Part Three: America's First Fascist Governor

that money. So in order to use the cash, Gene needs to convince the treasurer to sign checks on unappropriated funds, which is technically constitutional, but by I would say, creatively interpreting the law. Gene claimed that he could write check some money appropriated as far back to nineteen thirty three, using funds that were not paid in full. He also requested that various state departments hold on to their tax collections or just give them directly to Gene and fully

bypass the treasury. So this was his plan to kind of hold on to money. Now, Unfortunately for Gene, the treasurer had already begun receiving tax payments from the various state departments, and by February thirteenth, the state had begun to run out of operating funds. Now days later, Gene proclaimed the state would have the exact same appropriations bill as in nineteen thirty five, arguing that since the legislature already approved that budget, it was thus legal indefinitely, which

is not just not how state budgets work. Now, the Treasurer was of the opinion that this whole affair was veering on unconstitutionality.

I'm going to quote from Gene's biography by William Anderson. Quote, the Treasurer carefully drilled his staff on what to do in the event he was thrown out of office. They were to remove all collateral bonds and cash from state vaults, set an eight hour timelock on the empty vault, and run for the Federal Reserve and the local banks where they were to deposit both cash and bonds. Speed was essential because of the closeness of the treasurers at the

Governor's office. Unquote. It's just like they were basically had their offices just across the hallway. We don't they have enough.

write the checks. Now, the treasurer caught worded this ahead of time, and, not wanting to be caught denying funds to schools and mental patients, he contacted the superintendent ahead of time and made secret arrangements to send him into hiding, putting him up in putting him up in an Atlanta hotel. So, as expected, Jeane went looking for the superintendent and was quite pissed when he just couldn't find him anywhere in the city.

constitutional battle. The press had basically all turned on Jeane at this point, tired from his antics, and an Atlanta Constitution headline read the Governor's legal attempt at dictatorship Now four years later.

half later. He just had the state under marshal law for like a year and a half. He had the National Guard at his disposal. Upon hearing the men would not leave, he ordered the adjunct to General Lindley Camp, who had been waiting for this, to take a couple of plainclothes men and get Harrison out of his office. It was early in the morning. Camp was not a violent man. He asked Harrison politely but firmly, to leave. You're no longer comptroller, and you'll have to leave this office.

Camp said Harrison, and seated behind his desk looked disappointed that no armed force had shown up. He asked, where are the soldiers? Camp leaned long over the desk and drawled, I'm some soldiers. Harrison got up and incredible. Some soldiers is pretty good. There's not all all of.

state's money to be deposited in FDR's federal vaults. So after Hamilton was read from the Capitol, he contacted the bank telling him that he was still in fact the legal treasurer and instructed them to not pay out any money and told the post office to not deliver any mail directed to the Treasurer to Jean's new replacement, a guy named Toby Daniel, and the post office complied with this. I guess people justked Hamilton. I'm Nico from Maerson here. Quote.

It had been a long and busy day in the state government, a day which ended in total confusion about who controlled what. Hamilton was seen just before dark attacking his nameplate and title on a door across town as Jane prepared to move on the state vaults. Unquote. I dislike that Treasurer. Hamilton just set up his own like fake office across town be like, you know, I'm obviously still the treasurer. I'm gonna make myself my own office.

So the next day, Jean's new treasurer, Toby Daniel, went to the vaults and he found them sealed shut with this eight hour time lock. Jane was never known as a patient man, so he ordered locksmith's to cut open this safe with gas torches. As soldier stood. Guard men cut open the vaults to find nothing. They were complete. That's completely empty. Oh that's fun. That's that's a good God. Damn,

it's a good image. Yeah, Eugene talented with a cigar and some soldiers looking at people cut open a vaults gas torches. Do it find nothing? Yeah? No, It's like it's a fantastic caper. So Gene was extremely upset at this, and he said, seemed.

would be authorized to accept the state's money. The bank continued to refuse to hand over any cash, saying that it was the quote unquote unanimous decision of the council of all the clearinghouse banks that they could not feel entirely safe until there had been some judicial determination over the question of the state's financial situation. To quote Anderson

here quote Hamilton's strategy had worked. Gene exploded in anger, turning his fury erroneously on the legislature and the federal government. He said a clique in the House of Representatives had hatched a plot a year earlier in Washington, trying to force the state to call an extra session to drain off money and force Jane to raise taxes. He said

the mess was deliberately brought on by the new Deal unquote. Now, the Georgia Constitution required that the treasurer be bonded before assuming office, but no local bonding company wanted to be anywhere near this shit show. But Jean's friend John Whitley, found an insurance company all the way in Fort's Scott, Kansas that would bond Toby Daniel for three hundred thousand dollars.

