Description

Interviewed by Dr. Mel Steely on April 21, 1998 at the home of Flynt's friends, Harrell and Phyllis Fountain, in Carrollton, Ga.; John James "Jack" Flynt Jr. (1914-2007) was elected the 4th District Congressman in 1954 and didn't retire from politics until 1979. He twice beat newcomer Newt Gingrich in the 1970s for his congressional seat. Flynt chaired the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct while a congressman.; Steely opens by recalling that the last interview conducted with Flynt a little over a decade prior, noting that they had "covered up through the war years." Flynt discusses his involvement in the Battle of Brittany, during the Normandy Campaign of WWII, and how he came to receive a bronze star during that time and his involvement for the preparations of the Allied Invasion of the Japanese home islands. He then talks about Georgia politics and politicians Herman Talmadge, who he had met when he was 13, and Richard B. Russell, Jr., Speaker of the House of the Georgia General Assembly. He then talks about his successful campaign for the Georgia House of Representative in 1946. Flynt discusses at length the Three Governors Crisis of 1947 and in particular his involvement with the authorship of JSR1; he discloses his opinion on the governorship of Melvin E. Thompson, as well as several other politicians. The white primaries become a topic of conversation, as does Flynt's stance as a segregationist and his opinions on integration and racism. Flynt provides background on his decision to...

Record Contributed By

University of West Georgia. Special Collections

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia