Marge Thurman: Rock of Georgia

Photograph of Marge Thurman from
The Georgia Democrat, 1974

Carl Sanders called her the “Rock of Gibraltar.” Ted Kennedy said that she walked with the wind. And Jimmy Carter, despite their long-running feud, said that she would be remembered for her dedication and leadership. Marge Thurman’s premature death in 1982 drew an outpouring of sympathy from state and national Democratic leaders in support of the woman who had led the Democratic Party of Georgia for almost a decade.

In 1974, Governor-elect George Busbee appointed Thurman the Chairman of the state party, shepherding Democrats through an important transition period for the party, state, and nation. She led the party as they initiated democratizing reforms that reflected major changes in the social and political landscape. Some of the most important and modernizing changes included the creation of an affirmative action committee, the adoption of the first state party charter, and the revision of the delegate selection process for national nominating conventions.

Thurman between Lt. Governor-elect Zell Miller
and Governor-elect George Busbee on the cover
of The Georgia Democrat, 1974

Before she became the Democratic Party of Georgia’s Rock of Gibraltar, Thurman was a youthful and enthusiastic political activist. An Atlanta native, she graduated from Emory University and, at 21 years old, earned a Master’s degree from the Atlanta Law School. In 1956, she joined an all-female law practice in Atlanta and got her first exposure to politics as a Fulton County Young Democrat. A year later, Thurman began her affiliation with the state party when she served as a Young Democratic Committeewoman. That same year, she was elected as general counsel for the Young Democrats of America -- the first woman to hold the position.

Governor Carl Sanders appointed Thurman to the position of Democratic National Committeewoman in 1963. In 1972, however, Governor Jimmy Carter removed her from that position, presumably because she supported Sanders over Carter in his 1970 bid for governor. It was said that after Carter attempted to have her removed, she not only refused but brought boxing gloves to the press conference to indicate her willingness to fight! The heated exchanges continued even after Carter became President. Thurman was said to have removed Carter from the program at the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in 1981 because Carter had her dropped as a delegate to the DNC in 1980. The feud between Carter and Thurman lasted for over a decade and is illustrative of how colorful Georgia politics could get.

Though she originally had been appointed by Governor Busbee, changes in party procedures found Thurman elected by party members in 1978, confirmation of her decisive leadership and long-term commitment. She was said to have been the first Chairman to have “earned the job through years of grassroots party work” (The Georgia Democrat, 1974). Her dedication secured her status as a loyal, dependable and determined Georgia Democrat. One anecdote in particular became the stuff of legend. During the 1960s, every four years the party held its state convention in Macon. In 1966, when Thurman discovered at the last minute that her driver’s license had expired, she hailed a cab from her home in Atlanta and calmly instructed the driver to take her to Macon. She had a state convention to attend and she was going to get there, no matter the individual cost.

Marge Thurman stands with Col. Charles W. Scott
at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in 1981. In the
back, from left, stands Walt Bellamy and an
unidentified man. 

In 1981, Thurman was elected to serve as president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs. Had she lived, she likely would have been elected to a third term as Chairman.

Thurman was a major figure in state and national Democratic politics and was mourned by many upon her death at age 59. Obituaries for Thurman quoted several national political figures, such as Charles Manatt, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who recalled debating with her when they were both Young Democrats. In one article following her death, Henry Topel, president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, remarked that “When it came to civil rights for minorities, to equal opportunity for women, to the Democratic Party principles of help to the poor, she stood second to none. It was said in Georgia that her heart was as big as her hairdo and that was true for us all.”

The Democratic Party of Georgia Records include a significant amount of material --  memoranda, correspondence, planning documents, committee records, convention files, and speech materials -- directly related to Marge Thurman and her tenure as Chairman. The records show a Chairman involved in all aspects of the state party organization. She supported her team and led reform efforts during a transformative period. Once researchers begin to explore these records, they will yield much new information and historical insight into this era, Georgia politics, and women in politics.