Jean asked the highway board chairman, a guy named mister Wilbur, to put up sixty five thousand, which he quite reluctantly agreed to, and John Whitley covered the rest. Jean's lstreak continued when it was learned just days later that seventeen million dollars in federal road funds were being held because Jeans spent three million dollars of this money on other state expenses, which not allowed. Not cool. You can't do that.

by Huey Long. Anderson writes. A survey of newspapers from across the state reflected the shock and repulsion many had felt for this latest example of Talmadge enforcing his will. The Cordell Dispatch worried he's gonna be worse than Hitler or Mussolini, which which isn't true.

and imaginary greatness. Gene's answer to all of that was that this was a political plot to keep him off the campaign trail, saying, this invasion of states rights can hold me in Georgia, but the New Deal is going to be defeated this year. So at this point, Roosevelt's and supporters were trying to get the state Democratic Chairman, Hugh Howell to call for a presidential primary to further embarrass Gene during the financial crisis and add to the

pressure facing Talmage. But Howell and Talmadge knew what was up and didn't take the bait, especially since Roosevelt was absolutely dominating Talmage in even like the most like rule polls. He was not very popular during this whole financial crisis. On the first of March, the third month into this crisis. Gene met with all the banks and asked for the state's money to be released, which they again denied. Anderson notes, quote it was the kind of request he did not

like to make, particularly since they refused him. He stormed out, saying he would scorch the bankers. His plan was to write checks to pay for school bills. If the bankers refused to honor them, public pressure would be directed away from Gene. It didn't work, unquote, so in response to this, Gene quote unquote fired the banks, and the bank's attorney asked the Fulton Superior Court to rule on which treasurer

could legally sign checks. Gene filed a lawsuit with the Post Office for not delivering the Treasurer's mail to Daniel, and Daniel filed a lawsuit in a lower court against Hamilton and hopes that would force him to reveal where the collateral bonds were being kept, as still nobody could find where they were. So at this point, you like all of the business leaders for calling for a special

legislative session to end this crisis. The editor of the Constitution of the newspaper privately promised a glowing editorial of Gene if he called for a special session to pass an appropriations bill, prompting other papers to do the same, with a Gene then emerging from this crisis as a hero. But the editor warned that if Gene refused to call a session, the newspaper would do everything in its power to get him impeached the majority of the state Senate signification.

man was the legal treasurer. When Gene tried to get checks written on oil tax money, a judge legally prohibited money from being paid out to the new comptroller, and on March eighteenth, the oil companies threatened to withhold their tax payments until Gene removed their monetary liability to quote Anderson quote. The next day, Hamilton asked the courts to a judge him as trusure, and the state's labor leaders saw an injunction against Daniel. On March twenty third, the

state revenue commissioner quit. By the end of that week, Jeane had bought radio time to defend his actions and explain his reasons for fighting FDR. On air, he said he was no dictator, but that he had no alternative but to run the state's finances in order to feed the sick and the insane. Unquote, he's not bad at spin.

ruled in Gene's favor five to one. The banks released the money, Hamilton returned the collateral bonds hidden in the federal vaults, and the flow of federal highway funds went back to the state. Talmadge supporters were a static. His secretary, Carlton Mobley later said, quote, the man was unbelievable. We used to all worry like hell when he'd get himself into these situations. There would seem no possible way he could come out on top and then at the darkest

moment he would land on his feet unquote. So that that that is how Gene navigated this little, this little financial crisis and some and somehow came out on top. Do you know what also likes topping?

