Former Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox, Dies

AP | 6/25/03

[kattracks]

ATLANTA, Jun 25, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Lester Maddox, the restaurateur who became a symbol of segregationist defiance and then Georgia governor in a fluke election, died Wednesday in an Atlanta hospice, family members said. He was 87.

Maddox, who had battled cancer since 1983, had cracked two ribs when he fell about 10 days ago at an assisted living home where he was recovering from intestinal surgery, his daughter Virginia Carnes said Tuesday.

Maddox became famous in the 1960s when he closed and then sold his Pickrick fried chicken restaurant in Atlanta rather than serve blacks. But fears of racial strife during his 1967-71 governorship proved unfounded when Maddox pursued a policy of relative moderation on race.

It began with an inaugural vow that "there will be no place in Georgia during the next four years for those who advocate extremism or violence."

Barred from succeeding himself at the end of his four-year term, Maddox won the state's second-highest office, and from the position as lieutenant governor battled the man who succeeded him as governor, President-to-be Jimmy Carter.

A bid to return to the executive mansion failed in 1974, and Maddox dabbled at real estate.

He tried a final comeback in 1990, but his years away from the public spotlight and a changing electorate left him fifth in a five-person race with just 3 percent of the vote.

An irrepressible, flamboyant man, Maddox often seemed more caricature than flesh. His slick pate and thick glasses were fodder for cartoonists. He was known for quaint sayings and outrageous gestures like riding a bicycle backward.

"How you, chief?" was one customary greeting. Another: "It's great to be alive. A lot of folks aren't, you know."

He won the hearts of many by opening the doors of his office and the governor's mansion to what he called the "little people." Twice a month he held a kind of people's court to hear the problems of the rank-and-file and offer advice and help.

At his final open house at the executive mansion, thousands turned out to bid Maddox farewell.

Maddox was born Sept. 30, 1915, in Atlanta. He was a school dropout who later took a correspondence course and opened a restaurant. It was through that restaurant, the Pickrick, that Maddox became nationally known for his outspoken opposition to integration.

In one incident, customers armed themselves with pick handles to bar blacks. Pick handles became his trademark, and later he sold them as souvenirs.

Maddox claimed he had nothing against blacks, just forced integration. In the end, he sold the restaurant rather than comply with the public accommodations section of the Civil Rights Act.

"As well as a constitutional human right to associate with whomever you please, there should be a corresponding right to disassociate if you please," he once said.

Maddox ran twice for mayor of Atlanta and once for lieutenant governor before capturing the state's highest office through a quirk in state law.

He won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1966 but trailed Republican Howard H. "Bo" Callaway in the general election. Write-in votes for other candidates prevented Callaway from receiving a majority, and the question was thrown to the Democrat-dominated Legislature, which picked Maddox.

As governor, Maddox interested himself in prison reform and teacher pay, and appointed black musician Graham Jackson to the state Board of Corrections - a high post for a black man at the time.

As his term drew to a close, Maddox challenged a constitutional provision barring governors from succeeding themselves. He failed, but managed to be elected lieutenant governor.

It was a classic mismatch: the liberal, polished Carter as governor and conservative, rough-hewn Maddox in the No. 2 spot. Said Maddox: "It's all right for a fellow to grow peanuts ... but people ought not to think like them. I don't know whether the man is sick, or just a plain fool."

In 1974, Maddox once again was eligible to run for governor. He lost.

The ex-governor flirted with national politics in 1976 when his old nemesis Carter ran successfully for president. As the presidential nominee of the American Independent Party, Maddox got only a handful of votes.

Later, he embarked on a short-lived nightclub comedy career with a black man he pardoned from jail while he was governor. They billed themselves as "The Governor and the Dishwasher."

Maddox's wife, the former Virginia Cox, died in 1997. They had been married for more than 60 years and had two daughters and two sons.

After she died, Maddox resolved to work to keep other marriages together, reasoning that if a few thousand dollars' worth of advertising could save one family, "then it's worth it."