Post by Angelica Marini, Project Archivist, Russell Library

“Took by Tuck”: Audley Tucker and the Photographs of the Democratic Party of Georgia

Last month, the Russell Library completed the year-long Georgia Political Parties Detailed Processing Project to make available the records of the Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG) and the Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP), funded by a generous grant of up to $58,777 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Though she has wrapped up her work with the political parties’ records, project archivist Angelica Marini has left us with some additional blog posts to provide further insight into these collections.

For over twenty-five years, Audley Tucker served as the official photographer for the Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG). A University of Georgia graduate and a Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother of Governor Ernest Vandiver, Tucker was appointed as the DPG staff photographer in late 1970 by Governor-elect Jimmy Carter after he also named Tucker the “Governor’s Photographer for Special Events.” David Gambrell, then-chairman of the DPG, called Tucker an “excellent photographer” and an “outstanding Democrat.” (Rome News-Tribune, 1970)

Judging by the images found in the Democratic Party of Georgia Records, Tucker was an excellent photographer, documenting Democratic officials such as Carter, Senator Sam Nunn, and Georgia Governors George Busbee and Joe Frank Harris. He also captured lesser known individuals and  the campaigns of nearly forgotten Georgia politicians: Marge Thurman, DPG Chairman from 1974 to 1982; Mary Hitt, who forced Zell Miller into a runoff for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor in 1974; and Pinkie, a political fixture and proprietor of Pinkie Master’s Lounge in Savannah.

The photographs presented here include some of Tucker’s best, early Jimmy Carter images. As he often did, Tucker identified and described events and people in his own hand on the back of the photographs, making his images a unique and important part of the collection. For the image of Carter campaigning at a Fourth of July parade, Tucker noted, “My favorite photo--because of sign in background. Makes a good prop. I could not have set it up any better.” The photo shows Carter standing in the street, signing autographs, with a large “Carl Sanders for Governor” sign prominently in the frame. Tucker captured Carter speaking with the press later in the campaign and on victory night, November 3, 1970. Other images that night include campaign manager Hamilton Jordan, state representative Ward Edwards, and cousin Hugh Carter.

While he didn’t always provide substantive information for his photographs (the image of Congressman Carl Vinson and Jimmy Carter is simply identified as “Dublin,” and the 9th District Rally image only denotes that it was held in the 9th district in Gainesville), Tucker’s annotated photos often bore a simple credit line on the back -- “Took by Tuck.”

Overall, the Audley Tucker photographs offer a visual representation of the people and events that made up the DPG in the 1970s and 1980s and provide a different kind of record of political activity in the state during a period of Democratic dominance. They highlight important individuals and often capture the people who made the party function on the ground. His notes also provide important context for the people and political events, like the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, documented elsewhere in the collection. A searchable inventory of the Audley Tucker photographs can be found at DPG Records.

Jimmy Carter campaigning at a Fourth of July parade
in downtown Atlanta, 1970. 

Jimmy Carter speaks at the podium on the night of gubernatorial election, 
November 3, 1970.

Jimmy Carter celebrates his victory over Republican Hal Suit
in the 1970 Georgia gubernatorial race.

U.S. Congressman Carl Vinson chats with Governor Jimmy Carter
in Dublin, Georgia, circa 1971. 

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin,
U.S. Congressman for the 9th District Phil Landrum,
Governor Jimmy Carter, and U.S. Senator Sam Nunn
at a 9th District Rally in Gainesville, Georgia, circa 1975. 

Post by Angelica Marini, Project Archivist, Russell Library

It’s Party Time!: Georgia Political Parties Project Opens New Collections

In February 2014, the Russell Library embarked on a one-year project to process the records of the Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG) and the Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP), funded by a generous grant of up to $58,777 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). One year later, the project is complete!

The records of both parties are open and available for research and represent a significant contribution to understanding party politics in Georgia. The GAGOP records (1974-1999) include 47 linear feet of records and over 100 audiovisual items (1981-1998). The DPG records  (1960-2008) include 64 linear feet of paper records, 6.2 gigabytes of electronic records, and 574 audiovisual items. Finding aids, or guides, to the records of the GAGOP and the DPG are available by searching the Russell Library’s online database or clicking the links above.

Item from the Georgia Republican Party Records.

Throughout the last year, we’ve brought attention to some of the dynamic records in these collections on the Russell Library blog. Articles have touched on the physical processing of political records and how an archivist might approach retaining the “original order” of a collection while also providing better access to materials through arrangement and description. If you’re interested in this aspect of archives and the collections, check out the blog posts  “Getting the Party Started: Processing the Records of Georgia's Political Parties” and "‘I do not belong to any organized party’: Making Sense of the Democratic Party of Georgia Records.” For an exploration of the ways in which archivists process electronic records, our post, “Let’s Get Digital: Electronic Records Day 2014” looks at some of the records of the DPG that only exist in digital form.

Item from the Democratic Party of Georgia Records.

Other blogs have highlighted the stories to be found in these organizational records. "‘The Right Leadership at the Top:’ The Records of the Georgia Republican Party Chairman" provides an in-depth look at two important leaders in a critical period of political transitioning in the state. “Building the Party, One Point at a Time: The Georgia GOP’s Four Star Program” looks at one specific set of records that document an important push for grassroots development in the many counties of Georgia.

In the coming months, you’ll see additional posts exploring the DPG records. In February, we’ll share a photo essay showcasing the work of Audley Tucker, the official DPG photographer for over twenty years, who captured Jimmy Carter’s gubernatorial win in 1970 -- just a sampling of the many rich photographs in the DPG records. And in March, we will explore the inimitable Marge Thurman, a forgotten Chairman of the DPG, whose heart was reportedly as big as her hairdo.

The records of the GAGOP and the DPG document the inner workings of Georgia’s two major political parties. The era documented by these records is a pivotal and complex period in state and national politics; parties fought for supremacy in an evolving political climate that saw rapid political realignments. Each collection tells a different, though parallel, story about the parties’ group dynamics and organizational culture and, taken together, highlights a vital aspect of Georgia’s political history reveals much about the political history of the state, and nation, in the second half of the twentieth century.

Post by Angelica Marini, Project Archivist, Russell Library

“I do not belong to any organized party”: Making Sense of the Democratic Party of Georgia Records

Note: In February of this year, the Russell Library embarked on a one-year project to process the records of the Democratic Party of Georgia (Georgia Democrats) and the Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP), funded by a generous grant of up to $58,777 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Project archivist Angelica Marini has been providing a series of short articles throughout this year highlighting various aspects of the records as she works to organize, describe and make them available. In this blog post for the project, Angelica provides an introduction and overview of the records of the Democratic Party of Georgia, which are scheduled to open for research in January.

Governor-elect Jimmy Carter (left) and
David Gambrell, at the State Democratic Convention
in Macon, Georgia, 1970. 

In 1970, newly elected Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter appointed David Gambrell to the position of state Democratic Party Chairman. To celebrate the appointment, Democratic friends gave him a cake in the shape of a donkey. Written across the donkey in icing was Will Roger’s infamous quote about Democratic Party politics: “I do not belong to any organized party. I am a Democrat.”

This satirical Will Rogers quote unintentionally reflects some of the major problems I faced as I began making sense of the DPG’s records. When the party donated its records to the Russell Library, they were not especially disorganized, but it took considerable time to determine how the records were arranged and used by the party. What I discovered is that the DPG records document the party’s actions and work more than political plans, elections, and campaigns.

The Democratic Party of Georgia Records (1962-2007) cover an historic period of Democratic domination in state politics. The DPG records offer researchers an inside look at a strong and powerful organization but also one that was minimally organized. While the party was organized centrally at state party headquarters, they exercised their political power with a very lean organizational structure. The bulk of the collection (1968-1990) is comprised of records created and accumulated by officials and staff of the DPG. The records are arranged in seven series that represent the functions and organization of the party: I. Administrative, II. County and District, III. Financial, IV. Committees and Conventions, V. Campaigns and Elections, and VI. Photographs and Ephemera, and VII. Audiovisual Materials.

Prior to the Civil Rights movement and the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the DPG was a racially conservative party committed to the system of segregation. The Civil Rights movement changed the predominantly white Democratic Party into an organization that better reflected the racial dynamics of the state. In the 1970s, the formerly conservative party aligned with more liberal national policies and platforms; it was a party in transition.

In 1975, the Democrats weathered major organizational changes and convened its first ever Charter Convention, where they codified policies, outlined new goals, and drafted new rules for delegate selection. Some of these changes created greater access for minorities as affirmative action became an effective way of including those who were formerly excluded by law and tradition. These kinds of changes were common for Democratic parties in southern states after the Civil Rights movement as engrained ties to Jim Crow were systematically transformed through legislation as well as in the regional political culture.

In the late 1970s, all county committees were charged with reorganizing according to the rules of the new state charter; other changes loosened the ties to state government and the role of the governor in the party. These changes created greater diversity within party politics but also in the electorate at large. The records of the DPG document some of the most important political transitions specific to the state but also to region-wide changes that affected the national political landscape.

The earliest records in the collection, which date from the 1960s, are primarily financial and administrative, documenting the party’s involvement in county, state, and national politics. The day-to-day activity and function of the state party are reflected in administrative correspondence. Letters to and from the Chairmen and Executive Directors relate to a number of topics including finances, organization, and membership. The financial records also tell part of the administrative story as fundraising records show a party bankrolled by major events like the Dollars for Democrats campaign and the annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

The largest series of records, Committees and Conventions, document the work of local and statewide committees and the conventions that party members attended. The Democratic Party was an organization with power dispersed throughout the state. The major work of the party was done at the local level and the interactions between the state party staff and their county, district, and regional committees and chairs and these records reflect a party in action. The State Democratic Executive Committee, the State Democratic Committee of Georgia, Standing Committees, Special Committees, Democratic County Committees, and Precinct Coordinators all had important roles in making the party function in power. Committees and conventions may seem like two separate organizational functions, but the records they produced were inseparable; most of the committees’ work was made official through convention dialogue and voting.

Congratulatory cake, featuring quote by Will Rogers,
for David Gambrell, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, 1970.

Overall, The Democratic Party of Georgia Records are an important source for understanding the historic and dramatic changes in the political landscape of the state and region. The records document the active work carried out by the party rather than the strategy and deliberation behind political platforms and policy planning. The DPG, as it existed in the late twentieth century, was the political power in the state and, as a result, did not generate the kind of political plans that the GAGOP did in their formative years. What these records demonstrate instead is how the party operated throughout the state. Administrative and financial records reflect an existing system of political activity related to fundraising with minimal interference from state headquarters. County and district materials reflect the power of distinct groups within the state party. Notably, the records also have a significant digital component, which you can read about in an earlier blog post, Let’s Get Digital!: Electronic Records Day 2014.

Post by Angelica Marini, Project Archivist, Russell Library

Let’s Get Digital!: Electronic Records Day 2014

Today we celebrate the third annual Electronic Records Day brought to you by the Council of State Archivists with the aim of raising awareness about the importance of electronic records and issues related to preservation and access.  Electronic records are "born digital,” files produced in a computer environment. Yesterday's boxes of papers are today's e-mail, websites, databases, and word processing documents. And to ensure a record of the 21st century, those computer files need to last well into the future, along with the paper.

Archivists have already started the process of creating best practices for archival preservation and access of digital archives. The collections we receive at the Russell Library include a lot of paper, however, in the last five years alone, 25% of donations have included some computer files. Even more compelling is that all new collections this year have had a significant digital component. The myth of the "paperless office" has been largely debunked or at least questioned  (see Digital Trends, BBC, New York Times, Book) and that can lull us into a false sense of security. Because while there is still a lot of paper around, which can be collected, preserved, and made accessible through well-understood archival practices, some very important things are only being produced in digital form. There may be no such thing as a paperless office, but most offices are definitely hybrids of computer files and paper.

Take the records of the Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG), for example. As part of an NHPRC-funded project to process the records of Georgia’s two political parties, the Russell Library has been working to address the preservation and access needs of this hybrid collection. The records date from 1962 to 2007, but its paper records essentially stop around 1990. Scattered materials related to campaigns can be found in the paper records; financial disclosures, form filing records in county and district materials. But individual campaigns are not documented in the paper records. The DPG’s electronic records, however, contain some of the most comprehensive campaign and election materials in the collection. Over fifteen individual campaigns from 2000 are documented in the electronic records. These materials include campaign mailers, campaign budgets, correspondence between the political director and candidates, strategy memos, and more.

Some of these materials were never created to be printed or used in paper form. For example, photographs of DPG events and survey data collected about voters were produced and used in digital form only. Budget files and statistical information about caucus voting, redistricting population percentages, and other voting files contain complex formulas with color coded notations. Spreadsheets contain multiple sheets with multiple sets of data calculations. These are invaluable records of political strategy and work that would lose important functionality and meaning if printed out or even if they were converted into a static form like PDF. By preserving these records in their electronic version, we capture the functionality of the records.

Preserving records in their electronic form has a lot of advantages. Digital archives can be more accessible, sent easily to researchers anywhere in the world. No longer do you need the means to travel to access this part of the historical record; an internet connection will do. Large quantities of data can be searched, analyzed, and combined with other data to reach a better understanding of their meaning. The information that was frozen in reams of dot matrix-printed sheets can be analyzed for trends once it is stored in a database.

Important records are being produced in electronic form so how do we best preserve them and make them accessible? Early conversations with records creators is critical. Archivists can help with identifying what the creators should focus on saving over time and contextual information to capture to make them more useful to researchers. Once the electronic records are in the care of archivists. they need regular attention to keep them accessible. Servers and other storage media fail and have to be replaced. The software needed to open a file format is no longer produced and another solution needs to be found to open it. Care needs to be taken that the file is not altered in any way to preserve authenticity. This constant management takes technological infrastructure, money, and sound policies and practices. But given the significant content and research potential, the effort is well worth it.

Curious about what it takes to preserve digital records, and what you might need to do with your own files?  Check out the Council of State Archivists Electronic Records Day page or the Library of Congress Personal Digital Archiving page. Curious about the Democratic Party of Georgia’s born digital files? Expect their open access in January of 2015!

Post by Adriane Hanson, Processing and Electronic Records Archivists, and Angelica Marini, Project Archivist

Building the Party, One Point at a Time: The Georgia GOP’s Four Star Program

In February of this year, the Russell Library embarked on a one-year project to process the records of the Democratic Party of Georgia (Georgia Democrats) and the Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP), funded by a generous grant of up to $58,777 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Project archivist Angelica Marini has been providing a series of short articles throughout this year highlighting various aspects of the records as she works to organize, describe and make them available. In her third blog post for the project, Angelica focuses her attention on the records documenting one of the Georgia Republican Party’s innovative efforts to increase political participation and win elections.

One of the Georgia GOP’s top priorities in the last two decades of the twentieth century was to open up state politics and create a competitive two-party system. In the 1980s, the GOP primarily concerned itself with fundraising to maximize the financial resources of specific candidates in specific races. In 1991, following his re-election as party chairman, Alec Poitevint, along with Executive Director David Shafer, worked to craft an ambitious political plan that focused on organizing Republicans, increasing the size and visibility of the party across the state, and making the group a true alternative to the Democratic Party. With the State Executive Committee’s approval, Poitevint and Shafer began putting that plan into action, most notably implementing what they called “The Four Star Program,” a strategy “designed to strengthen the party at its grass roots.”

The Four Star Program combined basic political organization with a healthy dose of competition. Modeled after plans used by the Kentucky and Florida Republican Parties, the Georgia program urged counties to enroll in a contest that awarded points for the achievement of specific political goals. As counties hit certain point levels, they earned status as a one-, two-, three-, or four-star county. The county with the most points overall would win $1000 with second place garnering $500. In addition the program divided counties into five groups, adding another level at which the counties could compete.

This year-long program, which ran September 1, 1991 through August 31, 1992, pushed counties with no political organization into officially incorporated Republican groups. More than anything, the Four Star Program taught local groups and individuals how to be politically active and affect change in local, state and national elections. A Four Star Program manual distributed to each county representative included a list of 33 distinct items or goals. As groups organized and achieved these goals, their points were tallied and publicized in the Four Star Program newsletter.