You know, We're both sitting across the big table at the office and we both turn at the same time and said, only bottoms, you know, And that's been our guiding principle in terms of advertisers from the beginning here. You know, that's that's that's really our only standard. We'll take X on mobile, clear bottom. We wouldn't take British petroleum, that's a top.

in the primary. But Roosevelt ran completely unopposed in the primary and basically won the presidency by default, ending Jane's presidential ambitions. To quote Anderson here, what seemed like a year long camouflaged chase after the presidency came to a sputtering end. On Wednesday, June seventeenth, the State Executive Committee meant to choose Roosevelt delegates for the national Convention and

to witness the political death of Gene Talmadge. Not to be upstaged, the corpse came striding briskly through the lobby, grinning broadly shaken hands and slapping backs as he moved through the crowded lobby. One man refused to shake his hand, saying sullenly he didn't want to meet any new acquaintances that day. The explosive Talmage called the refusal and insult

and order the man to remove his glasses. Jean's instant theory betrayed his real feelings over The meeting, mainly ensued between the man and Jean's entourage, scattering people over the lobby. Gene was pushed away from the scuffling, and it ended quickly. Unquote that's sad. A good old, good old fashioned state democratic fist fight. Love to see it.

succeed Gen as governor. Once Gan announced his run for the Senate, Howell made statements in the press talking about how he could continue Jeane's legacy and was dropping hints for Gene to endorseh but Gene eventually broke the news that he was instead backing his personal friend Charles RedWine, and Howell was quite upset that Gene was unwilling to return any political favors and was caught in a weird place since Howell still wished to kind of remain in

the Talmadge orbit, but in doing so it was inhibiting his progress as a politician. More on him later now.

Jane threw another one of his big like kickoff barbecue rallies in McRae on July fourth, where he announced red Wine for governor and his run for the Senate, unveiling his platform to quote unquote protected Georgia, which included outlawing a national debt, cutting the federal budget to under a billion dollars, removing members of the cabinet who try to change our form of government, which I think is like an anti communist thing.

be so manipulated. Could Jean project his authority onto others unquote? Now this is a question I've certainly had regarding like what will happen to the Republicans in twenty twenty eight, Like depending on how this next election goes, Like how are they going to survive up like a post Trump party? Will Trump be able to pass his authority onto someone else or will they go in a completely new direction.

That's certainly been a question on my mind. Now this this same day, State senator and KKK member Ed Rivers announced his candidacy for governor, running on the most liberal platform in the state's history, which he called the Little New Deal. So despite being in some ways economically progressive for white people, he was like all these guys just

insanely racist. Gene decided just to do one speech a week while Russell mounted an intense statewide campaign to keep his Senate seat away from Governor Talmach, branding Gene as a trader to the Democratic Party for his previous like you know racism convention and all of his appeals against FDR. Now, this campaign was essentially Gene against both the state and the National Democratic Parties. Jean had no campaign manager, he had no headquarters, and was opposing both both the state

and the National Party. He was set to make a campaign stop in Monroe, Georgia, the site of the strikes last year that Jean suppressed with concentration camps and the National Guard. The union workers were planning to make Gene know just how welcome he was with a gold old fashioned egg throw in which god we should we should bring back now word a head.

to keep the peace. But the police chief claimed otherwise and saying that they were in fact guardsmen from Atlanta. Whatever the case. To the union workers, governor Challemage had once again invaded their town with armed goons to do his bidding. Like this level of like security for a politician was uncommon for the time. It's kind of more normalized now, but back then this was like really odd.

a prominent anti segregationist journalist. He began writing about Jene's relationship with John Whitley, the highway construction guy, and insinuated some kind of ethical financial arrangement between the two regarding

highway construction contracts. Now twice that summer, John Whitley found McGill at campaign events and brutally beat him to a bloody pulp while threatening to kill the man if he didn't stop writing about him, and Gene just kicking McGill on the ground, dragging his body around in the dirt and smashing his head into hard columns in a hotel lobby. It was it was pretty it was pretty grisly stuff to quote Whitley quote, I beat the lion bastard until I got tired. I'd rest, then beat him some more

until he was bleeding good. Then I told him McGill, next time I see you, I'm gonna have a pistol and I'm going to kill the hell out of you quote, which you could just it's it's good to know that, Auntie, that anti journalist violence does does go back far.