"DEAR MOMS & DADS. Help Save Lives, Families and U.S.A. STAY MARRIED," said an ad that ran in March 1998 in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

[GaConfed]

No, further south than that. Forstyh georgia. Monroe county. It's still agrarian in its outlook, but all our old money has died off down here and their aires all went to fancy boarding schools in New England, then Harvard and Yale, and then Wall Street. No one here ever knew them, and they never knew anyone here except their family. So properties are being sold off right now. If I had a choice between golf course community and one acre plots zoned for double wides, I'd take the double wides everyday of the week.

As for ATL and it's burbs, I'm like Lester with the blacks. As you said, it's more theoretical than practical. I've loved reading your posts tonight btw.

[eddie willers]

Another Georgian heard from.

Funny....that all the people that actually knew the Governor have a different story to tell than the NY Times.

Kind of like how all the black Mississippians testified what a fine and fair man Judge Pickering was, but according to all the liberals, he's a racist.

"Hey....who you gonna listen to....
Us....or some dumb [censored] hicks!?"

[Lancey Howard]

Yeah, this piece did take a long time to mention that this guy was a Democrat, didn't it?

[GaConfed]

I didn't even read the AJC today, and won't for the foreseeable future because I just know they are gonna get in some real cheap shots just because they can and he can't answer back this time. I used to love to watch the 6 o'clock WSB News when Lester was governor. He made all those carpetbagger leftie reporters look like monkeys, and was damn entertaining doing it to!!

[Classicaliberalconservative]

Dude they have to write nice stuff about people when they die.

[BillyBoy]

>> I see another non-Georgian pipes in. << <<

I see another Georgia "conservative" ignores the FACT that MOST of his FELLOW Georgians VOTED AGAINST Maddox, picking a conservative Republican instead (imagine that!)

Your state voted for Clinton in '92 as well, those southern Dems are just great guys, eh?

[BillyBoy]

>> Let me clue you in....the liberal media lied about Lester too <<

Yeah, no kidding, the liberal media tried to avoid mentioned he was a DEMOCRAT to continue their sterotype that all racists are conservative Republicans.

RINOs who support liberal racist Democrats and PRETEND they are conservative (like Sheets Byrd) are extremely helpful dupes for the liberal media. Keep up the good work, you've alredy helped the media convince people George Wallace was a Republican.

[tahiti]

"Your post 24 is an example of the big problem."

I am curious as to what you call or define as "an example of the big problem."

[tallhappy]

Trying to avoid or obfuscate the actual issue in this legalistic of pseudolegalistic manner. They kept people out to uphold segregation not stand up for principle vis a vis the right of federal authority to dictate.

If it were truly that, there would have been other laws subject to pick axing as it were.

And he could have happily desegregated long before federal law mandated it and avoided the whole issue.

The big problem is intellectual dishonesty.

[Bonaparte]

Rare 1970s campaign zippo, showing Lester riding his bicycle backwards...

[AnAmericanMother]

This is all beside the point. Until you understand the rural-urban conflict between Atlanta and suburbs and the "wool hat boys" in the rural parts of the state, you won't fully comprehend the dynamics of the '66 election. And you can't make straight comparisons between the Dem party then and the Dem party now, too many things have changed substantially.

The Atlanta newspapers and magazines mounted a concerted campaign against Maddox before he ever ran for governor - probably got into gear when he started running his "Pickrick Says" ads in the paper. And he did not have the support of the Democratic machine because he was an "outsider" to the political power structure. He ran as a true populist candidate. Those factors had a lot more to do with the outcome of the voting than mere party labels. Also, the write in vote for Ellis Arnall in the general election was substantial. (Just like another, more recent election in which the third-party vote meant that nobody got a majority). "Yellow-Dog Syndrome" took over when the vote went to the General Assembly.

But I think it was a blessing in disguise. Callaway would have been a wholly ineffectual governor - with nobody in the legislature to work with and no political contacts to speak of. And Maddox surprised everyone with his even-handed and reformist approach to governing, he did a very good job and did a lot of things that had needed doing for a long time.

[AnAmericanMother]

I still have my Lester Maddox "Wake Up America" alarm clock.