Party members were encouraged to find any outlet at all that would make the Republican philosophy more accessible and visible in the community; maintaining this presence was a key part of the program. Points were awarded for activities like having a “county Republican booth at your County Fair” or by hosting other Republican-sponsored events like “fish frys, picnics, or Lincoln Day events or dinners.” Each letter to the editor published in a local or statewide newspaper supporting “the GOP, your county party, local elected GOP officials, local GOP candidates, or their positions” was awarded two points.

Other broader goals included promoting frequency and consistency in county organizations; submitting the minutes of regularly scheduled meetings could gain a group up to thirty points. The program also sought to extend reach of the Republican Party by building a more diverse constituency; for fifteen points, each county could submit evidence of an affiliated group for women, African Americans, young people and others.

The Georgia Republican Party Records contain invaluable evidence of the Four Star Program’s success and the efforts to build party strength at the county level. Each county that competed submitted materials to state party headquarters for verification. For example, files submitted by Four Star Camden County, winner of the top prize with a total of 415 points (out of a possible 456), include correspondence between county organizational leaders and state party coordinators, a county political plan, monthly updates, meeting minutes, newsletters, and press materials.

About a year after the program’s implementation, Poitevint issued “Breakthrough ‘92: A Report on Our Progress” in which he affirms the importance of the program and its impact on elections. He confidently states that in the November 1992 elections “records were set or broken at virtually every level of government.” A graph included in the report shows “dramatic increases” in the “Republican voting strength” of the top ten counties in the Four Star Program. The proof: Georgia elected a Republican Senator, Paul Coverdell, and sent three new Republicans to the U.S. House in the 1992 elections.

Post by Angelica Marini, Project Archivist, Russell Library

"The Right Leadership at the Top:” The Records of the Georgia Republican Party Chairman

Note: In February of this year, the Russell Library embarked on a one-year project to process the records of the Democratic Party of Georgia (Georgia Democrats) and the Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP), funded by a generous grant of up to $58,777 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). In her second blog post for the project, archivist Angelica Marini highlights the role of Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and the records that illustrate the Chairman’s influence.

In 1995, Rusty Paul, fresh off stints in the federal government, took part in a competitive race for Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. His campaign literature promoted grassroots activism, political training, and how, as Chairman, he would lead the party to “the next plateau” as “the right leadership at the top.” This statement speaks volumes about how the party viewed itself as an organization at the time. And the records of the Georgia Republican Party show a political organization dedicated to grassroots political action and local politics in the 1990s, but also one that favored top-down, business-style leadership. In particular, the Administrative and Political series in the GAGOP Records provide a unique view of how the party transformed with the election of new executive officers and their appointed administrative staffs and reflect important changes in grassroots leadership, management styles, and fundraising and finance.

The Administrative series contains files of the men who served as Chairman from 1980 to 1998: Bob Bell (1983-1985), Paul Coverdell (1985-1987), John Stuckey (1987-1989), Alec Poitevint (1989-1993), Billy Lovett (1993-1995), and Rusty Paul (1995-1999). (Sue Everhart, the first woman to be elected to this important leadership role, served two terms from 2009 to 2013.) These files contain correspondence, memos, publicity releases, meeting minutes, and major reports and political plans. Additional materials in the Political series consist of candidate and issue research files, convention materials, and district and county files. Taken together, these records offer researchers countless insights into the political leadership, organization, and focus of individual Chairmen and their staffs.

The records of Alec Poitevint, for example, reflect a Chairman who was involved in nearly every aspect of party management. Records from Billy Lovett’s administration are interspersed with the records of the political director, implying a leader who was directly involved with and focused on campaigns. In contrast, the records of Rusty Paul’s chairmanship show a significant redevelopment of planning and political direction for the party as a whole.

Delegate tallies hurriedly scrawled on an Alec
Poitevint bio sheet reflect the quickly changing
fortunes in a chairman's campaign.

