- Collection:
- Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program
- Title:
- Oral history interview with George T. Smith, 1988 April 26
- Creator:
- Smith, George T. (George Thornewell), 1916-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Steely, Mel
Wagner, Don
University of West Georgia. Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program - Publisher:
- Carrollton, Ga. : University of West Georgia Special Collections in association with the Digital Library of Georgia
- Date of Original:
- 1988-04-26
- Subject:
- University System of Georgia
University System of Georgia. Board of Regents
University of Georgia
University of Georgia. School of Law
Georgia--Politics and government--1865-1950
Georgia--Politics and government--1951-
Governors--Georgia--Interviews
Legislators--Georgia--Interviews
Donalsonville (Ga.)
Grady County (Ga.)
Jekyll Island (Ga.)
Paulding County (Ga.)
Saint Simons Island (Ga.)
Political campaigns--Georgia
Elections--Georgia
Taxation--Georgia
Smith, George T. (George Thornewell), 1916- --Interviews
Bagby, George Talmadge, 1920-
Bond, Julian, 1940-
Busbee, George, 1927-
Byrd, Garland T. (Garland Turk), 1924-1997
Dean, Roscoe, 1936-
William Harold Flowers, 1911-1990
Floyd, James H., 1920-
Forrester, E.L. (Elijah Lewis), 1896-1970
Gambrell, David Henry, 1929-
Geer, Peter Zack
Gillis, Hugh M., 1918-
Griffin, Marvin, 1907-1982
Groover, Denmark, 1922-2001
Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978
Johnson, Leroy R., 1928-
Kelley, Asa D., 1922-1997
Kidd, Culver, 1914-1995
Lane, Mills B. (Mills Bee), 1912-1989
Maddox, Lester Jr., 1944-
McGill, Ralph, 1898-1969
Miller, Zell, 1932-
Morris, Aubrey R.
Murphy, Thomas Bailey, 1924-2007
Plunkett, Lamar Rich, 1911-
Rayburn, Sam, 1882-1961
Rivers, Eurith Dickerson, 1895-1967
Sanders, Carl Edward, 1925-
Smalley, Robert H., 1929-
Smith, George L.
Twitty, Frank Starling, 1907-1981
Wallace, George C. (George Corley), 1919-1998
Vandiver, S. Ernest (Samuel Ernest), 1918-
Vinson, Carl, 1883-1981 - People:
- Allen, Ivan, 1911-2003
Talmadge, Herman E. (Herman Eugene), 1913-2002
Arnall, Ellis Gibbs, 1907-1992
Carter, Jimmy, 1924- - Location:
- United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
- Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
moving images - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- 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 and discusses his 1970 defeat by Maddox for the seat of Lieutenant Governor. He then discusses matters of race and why he had decided to target African American voters in his 1974 campaign and goes on to talk about African American Representative Julian Bond. Smith compares his campaigns, discussing the differences in running for Lieutenant Governor and Governor, going on to discuss the financial aspects of campaigning. The discussion ends with Smith evaluating a number of legislators that he had served with, including Charles Parnell, Frank Twitty, Denmark Groover, Culver Kidd, etc.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:uwg_phc_smith19880426
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/uwg/phc/do:smith19880426
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: [interview title], Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program oral history interviews. Annie Belle Weaver Special Collections, Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library, University of West Georgia
- Extent:
- 1 interview (circa 252 mins.)
- Original Collection:
- Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program oral history interviews. Annie Belle Weaver Special Collections, Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library, State University of West Georgia
- Holding Institution:
- University of West Georgia. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
