's first revenue certificate bond issue to rebuild
14760-542: Was the treasurer of the Georgia Democratic Party in 1936. In an effort to attract northern capital to Atlanta, Allen Sr. headed the Atlanta chamber's "Forward Atlanta" booster campaign (1926–1929), a strategy that would lure almost 700 new businesses to Atlanta and serve to influence Allen Jr.'s future as a businessman and civic leader. From an early age, Allen understood that his family was one of privilege. He began attending Boys High School in 1927, and
14883-659: Was to erect a fence to separate a black neighborhood from a white neighborhood. In the face of criticism Mayor Allen refused to take it down until a court order forced him to. The event was known as " Atlanta's Berlin Wall " or "the Peyton Road Affair." In 1966, a riot broke out in Summerhill, a neighborhood south of the Atlanta Stadium, when a white police officer shot a black resident. Mayor Allen rushed to
15006-530: Was unpopular in the more populous urban areas, his relative popularity in rural areas gave him a fighting chance of still winning the Democratic nomination under the "county unit votes" system in which (essentially) the candidate who won the most counties, not the most popular votes, would receive the nomination. Even then, Talmadge's opponent, James V. Carmichael , still polled well in rural counties, though not as well as in urban counties. Several witnesses stated that they overheard Talmadge speaking to George Hester,
15129-423: Was widely mocked as more appropriate for the 19th century than the 20th. Talmadge pledged to defend the "sovereignty of our states and local self-government" at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. However, Roosevelt, who visited Warm Springs, Georgia, often because of his past polio, was more popular with the poor farmers. Unable to run for re-election in 1936, Talmadge chose to challenge Senator Russell in
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