The 2013 Rules of the Georgia Republican Party outline the duties of the State Party Chairman and stress the importance of this position. He is the “Chief Executive Officer, chairman of the State Committee, chairman of the State Executive Committee and spokesman of the GRP.” (Rules of the Georgia Republican Party, 2013) He convenes and presides at the State Committee meetings and conventions, and he appoints committees and the positions of General Counsel, Finance Chairman, and other members of the state party staff. While the State Chairman is obligated to appoint individuals to committees and carry out the administrative business of the party, he is also asked to be a “spokesman of the GRP.” Being a spokesman for the Georgia Republican Party includes leading the party in a general direction and providing a solid political plan.

The Georgia Republican Party elects its Chairman at state party conventions held every two years in odd number years. Some of the election cycles for the Chairman position could be quite competitive. Rusty Paul was first elected at the 1995 convention dynamic and remembered it as raucous and fun. He recalled a dynamic convention atmosphere and an election that required a lot of movement; Paul said that “the whole process of watching a convention and how it functioned; it’s not like an election. I mean there’s the ebb and flow of support back and forth. And, you know, you’re on your walkie-talkie listening and you say, well, the delegation in this area has got some questions and you hustle over there to answer questions.”  (Reflections on Georgia Politics Oral History Collection, ROGP 121 Rusty Paul) The elections were often highly competitive as the party grew in size and political strength.

Some conventions could be raucous and fun, but Georgia Republicans at the 1989 state convention were still dealing with political divisions caused by the Republican presidential nominating conventions. In 1988, supporters of religious conservative candidate Pat Robertson threatened to derail the Georgia convention over the presidential nomination. In 1989 delegates at the state party convention were still factionalized and it took four ballots to elect Chairman Alec Poitevint. Files from the convention in Poitevint’s records illustrate how close the election for Chairman was that year; numerous typed and handwritten vote counts taken throughout the convention recorded various election possibilities. A number of convention materials, like the biographical information about Poitevint, have delegate tallies scrawled on them. These recorded vote counts reflect the immediate political campaigning that Rusty Paul described in his interview. As candidates dropped out of the race Poitevint and his team were able to tally up more supporters as delegate votes swung to those still in the race.

In the 1990s Republicans in Georgia experienced very real change in their political landscape. Redistricting based on the 1990 census reflected an explosion in suburban growth in Georgia, a population that largely voted Republican. In 1992 and 1994 Republicans had enormous electoral successes.  As the Georgia Republican Party grew, the state conventions also grew in size and scope. At the 1995 state convention in Savannah -- the first Georgia GOP convention to attract lobbyists -- the growing pains of the party were apparent and the competition for the chairmanship was keen. Candidates that year represented old and new Georgia Republicans -- Christian conservatives, the state party establishment, an expanded base of suburban voters, and newly Republican rural voters.

In that hotly contested 1995 election for Chairman, top candidates had garnered statewide media attention by accusing each other of dirty tricks. Of the four candidates running for the position, Rusty Paul was the perceived outsider and underdog. Paul had plenty of political experience, though. He managed Jack Kemp’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988 and served as a Bush appointee in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in the early 1990s. He didn’t think he would win but thought running would be a good way to get back into state politics.

"Rusty's Contract With The GOP" makes the
case for Paul as the party's next Chairman.

“The way we would select a chairman of the Republican Party,” Paul explains, “is different than any other office. I mean, you run around the state like you’re a statewide candidate but instead of talking to voters you’re talking to people who are likely to be the delegates to their local conventions. Whether it’s their precinct caucus, or their county convention, their congressional district convention, and then the state convention.”  (Reflections on Georgia Politics Oral History Collection, ROGP 121 Rusty Paul) Paul’s commitment to running for the office of Chairman was in part what got him elected. His distance from perceived problems in the state party, his experience managing political campaigns, and his political plan for the party made him an appealing choice. His campaign literature focused on making a positive impact on Georgia politics. Paul capitalized on recent Republican successes and pitched “Rusty’s Contract With the GOP,” a la Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract With America, in his campaign literature.
 

The Administrative and Political Series together shed light on the personal leadership styles of the individuals at the top of the party. As a result, these records provide researchers a fuller, more complex picture of the GAGOP as an organization.

Next up:  The role of the GAGOP’s Executive Director and the development of political plans…

Getting the Party Started: Processing the Records of Georgia's Political Parties

Note: In February of this year, the Russell Library embarked on a one-year project to process the records of the Democratic Party of Georgia (Georgia Democrats) and the Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP), funded by a generous grant of up to $58,777 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Because the records will not be open for research for several months, project archivist Angelica Marini will be providing a series of short articles throughout the year highlighting various aspects of the records as she works to organize, describe and make them available. In this, her first blog post for the project, she underscores the value of the Georgia Republican Party Records as an important resource for studying the historic political realignment of the state in the second half of the twentieth century.

A small sampling of the GAGOP records awaiting processing.

Once available for research, the Georgia Republican Party Records will be one of the largest processed collections of official state Republican Party records in the country and the largest in the Southeast. Complementing the University of South Carolina’s Republican Party of South Carolina Papers and Auburn University’s Alabama Republican Party Records, the Georgia Republican Party Records, dating from 1975 to 1998, are a unique collection of administrative records, political files, financial and fundraising materials, and campaign files that will enable researchers to gain new insights into the dramatic political realignment of the South in the twentieth century.

In 1960 there were only two Republican members of the State House and just one Republican State Senator in Georgia. The Georgia Republican Party was politically weak and the state was dominated by the Democratic Party of Georgia. It was not until later in the second half of the twentieth century that Georgia was a truly modern two-party political system. The records reflect this historical development of the party as the bulk of materials date from the later period. While the Republican Party collections in South Carolina and Alabama contain materials from the 1920s, most of the materials date from this modern period, 1960 to 2000. The bulk of the South Carolina Republican Party records date from 1962 to 2001 and the records of the Alabama Republican Party date from 1960 to 1994. Likewise the Georgia Republican Party saw their most significant gains after 1980 and the bulk of the materials date from 1980 to 1996.

What kept the Georgia Republican party from power for so long? The explanation requires a look at the political history of the South. An alleged political deal between Democrats and Republicans in 1877 brokered the end of Reconstruction. The contested presidential election resulted in a compromise between the parties that allowed for Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes to be seated in return for the end of federal military intervention in the South. Over the next twenty-five years, all across the South, the Republican Party lost what limited power they held during Reconstruction. The historical legacy of Reconstruction affected the political growth of the Republican Party far beyond the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, though, as the Democratic Party dominated Southern politics until the 1960s.

The national Democratic Party started to change in the 1960s and broadly supported civil rights legislation and aligned with more liberal policies. The changes in national party platforms alienated conservative Southern Democrats and by the 1970s many Southern states were in the process of moving to a Republican majority. In Georgia, this regional political realignment was influenced additionally by migration to the state. Beginning in the 1950s, state politicians and policies promoted Georgia as a friendly place for business. Republicans increased their favor as they promoted themselves as the political party that stood for business interests. Georgia Republicans also recruited party members from transplanted Northern Republicans. The first Republican since Reconstruction to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate, Mack Mattingly (originally from Indiana), noted that “What they [the Democratic Party] didn’t understand back then were what we call ‘demographics.’ They did not understand that the demographics of Georgia had changed – your IBMers from Indiana, you know, everybody from all different places – it had changed.” (Reflections on Georgia Politics Oral History Collection, ROGP 014 Mack Mattingly) These changes made a real difference in the political strength of the Republican Party in Georgia. By 1997, the Republicans elected 79 members to the State House and 22 members to the State Senate. The last decades of the twentieth century saw the Republican Party become a major political power in the state and in 2002, Georgians elected their first Republican Governor since Reconstruction, Sonny Perdue.

The bulk of the Georgia Republican Party Records date from a period of substantial political growth for the party. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Republican Party emerged as a powerful political opponent to the Democrats. The records document the party’s administration by Party Chairmen and Executive Directors. Political files include research materials maintained by the political directors, state convention materials, and county and district files. Financial records reflect the growth of the party through fundraising and events. The campaign records contain strategic planning documents and statistical analysis of election results using the ORVIS program (Optimal Republican Voting Strength) adopted in the 1980s. These records are an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in researching the growth of the Georgia Republican Party during an important transitional period.


Post by Angelica Marini, Project Archivist, Russell Library