Maynard Jackson Dies, Heart Attack

WXIA Atlanta ^

[Republican Red]

Former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, 64, has died of a heart attack, City Hall confirmed Monday morning.

In 1973, Jackson was the first black elected mayor of a major Southern U.S. city.

Jackson was a 30-year-old political novice when he ran for the Senate against Herman Talmadge. He has since put together an efficient voting machine over the years, one that has shown that it can win big for the Democratic Party.

Jackson considered a run for Georgia Sen. Zell Miller’s seat when Miller stepped down in 2004.

“I must tell you that I'm giving running for the U.S. Senate in 2004 serious consideration," Jackson said at the time.

Jackson was born in Dallas, Texas. He was graduate of Morehouse College in 1956, receiving his J.D. from North Carolina Central State School of Law.

Jackson was an attorney and director of community relations for the Emory Neighborhood Law Office in Atlanta (1968-to-69) and a senior partner at Jackson, Patterson & Parks (1970-to-73). He served as mayor of Atlanta, Ga., from 1974-to-82 and again in 1990.

Jackson was born in 1938.

More details as they become available

[lugsoul]

I'm not gonna bash Maynard - he was a hero in the black community here and was a symbol of the black majority "getting theirs." But with Maynard gone, it does raise the question - who is gonna pick the mayor now?

[devane617]

Maynard brought us the curb-side dumpster/trash collection which were dubbed "Little Maynards". I still call my dumpster a "Little Maynard".

[Republican Red]

He did run all things here in Atlanta.

[section9]

RIP, Mayor Jackson. This man was a liberal Democrat, but a decent one.

Now that he is gone, the Dems lack a good mechanic to run their turnout operations in the South. This is a blow to the Dems, that much is certain.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Guillermo]

He was OK, especially when compared to Bill Campbell, who was the worst mayor in the history of Atl.

[Vigilantcitizen]

I have no qualms with Maynard.

R.I.P. Maynard Jackson

[Republican Red]

I didn't appreciate him getting huge contracts with the Airport under the guise of "minority" ownership. The man was a millionaire.

Nevertheless, God Rest His Soul

[Consort]

Wasn't Jackson forced to the back of the Democrat bus by Terry McAuliffe a couple of years ago?

[mhking]

A shrewd businessman and a shrewd politician, whether you appreciate him or not, beneath it all, he was a decent human being. I had the pleasure on more than one occasion to meet him and found him a good person to talk with, and once you got beyond the politics, a good man in general.

Fare thee well, Maynard.

[mhking]

Wasn't Jackson forced to the back of the Democrat bus by Terry McAuliffe a couple of years ago?

Yep. Maynard wanted the Democratic leadership for himself - and as shrewd a player as he was, he could have had it, were he to have pushed for it.

But McAuliffe (Clinton's choice) ended up with it.

[Consort]

And wasn't Harold Ford, Jr. also forced to the back of the same bus by Nancy Pelosi last year?

[dansangel]

RIP, Maynard Jackson. May you find peace and happiness with our Lord.

[mhking]

And wasn't Harold Ford, Jr. also forced to the back of the same bus by Nancy Pelosi last year?

One of many. The Democratic leadership is satisfied with blacks in the rear of the bus, and routinely slap down attempts to run around the status quo...

[mhking]

More complete obit from AJC.com:

---

Former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson dies

Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr., a three-term mayor of Atlanta and one of its most charismatic civic leaders, died in Washington Sunday night of a heart attack. He was 65.

Bunnie Jackson-Ransom, his ex-wife, said she had few details. She was boarding a plane back to Atlanta from the Rainbow/PUSH convention in Chicago.

She said the couple's son called her of the news.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson announced Jackson's death to a stunned Chicago audience.

A great-grandson of Cobb County slaves, Jackson was launched from Atlanta's black aristocracy, graduated from Morehouse College at 18 years old and was elected in 1973 the first black mayor of a major Southern city.

He was elected after his opponent had used the divisive campaign slogan, "Atlanta's Too Young To Die." Jackson was only 35 at the time, the nation's youngest mayor.

His election came five years after Cleveland's Carl Stokes and Richard Hatcher of Gary, Ind., had broken the color line for mayors. The same fall Jackson was elected in Atlanta, Los Angeles' Tom Bradley and Detroit's Coleman Young also broke through in their cities.

Jackson was an eloquent orator, with iridescent green eyes and a bearish heft that once reached 350 pounds. His political career spanned a quarter of a century. Among Atlanta mayors, only William Hartsfield, who served 23 years, had a tenure at City Hall that exceeded Jackson's dozen years.