It's kinda cute. Has Maddox riding his bicycle backwards, with a chicken drumstick for the hour hand and a pick handle for the minute hand. Here's a wristwatch version of the same deal:

Lester Maddox wristwatch

We bought it in Underground Atlanta from Maddox himself. My husband was one of the Tech students who used to torment Lester by appearing at his speeches with the Atlanta Journal and ostentatiously reading it (it used to really hack him off). But after his speech my husband took the paper up and Maddox cheerfully autographed it (he refused to autograph a copy of the Great Speckled Bird however - our local hippie "alternative" mag).

When we saw him in Underground Atlanta years later, he was glad to see us and shook my husband's hand "No hard feelings." All in all a pretty outrageous guy but never bore malice.

[fieldmarshaldj]

It was Ellis Arnall, not Arnold. He was a former Governor (1943-47) attempting a comeback to stop Maddox in the Dem. primary and lost. Had Callaway duly taken office, the effects might've been negligable, since he would've only served the one term, and the Governorship would've probably reverted to the 'Rats in '71 (Carter, I would presume). The question is how this upper-cruster would've been as a Chief Executive. Although I generally tend to scorn the Country-Club elitists within the GOP, I doubt his positions would've earned him the term "RINO." When he ran for the Senate 14 years later in Colorado, he was definitely not the RINO in the race (but he was upset by one in the primary), and had he gone on to the general, Gary Hart would've been rightly a one-term wonder.

[AnAmericanMother]

Arnall (liberal Atlanta lawyer) couldn't hold the votes from the "wool hat boys" against Maddox. But many of the Atlanta/suburban crowd wrote him in anyway in the general - they couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Republican OR for Maddox. I don't know if my parents voted for Callaway or wrote in Arnall, I'll ask 'em next time I see 'em. (I'm pretty darned sure they didn't vote for Maddox! :-D )

What my father used to do when he absolutely hated all the candidates in a race, was to write in "Willie B" the famous gorilla in the Grant Park Zoo. Now that Willie B has gone to his well-earned rest, I have no idea who dad would write in now. But they have moved to the Georgia coast, and we moved to Cobb County, so Atlanta elections don't concern us any more!

[eddie willers]

MOST of his FELLOW Georgians VOTED AGAINST Maddox, picking a conservative Republican instead (imagine that!)

"Bo" Calloway was NO Goldwater conservative.
He was a rich, Country Club (Look up "Calloway Gardens") Rockefeller Republican who immediately left the state to schmooze in Aspen, never to return.

The only conservative in the race was Lester Maddox.
He made Zell Miller look like Bernie Sanders.

So are you a conservative.....
or just a political partisan who wants their rascals thrown out so you can put your rascals in?

[mac_truck]

Lester Maddox was a Democrat and a racist.

[tahiti]

"They kept people out to uphold segregation not stand up for principle vis a vis the right of federal authority to dictate."

That may be true. But as a private property owner you have the RIGHT to segregate or discriminate among those of whom you allow on your property or not whether by gender, race, religion, political affiliation, age, attire, hairstyle, what school's you attended, etc. (Amendment IX)

Note that I refer to "private property" only. Our government can never segregatge or discriminate, for any reason, not even for law school admission in Michigan.

[res ipsa loquitur]

If I may add my own testimonial to that offered below.

On a weekend where we have lost two prominent political figures in Georgia, it amazes me that former Mayor Maynard Jackson is being heavily eulogized while Lester's funeral is getting little ink. Lester Maddox was one of a kind. Probably the only honest governor we ever had as proven by the fact that he was poorer when he left office than before he went in.

He was quite a character. I met him first in 1966 when he was running for governor. He was driving himself around Georgia in a station wagon with a sign on top stating:"THIS IS MADDOX COUNTRY". At that time, I had occasion to meet and talk to all the candidates for governor including Ellis Arnall, Ernest Vandiver, Bo Calloway and Jimmy Carter. Most of the other people my age were very liberal and thought Lester was a joke. They poked fun at him and portrayed him as if he were an unintelligent bigot. Except for Jimmy Carter, who also was then driving himself around Georgia meeting the voters, none of the other candidates seemed to care what a 17 year old had to think about politics. Lester would always listen patiently to questions,(no matter how unflattering) and explain his views in a highly articulate manner.

