Throwing Hat into the Ring

In anticipation of the November 2016 presidential election, the Russell Library’s Access and Outreach staff has been working on an exhibit, On the Stump: What Does it Take to Get Elected in Georgia? opening September 2nd in the Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit considers the evolution of campaigning for state office and asks visitors to imagine life on the campaign trail. This post is one in a series exploring political slang and its role in elections.

A politician is said to throw his/her hat into the ring when announcing a run for office. The idiom dates to the nineteenth century and was typically used in reference to boxing. As one source notes, any “lad who fancied his chances in a bout would throw in his hat—presumably this was a more reliable way of putting oneself forward than just shouting over the hubbub of the crowd.”


Left: If she ever tossed one of her hats into the ring, it would be hard to beat! Maxine Goldstein, convention delegate extraordinaire, models her outfit for the 1996 Democratic National Convention. Maxine S. Goldstein Papers, Russell Library.

Over the course of American political history, the methods and means of running for office have changed considerably. In the eighteenth century, it was considered distasteful to openly campaign for an elected position. George Washington reluctantly accepted his nomination for president. Other early candidates such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had latent campaign apparatuses but neither man explicitly announced his electoral intentions, simply agreeing to serve when selected at his respective party convention. Starting around the late 1820s, candidates began holding public events resembling modern campaign rallies and fundraisers when then-presidential hopeful Andrew Jackson pushed his own candidacy and rejected the “Corrupt Bargain” of 1824 that placed John Quincy Adams in the White House.

In recent years, the phenomenon has shifted considerably. Due to the proliferation of the 24-hour news cycle and social media, candidates increasingly express their political ambitions months or even years in advance.  In essence, political hopefuls launch “trial balloons” to test public sentiments. Before announcing candidacy, politicians are expected to form an exploratory committee, assemble field staff, raise starting funds, hire consultants, pollsters, advertisers, and public relations executives, and debut an online presence. In today’s environment, it would have been almost unthinkable for credible presidential candidates to assemble a campaign team and begin fundraising as late as the October, which kicks off with the Iowa caucus in January.

It is difficult to imagine scenarios today like that of 1968, when eventual Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey announced his interest on April 27 of an election year and amid an ongoing primary season. Today such timing would likely render a candidate—at least one for the Presidency—irreparably behind his or her opponents in fundraising, field organization, publicity, and grassroots support.

Above: Democrat Mary Hitt throwing her bonnet into the race. In the August 1974 Primary, Mary Hitt forced Zell Miller, who received 60.82% of the vote, into a runoff for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor. Democratic Party of Georgia Records, Russell Library.

Want to find out more? Visit On the Stump on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 2, 2016 through August 18, 2017. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788

The Wild Man From Sugar Creek

In anticipation of the November 2016 presidential election, the Russell Library’s Access and Outreach staff has been working on an exhibit, On the Stump: What Does it Take to Get Elected in Georgia? opening September 2nd in the Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit considers the evolution of campaigning for state office and asks visitors to imagine life on the campaign trail. This post is one in a series exploring political slang and its role in elections.

Merriam-Webster defines demagogue as “a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.” Historically, engaging in demagogy—or, more to the point, being perceived as doing such—is a sure way to incite controversy. Some of the twentieth century’s most power-hungry figures—Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler—have been tagged as demagogues.

American leaders are not immune from the label. In the 1930s, Democratic Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, a challenger to President Franklin Roosevelt for the party nomination, faced accusations that his “Every Man a King” populist platform was intended to lure impoverished voters with false promises. Two decades later Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin was charged with demagogy for conducting a protracted anticommunist “witch hunt” within Hollywood and the federal government.

Throughout his career in Georgia politics, Eugene Talmadge was a conflict-ridden figure. Elected the state’s Agriculture Commissioner in 1926, he was criticized by the State Senate for improperly spending departmental funds on trips to the Kentucky Derby. When openly accused of stealing $20,000, Talmadge famously assured one group of farmers that “Sure I stole it! But I stole it for you.” He capitalized on his rural popularity (once claiming he could “carry any county that ain’t got street cars”) in the 1932 gubernatorial election, winning in part due to the county unit system in place at the time which overrepresented rural votes at the expense of urban areas.

Above: Eugene Talmadge on the podium, 1936. Herman E. Talmadge Collection, Russell Library. 