Jackson's political star first ascended in 1968 when he challenged Herman Talmadge for his U.S. Senate seat. Jackson lost that race by more than a 3-to-1 margin, but won the city of Atlanta by 6,000 votes, a political omen for him.

Though not actively involved in the civil rights movement as a young man, Jackson was among a cadre of political leaders across the nation who worked during the 1970s to expand the social gains made by minorities into the economic arena.

He served the two-term limit at Atlanta City Hall from 1974 to 1982. In a city that once had served as the arsenal of the Confederacy, his historic 1973 election generated exaggerated hopes in Atlanta's black community and exaggerated fears in the white community.

Through sheer resolve, Jackson endured a turbulent first few years in office, sparring with the city's white business power structure. Meanwhile, his poise and oratorical skill stirred many young and ambitious blacks across the country, and soon their resumes stacked up at City Hall.

Of historic import, Jackson instituted a controversial affirmative action program that elevated the percentage of city contracts awarded to minorities in Atlanta from less than 1 percent in 1973 to 38.6 percent five years later. He applied his program of "joint venture," which brought together white and minority-owned firms, most promiently at the Atlanta airport.

Years later, Jackson would crow, "We built the Atlanta airport, biggest terminal building complex in the world, ahead of schedule and within budget -- and simultaneously rewrote the books on affirmative action." He also would boast that, under his watch, joint venture produced about 25 new black millionaires, most as a result of the airport.

In 1989, following Andrew Young's two terms as Atlanta's mayor, Jackson, then a bond attorney for the Chicago based firm of Chapman & Cutler, re-emerged as a local political force.

He swamped City Councilman Hosea Williams, winning the mayoralty with a mandate of 79 percent of the vote.

During his final term from 1990 to 1994, Jackson became a prominent spokesman for American cities, serving as president of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors and of the national Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Spain, meanwhile, he had the honor of accepting the five-ringed flag from Barcelona Mayor Pasqual Maragall. Jackson waved the flag broadly that day inside the Olympic stadium and later quipped, "I've got enough ham in me to appreciate standing in front of three billion people."

But Jackson's third and final term proved frustrating as he was unable to reproduce the accomplishments of his initial terms. A corruption scandal at the Atlanta airport, which led to the conviction of his old friend, airport commissioner Ira Jackson, marred his administration.

On June 9, 1993, Jackson announced he would not seek a fourth term, citing health and other personal reasons. His announcement surprised many Atlantans.

Only days before, a local survey by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had revealed that Jackson's public approval rating was a powerful 70 percent. Roughly half of whites and three-fouths of blacks polled said they approved of the way Jackson served as mayor.

Nine months earlier, in September 1992, Jackson had undergone bypass surgery at St. Joseph's Hospital to clear six blockages in his arteries. At the time, his physician said the mayor was about 100 pounds overweight, adding, "He's obese and he has to lose weight."

In announcing his decision to bow out of the 1993 mayor's race, Jackson said, "I have wrestled with this decision more than any other decision in my life . . . But I am satisfied that I have made a, regrettably, necessary decision."

Later, he would reflect, "I got tired of giving up $500,000 a year to earn $100,000 a year [as mayor] and getting beat up and sacrificing my family, myself, my income, my health and everything."

Though proud of his achievement as the big-city South's first African-American mayor, Jackson, in later years, wondered about his own legacy and bemoaned, "I can see that my full name will be Maynard Jackson First Black Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia."

That rankled him. He thought it racist and unfair because it cheated him of his accomplishments in office, which included not only affirmative action programs, but overseeing construction of the midfield terminal at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport (and providing many jobs in the process), giving voice to intown neighborhoods, establishing a cultural affairs department and serving as the first modern manager under the city's new charter.

[Consort]

And in '98, Clinton made the Rev. Jackson ride in the rear with the "Sister Solja" thing.

[FreedomPoster]

No doubt Campbell was worse. But didn't the huge infrastructure problem with combined sewers really come to light in his administration? And didn't he start the policy of ignoring the problem that continued for 2+ decades and successive administrations, until today it can no longer be ignored, and the huge costs cannot be spread over time?

[wizzler]

Jackson considered a run for Georgia Sen. Zell Miller’s seat when Miller stepped down in 2004.

What -- is it 2005 already? What's up with the past tense here?

[mhking]

No doubt Campbell was worse.

That's a huge understatement...

[from occupied ga]

Long overdue. He won't be missed by anyone who believes that personal freedom is important.