However controversial, his civil rights positions were the law of the land until the Supreme Court struck them down in the Heart of Atlanta Motel and Ollie's BarBQ cases in the mid-1960's based on a liberal new reading of the interstate commerce clause. Absent a tenuous nexus to interstate commerce, the right to associate is still the law of the land as evidenced in the recent Augusta National gender controversy.

I last met Lester while he was governor and I was in college at Georgia State. He used to come eat in the S&W Cafeteria and would talk to anyone who came up to him. I was put in charge of a charity fund raiser for MD that was held annually by my fraternity. While planning activities for this event at Piedmont Park, I invited several local politicians and prominent athletes to draw crowds. Other than Ken Reeves, a Falcon defensive back, only Lester showed up. He was famous for riding a bicycle backwards. At our event, we had a tricycle event for the ladies and Lester obligingly rode a child's tricycle backwards. At the time, he was Governor of Georgia.

Somehow, he remembered my name, because in January 1968. he commissioned me as Lieutenant Colonel, aide de camp Governor's Staff. I still have the framed commission hanging in my office.

Over the past several decades I lost contact with Lester. Other than the occasional newspaper article about fundraisers to help him out of poverty or his battle with prostate cancer or his wife dying, I have heard little about him. Perhaps I should have made more of an effort to find out how he was doing, but the time pressures of life precluded my doing so.

However, let me add my prayers to those others who knew and admired him:

"May he find happiness with his beloved wife Virginia in heaven."


The following is from an article on CNBS cited below.

''How you, chief?'' was one customary greeting. Another: ''It's great to be alive. A lot of folks aren't, you know.'' He was known for quaint sayings and outrageous gestures like riding a bicycle backward!

A link to the complete article is at the end of this message - following are my favorite portions. Even though I was a baby when Governor Maddox was in office, I have certainly admired his many fine qualities and stalwart advocacy of the "little people."

I have enjoyed his outgoing, even audacious friendliness in recent years when we saw him in Marietta at the Picadilly Cafesteria and Williamson Brothers BBQ. The governor played his harmonica - always including Dixie,of course and sang several songs for our children and all who cared to listen. He was a Southern treasure and took a courageous stand based on the US Constitution with which many agreed. He stated his position succinctly: "I've nothing against blacks, just forced integration."

Now separated from us by eternity, having "run the good race and fought the good fight," I'd like to think that Governor Maddox is now enjoying the company of those who went before him, particularly his beloved wife:

"DEAR MOMS & DADS. Help Save Lives, Families and U.S.A. STAY MARRIED" read Lester Maddox's 1998 ad that ran in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, following the death of his wife of more than 60 years, Virginia.

After she died, Maddox resolved to work to keep other marriages together,reasoning that if a few thousand dollars' worth of advertising could save one family, ''then it's worth it.''

Though Maddox once brandished a pistol at civil rights protesters in his restaurant, he began his term as governor with a vow that ''there will be no place in Georgia during the next four years for those who advocate extremism
or violence.''

''As well as a constitutional human right to associate with whomever you please, there should be a corresponding right to disassociate if you please,'' he once said. Maddox claimed he had nothing against blacks, just forced integration.

In one incident, customers of his Pickrick fried chicken restaurant armed themselves with pick handles to bar blacks. Pick handles became his trademark, and later he sold them as souvenirs.

He won the hearts of many by opening the doors of his office and the governor's mansion to what he called the ''little people.'' Twice a month he held a kind of people's court to hear the problems of the rank-and-file
and offer advice and help.

''I think history will record him as a very progressive governor who gave his all to see that Georgia moved forward in an equitable and fair manner,'' said former Georgia House Speaker Tom Murphy.

http://www.msnbc.com/local/rtga/FormerGeoLest.asp

[Bonaparte]

Thanks for the link to the Maddox memorabilia. Fascinating. Had no idea the Great Speckled Bird had been around that long. I'm familiar with them -- extreme leftists who are under investigation for internet fraud and tax evasion.

[lugsoul]

Perhaps you need to look into the ability of Atlanta, or Atlantans, to tax in unincorporated Fulton. It ain't happening. It is a SOUTH FULTON controlled commission. Your tax dollars do not go to the City of Atlanta. They just go elsewhere in the county.

Believe me - I am all over the power of the various taxing authorities here - I'm an Atlanta-in-DeKalb resident.