As governor, he proved polarizing for his “dictatorial” executive orders and racially tinged attacks on Roosevelt’s New Deal relief programs, which some white southerners saw as disproportionately aiding blacks. After Huey Long’s assassination in 1935, Talmadge weighed a potential run against Roosevelt but chose instead to wage a battle against incumbent Senator Richard B. Russell Jr. for the Democratic nomination; Russell won handily. Talmadge lost another U.S. Senate primary in 1938 to incumbent Walter George. But it was in Talmadge’s second tenure as Governor from 1940 to 1942 that he engaged in his most demagogic tactics. As a University of Georgia alumnus, he sought to purge the University of any left-leaning political, “foreign,” or racially tolerant elements. Talmadge called for the Board of Regents to remove Dean Walter Cocking, who was rumored to sympathize with the cause of desegregation. When the board refused, Talmadge himself fired Cocking along with all board members who had opposed the removal. All Georgia’s universities lost their accreditation as a result, their credibility shattered by such direct government interference in academic affairs.


Right: On the stump for the last time, Talmadge campaigning for Governor in 1946. Herman E. Talmadge Collection, Russell Library.
 
What came to be known as “the Cocking Affair” led to Talmadge’s defeat in the 1942 Democratic primary, at the hands of more liberal candidate, Ellis Arnall. Campaigning mostly on the single issue of restoring the whites-only primary, Talmadge returned to the office in 1946, despite losing the statewide popular vote to Arnall-endorsed candidate Jimmy Carmichael. Talmadge died in December of that year, precipitating the Three-Governors Controversy, marking the end of an eventful and deeply divisive electoral career.

Want to find out more? Visit On the Stump on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 2, 2016 through August 18, 2017. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788

Lame Duck

In anticipation of the November 2016 presidential election, the Russell Library’s Access and Outreach staff has been working on an exhibit, On the Stump: What Does it Take to Get Elected in Georgia? opening September 2^nd in the Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit considers the evolution of campaigning for state office and asks visitors to imagine life on the campaign trail. This post is one in a series exploring political slang and its role in elections. 

In political parlance, a lame duck is an elected official nearing the end of his or her tenure in office, especially one whose successor has been elected but not yet sworn in. Pundits often see lame ducks as holding less influence over their colleagues than those officials who will return in the following term. Yet lame ducks are often known to enact contentious policies at the proverbial eleventh hour, leaving partisan “parting shots” or “midnight regulations” for their successors to either accept or confront. Before 1976, the Georgia Constitution limited governors to a single four-year term (though governors were allowed to seek the office again after sitting out one four-year term). Essentially, then, Georgia governors were lame ducks upon their election. Today, only Virginia denies its governors the possibility of consecutive re-election.

Below: Booklet on governor's controversy published by Atlanta Journal, 1947.
 Georgia Ephemera Collection, Russell Library. 

In Georgia, lame duck status conspired with a suspect gubernatorial election in late 1946 and early 1947 to produce the so-called Three Governors Controversy.  Voters elected Eugene Talmadge, a conservative 62-year-old former governor, to succeed Gov. Ellis Arnall, a liberal up-and-comer. While Governor Arnall repealed the poll tax and uphold the Supreme Court decision ending the all-white party primary, Talmadge (as Governor from 1933 to 1937) vehemently opposed New Deal legislation he perceived as favorable to African Americans. 

Left: James V. Carmichael platform, 1946 gubernatorial campaign. Helen M. Lewis Collection of James V. Carmichael Campaign Material, Russell Library

In the Democratic primary, Talmadge defeated Jimmie Carmichael—a favor among young voters and the candidate Arnall endorsed—despite losing the popular vote to Carmichael by 16,144 votes or about 2.33% of the vote. Carmichael’s loss came at the hands of the state’s “county unit vote” system that favored candidates who controlled rural counties. However, Talmadge’s inner circle knew he was in poor health and feared he might not live to be sworn into office. Capitalizing on a loophole in the state constitution empowering the General Assembly to appoint a new governor from runner-up candidates in the event of the governor-elect’s death, the Talmadge machine quietly ran Eugene’s son Herman as a write-in candidate in the general election. With no Republican on the ballot, and fortuitous discovery of additional write-in votes from his home county, the younger Talmadge placed second with just 675 or .46% of the votes. Eugene Talmadge died on December 21, 1946.

Effective the 1946 election, the new state constitution established the office of lieutenant governor. The The “Anti-Talmadge” candidate Melvin Ernest (M. E.) Thompson had been elected to that office in November, and upon the elder Talmadge’s death, laid claim to the governorship. 

Above Right: M.E. Thompson for governor brochure, 1947. M.E. Thompson Papers, Russell Library.

On January 15, 1947, a General Assembly dominated by Talmadge-affiliated “Dixiecrats” voted to declare Herman Talmadge the next Governor. Thompson sued. Meanwhile, “lame duck” Governor Arnall refused to leave office until a successor had been” legitimately” chosen. 

Above: Herman Talmadge (center) being sworn in as Governor of Georgia, January 1947.
 Herman E. Talmadge Collection, Russell Library. 

Some two months later, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in favor of Thompson but called for a special election to fill the remainder of the late Governor-elect Eugene Talmadge’s term (due to expire in 1951). Herman Talmadge easily defeated Thompson in that special election, held in September 1948, and did the same two years later for a full term as governor; then again in 1956 for a U.S. Senate seat that Talmadge would hold for 24 years. 

Want to find out more? Visit On the Stump on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries  from September 2, 2016 through August 18, 2017. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788.

Slinging Mud

In anticipation of the November 2016 presidential election, the Russell Library’s Access and Outreach staff has been working on an exhibit, On the Stump: What Does it Take to Get Elected in Georgia? opening September 2nd in the Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit considers the evolution of campaigning for state office and asks visitors to imagine life on the campaign trail. This post is one in a series exploring political slang and its role in elections.

Every election cycle, voters, pundits, and candidates decry the practice of mudslinging – negative campaigning that seeks to promote one candidate only by tearing down the other. The term originates from the Latin phrase Fortiter caluniare, aliquid adhaerebit, which translates to “throw plenty of dirt and some of it will stick.” Sometime after the American Civil War, dirt was transformed into mud and the phrase became widely used in newspapers reporting on political campaign activities by the 1870s.

Leftt: Two avid supporters of political opponents battle it out! Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection, Russell Library.

The United States has a long and rich history of mudslinging, dating at least as far back as the presidential election of 1796, in which John Adams and Thomas Jefferson each fought to succeed the venerable George Washington into the nation’s highest office. The practice continued and intensified during the 19th century, with smear campaigns aimed at candidates’ alleged political dealings (as against John Quincy Adams in 1828), views (Abraham Lincoln in 1860), or personal lives (Grover Cleveland in 1884).

Later presidential campaigns used television as a primary attack mechanism. Lyndon Johnson’s famous “Daisy” ad, though aired only once, generated widespread condemnation for insinuating that a Barry Goldwater Presidency could mean nuclear war. Johnson actually ran other ads making the Goldwater/atomic bomb link more explicit, though pundits have mostly forgotten these. A political action committee (PAC) affiliated with George H. W. Bush’s campaign in 1988 funded a now-classic “soft-on-crime” attack ad against Michael Dukakis. The most recent negative presidential ad to make the history books is probably that aired by the anti-John Kerry 527 group known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004.

Mudslinging is not, of course, exclusively a function of campaigns for the White House. In Georgia, the 2002 U.S. Senate race is remembered as one of the nastiest races in modern memory. First-term Democratic Senator Max Cleland faced an unexpectedly strong challenge from Republican Saxby Chambliss of Moultrie.

Triple amputee Max Cleland lost both legs and an arm near in 1968 while serving in the Vietnam War. So it was especially controversial when Chambliss’ campaign aired this ad, easily the most talked-about ad of the election cycle. The ad accused Cleland of lacking “the courage to lead” President George W. Bush’s homeland security efforts and juxtaposed images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein with Cleland’s face. The final weeks showed the race closing with Cleland leading by six points in an October Mason-Dixon poll and by three points in a poll sponsored by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
 
Right: Governor George Ervin “Sonny” Perdue’s official portrait in 2006 with wife Mary. George Ervin (Sonny) Perdue Official Papers, Russell Library.

On Election Day, November 5, Chambliss won by a convincing 6.87% margin—a victory matched by unprecedented GOP success in state offices the same night, including the Sonny Perdue’s defeat incumbent Governor Roy Barnes, becoming the first Republican Governor in Georgia since 1868. While many Democrats attributed the win to Chambliss campaign’s mudslinging, 2002 proved to be the Georgia Republican Party’s long-awaited breakthrough after some 130 years of Democratic dominance.

Want to find out more? Visit On the Stump on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 2, 2016 through August 18, 2017. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788.