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Oral history interview with George T. Smith, 1988 April 26

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@ University of West Georgia. Special Collections

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George Thornewell Smith was born in Mitchell County, Georgia, in 1916 (d. 2010). He is the only person in Georgia history to win contested elections in all three branches of state government. His service included Democratic Speaker of the House (1963-1966), Lieutenant Governor under Lester Maddox (1967-1971, and Georgia's Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.; Interviewed by Dr. Mel Steely and Prof. Don Wagner on April 26, 1988 in the Special Collections of West Georgia College's library.; Smith begins by talking about his acquaintanceship with Governor Carl Sanders, as they had attended the University of Georgia law school at the same time, and talks about his support of Sanders when the Governor ran against Marvin Griffin. He then talks about his appointment as Speaker of the State House of Representatives when he replaced George L. Smith, also speaking about the structure and issues that he addressed while in the seat, such as increasing taxes, as well as his interactions with politicians such as Tom Murphy and "Sloppy" Floyd. Smith reveals his reasoning behind leaving the position of Speaker of the House to run for Lieutenant Governor and talks about wanting ultimately to become Governor. He talks at length about his campaign for Lieutenant Governor, of the 'politics' of being in politics, and the issues that he dealt with while Lieutenant Governor. Smith comments on Governor Lester Maddox, calling him not "all bad" - referring to the way in which he made committee appointments. Smith tells of his interactions with Maddox...
Type:
Video
Contributors:
Steely, MelWagner, DonUniversity of West Georgia. Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program
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Record Contributed By

University of West Georgia. Special Collections

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia

Keywords

  1. Bagby, George Talmadge, 1920
  2. Bond, Julian, 1940
  3. Busbee, George, 1927
  4. Byrd, Garland T. (Garland Turk), 1924 1997
  5. Dean, Roscoe, 1936
  6. Donalsonville (Ga.)
  7. Elections
  8. Floyd, James H., 1920
  9. Forrester, E.L. (Elijah Lewis), 1896 1970
  10. Gambrell, David Henry, 1929
  11. Geer, Peter Zack
  12. Georgia
  13. Gillis, Hugh M., 1918
  14. Government
  15. Governors
  16. Grady County (Ga.)
  17. Griffin, Marvin, 1907 1982
  18. Groover, Denmark, 1922 2001
  19. Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911 1978
  20. Interviews
  21. Jekyll Island (Ga.)
  22. Johnson, Leroy R., 1928
  23. Kelley, Asa D., 1922 1997
  24. Kidd, Culver, 1914 1995
  25. Lane, Mills B. (Mills Bee), 1912 1989
  26. Legislators
  27. Maddox, Lester Jr., 1944
  28. Mc Gill, Ralph, 1898 1969
  29. Miller, Zell, 1932
  30. Morris, Aubrey R
  31. Murphy, Thomas Bailey, 1924 2007
  32. Paulding County (Ga.)
  33. Plunkett, Lamar Rich, 1911
  34. Political Campaigns
  35. Politics And Government
  36. Rayburn, Sam, 1882 1961
  37. Rivers, Eurith Dickerson, 1895 1967
  38. Saint Simons Island (Ga.)
  39. Sanders, Carl Edward, 1925
  40. Smalley, Robert H., 1929
  41. Smith, George L
  42. Smith, George T. (George Thornewell), 1916
  43. Taxation
  44. Twitty, Frank Starling, 1907 1981
  45. Universities
  46. University Of Georgia
  47. University Of Georgia. School Of Law
  48. University System Of Georgia
  49. University System Of Georgia. Board Of Regents
  50. Vandiver, S. Ernest (Samuel Ernest), 1918
  51. Vinson, Carl, 1883 1981
  52. Wallace, George C. (George Corley), 1919 1998
  53. William Harold Flowers, 1911 1990

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