Herman Eugene Talmadge
(August 9, 1913–March 21, 2002) was an American politician from the
U.S. state of Georgia
. He served as
governor of Georgia briefly in 1947 and
again from 1948 to 1955. His term was marked by his
segregationist policies. After leaving
office Talmadge was elected to the
U.S. Senate, serving from 1957 until
1981.
Talmadge
was born in McRae,
Georgia
, the only son of Eugene
Talmadge, who served as Governor of Georgia during much
of the 1930s and '40s. He earned a law degree from the University of
Georgia
in 1936, where he had been a member of the Demosthenian Literary Society
and Sigma Nu fraternity.
The younger Talmadge saw combat in the
United States Navy during
World War II. On his return from the South
Pacific as a lieutenant commander, Herman ran his father's
successful campaign for governor in 1946. Supporters of Eugene
Talmadge were unsure of Eugene's chances of surviving until he was
sworn in, so they did some research into the state constitution and
found that if Eugene died, the
Georgia General Assembly would
choose between the second and third place finishers. The elder
Talmadge ran unopposed, so they arranged for write-in votes for
Herman as insurance. In December 1946, the elder Talmadge
died.
Supporters of the deceased Governor-elect, stopped a challenge from
the Lieutenant Governor-elect,
Melvin
E. Thompson. Thompson claimed
that he should be sworn-in as Governor, in Eugene Talmadge's place.
The
state
legislature elected Herman Talmadge to become Governor.
Thompson appealed to the State supreme court.
Meanwhile, Governor
Ellis Arnall refused to turn over power
due to the uncertainty of whom the next Governor would be, so on
January 15, 1947, both men sat in the Georgia State
Capitol
claiming to be the Governor. The next day,
Talmadge took control of the Governor's office and arranged to have
the locks changed. Arnall soon relinquished his claim and supported
Thompson's claim.
Soon
afterwards, the Supreme Court of Georgia
ruled that the legislature had violated the
state Constitution
by electing Talmadge governor and that Thompson was the legitimate
Governor of Georgia. Talmadge soon gave in to the court
decision and prepared for the special election in 1948, in which
Talmadge defeated Governor Thompson. Talmadge was then elected to a
full term in 1950. During his terms, Talmadge encouraged industry
to move into Georgia while he was also a staunch supporter of
racial segregation.
Talmadge was barred by law from seeking another full term as
Governor in 1954. He was elected to the
United States Senate in 1956.
That same
year, a "faithless elector" from
Alabama
cast a single Electoral College vote for
Talmadge as Vice
President of the United States. During his time as U.S.
Senator, Talmadge remained a foe of
civil
rights legislation as a Senator, sponsored bills to help
farmers, an important constituency, and
served on the
Senate Watergate
Committee.
On October 11, 1979, Talmadge was "denounced" by an 81-15 vote of
the Senate for "improper financial conduct" between 1973 and 1978,
after accepting reimbursements of $43,435.83 for official expenses
not incurred, and for improper reporting of such as campaign
expenditures.
Talmadge also went through a
divorce and a
tough
primary challenge from
Zell Miller in 1980. Talmadge defeated
Miller but lost to
Mack Mattingly in
the general election, making Mattingly the first
Republican to represent
Georgia in the Senate since
Reconstruction.
After his defeat, Talmadge retired to his home where he died at age
88. Talmadge fathered two sons, Herman E. Talmadge Jr. and Robert
Shingler Talmadge.
In 2004, Herman Talmadge's grandson Herman Talmadge III ran for
county commission chairman in Georgia's Henry County. He ran as a
Republican but lost in the party's primary. As local media noted,
the family that had once been the state's most powerful, and
synonymous with the Georgia Democratic Party, had changed beyond
recognition from its heyday.
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