That race was similar to the last presidential election. Callaway actually got the most votes, but a liberal democrat named Ellis Arnold ran as an independant protest candidate, and got enough votes to ensure that no one got a majority. The state constitution stated at that time that if no one got a majority the state legislature would vote for the next governor. Of course, the legislature being totally dominated by democrats voted overwhelmingly for Maddox.
I don't approve of the way Maddox was elected, and the law has since been changed. However, in hindsight, it was a blessing. The RINO rich elite one worlder, Howard H. (Bo) Callaway ran away to Colorado very soon after the election to hobnob with the elitist wine and cheese crowd on the ski slopes of Aspen and Vail, and never to live in our fair state of Georgia again. This bad act proves, in a crystal clear manner in my opinion, that Bo Callaway cared a lot about being governor, and all the power and prestige that goes along with it, and very very damn little about the good, decent people of the state of Georgia. Republican or not, he is of the same feather as Roy Barnes and Jimmy Carter as far as I'm concerned.
Lester Maddox, on the other hand, turned out to be the most honest, and decent high public office holder I've ever known of. For example, when the schools were totally integrated in 1970, largely because of the active involvement of Gov. Maddox, they were done so with very little controversy or disturbances. As to his sentiments about these particular actions, I couldn't say. I would guess that he was against such drastic change in so short a period of time (btw, for him to not bar blacks from the Pickrick at the time he did would have been unlawful. Remember, Jim Crow was the L-A-W in Georgia at that time. In fact, IMHO, that was the only thing wrong with Jim Crow legally). I don't think we could say the same for South Boston or Cicero, now could we?
As I went through my daily grind today, the only person that mentioned anything to me about Gov. Maddox's death was an old black man who is a caretaker of one of our recycling centers here in my rural abode. He had tears in his eyes as he expressed what great admiration and respect he had for him, and how angry it made him when he heard some young black man who wasn't even born when Maddox was governor talk about him in strongly unflattering, and untrue terms; he also told me how ashamed he was of himself because, instead of defending Maddox, he simply left the scene to get his anger under control.
The old man's words brought back memories of how fearful my family's black maid, and most of the other blacks that lived within proximity of my rural Georgia boyhood home were when Lester Maddox was officially elected govorner, and how their fear, almost to a person, turned to admiration and contentment within a month afterwards. You see, the lion's share of Maddox's opposition when he was governor were big city Atlanta black elites like Julian Bond and Maynard Jackson. Of course thier opposition was just an expression of their evil, and evil being what it is, will always endever to to destroy the true and the good. It was my distinct impression that a huge majority of the good, moral small town and rural black Georgians had a great admiration for Lester Maddox then, and of the one's that remember those times, still do. As for all of you on this thread who seem to take great glee in demonizing a good man on his passing away, I'll go easy on you. I'll assume y'all aren't evil, but merely speaking with the ignorance of a tree stump.
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!?"
It is easy to hurl an uninformed comment here and there about the deceased man by a person on here who has little background with GA politics (there were a few of those on this thread).
You, on the other hand, from a knowledgeable position, educated us and showed some of the good points about the man, now that he has passed on, RIP.