This race, Gene was kind of forced into playing political defense for one of the first times in his career, Russell would go would go after Jane for using racism to distract from his otherwise empty politics, saying, when a politician runs out of arguments, knows that in the minds of the people, he is convicted of pure custness in keeping the old people of Georgia from getting their pensions, then he comes hollerin N word, N word, N word.

Gene responded by saying, quote, you hear false interpretations in my service to you. Russell says, I go around yell and N word. Well, I don't believe in sending Negroes down here to rule over the white people, which he's not really refuting what Russell is saying.

was at this point. Now in August, Senior Sonator George Walter joined the Russell campaign in an effort to finally beat Talmadge and the background politics he represented. By mid August, Hugh Howell was refusing to campaign with Jean, and one of the first to join team Talmadge, lamar Udeau from McRae had become an advisor to Ed Rivers in the governor's race. So Jane was bleeding support and losing allies. Now that the two candidates agreed to some kind of

back to back speech showdown. On August twenty sixth thirty high school girls escorted Russell onto stage in parody of Jean's platoon of armed guards. Anderson writes, quote, Russell thought he already saw the tide turning when farmers began taking off their red suspenders at his speeches and symbolically laying

them at his feet. Unquote, Russell addressed Talmage as old Republican gene and this is where we start to really see like this is the beginning of the Southern Democratic Party stopping being Democrats, right like like FDR's forced liberalization, and people like Talmage, these kind of old demagogues who are like Democratic Party men are becoming more like the

northern conservative Republicans. So like, I think Eugene Talent, which is kind of like the is one of the last of these like real like southern Democrats, and a lot of his politics very clearly paved the way for the Democratic Party to kind of split away and do this like kind of fabled like swap right where most of these kind of supporters would would later in like ten twenty years be voting Republican even though they forever had always been had always been Democrats.

it was his turn to take the stage. Base They were mostly about like how his programs would actually help people and how he would get money to help farmers with his ultra conservative economic plans. But upon taking the stage, Gene immediately discarded these questions, saying, quote, it would take a Philadelphia lawyer all day to answer them quote, which I think is an amusing old timing remark. Now, the Russell staff took this day as a victory for their candidate,

and Gene later actually agreed. On the second to last day of the race, a massive fistfight broke out at his rally in Dalton, Georgia. From the podium, Gene tried to stop people from breaking up the fight, saying, don't pay any attention to them. The Talmadge boys can whip them, let them fight it out. About half their crowd was listening to Gene's speech, the other half were in this

ongoing brawl. The local deputy sheriff was severely beaten by five of Jean's National guardsmen and then had all of them arrested. We really loved to see cop On caught violence. At the end of his speech, the open melee was still raging on, and Governor Talmadge quickly left town. Come election day, Gene lost in a massive landslide, one of the biggest in the state's history. Jean carried only sixteen counties to Russell's one hundred and forty three and was

beat two to one in the popular vote. The governor's race had very similar results, with the New Deal candidate Ed Rivers beating Talmadge Stooge red Wine by over one hundred thousand votes. Longtime Talmage man Tom Linder lost his race for Agricultural Commissioner, and George Hamilton the Treasurer, got his revenge by just utterly destroying Toby Daniel in the election that Daniel even lost his street that he lived

on in Lagrange, according to William Anderson. To quote Anderson, it had come to be said that Gene Talmadge had a guaranteed vote of one hundred thousand, and that statement rang true to one hundred thousand Georgians. Gene Talmadge was almost a deity. His hold was hypnotic and unshakable on

this core constituency. But while his stand against the New Deal did not affect the vote of his own constituency, it lost the election because of the fact that it had on the swing vote, though the bifactional electorate either for or against Gene seemed stronger than ever in undecided one hundred thousand or so votes, swung the election. This swing group was not polarized for or against Gene, and these voters cannot be placed in a particular group that

had a predictable behavior. Most of them were simply convinced that the new deal was helping them more than herding them. Another influential factor was the high voter turnout to the largest in Georgious history. Jane drew from a hardcore group, and the numbers did not sluctuate much above one hundred and forty thousand. The wealthy and the very poor had once again combined for Gene, but he had lost the labor vote, which was growing, and also much of the

middle class unquote. I find this kind of political breakdown to be quite interesting both how even still we find conservatives are able to get both the ultra wealthy and the ultra poor to vote for them in a counterintuitive way, and how Gene had this like very hardcore group of supporters that viewed him as like a god and would vote for him regardless of like anything. But he did

lose in the swing vote. Now, as for the governor's race, Gene was able to pass off his hardcore supporters to red Wine, getting over one hundred and twenty thousand of these votes, but he completely failed to attract any of the one hundred thousand anti Talented voters and was unable to move any of the importan swing voters to red Wine on his anti New Deal Talmadge inspired platform. Jean's grip on the state Democratic Party was slipping, and he

had begun to lose to the New Deal. So, for the first time in over ten years, in nineteen thirty seven, Jean was out of a government job. He now spent his time building his cattle herd, doing little speaking engagements, and using his newspaper The Statesman to project his message

across Georgia. As he planned his next move, his eyes were still set on the Senate, but this time on the even more respected Senior Senator Walter George Anderson writes, those who questioned Jane's good judgment in thirty six questioned his sanity in nineteen thirty eight. Basically, George was like

the archetypal respected elder statesman. Going against him was like crazy. Luckily, Jean brought his twenty five year old son, Hermann Talmadge to serve as campaign manager, who actually did grow to be a pretty good political navigator. His new nineteen thirty eight platform differed from his previous bouts against the New Deal.

Instead of using vague nostalgic rhetoric pointing towards the old ways, this time Jeane sought to address the consequences of the New Deal as he saw them, attack the new big institutions,

and uplift the little guy. He called for a migration back to farms and promised to stop a government waste by using fedral relief money to buy land to give to citizens willing to farm it, and to convert the civilian conservation camps into vocational education campuses to provide a practical job oriented training in contrast to the frivolous liberal universities,

another conservative mainstay. His campaign speeches this year were described as like increasingly protectionist, isolationist, nationalist, and much more populist. We're getting closer to the full breakout of World War two, and Gene was pretty pretty firmly like an isolationist and a nationalist. Yeah, I'm not surprised to hear that.

the only guy targeting Senator George, though. FDR was increasingly beefing with the southern wing of the party, and by the late nineteen thirties he sought to unseat some of the old Guard from the Senate that were inhibiting progress. Senator George was a particularly influential member of this group,

and so FDR targeted him for removal. Not many Georgia Democrats wanted to go up against the popular Senator, but the Roosevelt Dems finally settled on a Russell's nineteen thirty four campaign manager, a man named Lawrence Camp, to take

on George. FDR made this really confusing public appearance with Senator George in early August, where Roosevelt delivered a quite polite attack on his personal friend George, calling him a fake liberal and dismissed Talmage as no kind of real concern, and then endorsed Lawrence Camp.

forty other senators would follow suit. Tal Imridge, on the other hand, was unlikely to attract followers in the Senate, and Jane was quite happy with what he saw as liberal infighting and became even more certain that it would lead to his victory in the county unit vote. With the liberal vote being split now three ways, as long as his hardcore of one hundred thousand supporters went out to vote, he saw no way for him to lose.

I'm going to quote from Anderson here on this kind of anecdote about what the southern voter was thinking about going into the nineteen thirty eight election. Quote one old offensive sitter in Warm Springs told a reporter he was voting for Senator Talmadge, Governor Rivers, and President Roosevelt. Quote Talmidg is promising forty acres of land, Rivers promises to exempt it from taxation, and Roosevelt will rent it from us. Why not vote for all of them and sit on

the porch and collect a steady income unquote. Okay, so they voting very It's like they're totally fine voting for conservative talentage and progressive FDR. Like that's that's totally fine, And the policies can actually work in conjunction just to help these like guys eating up all the slant. Do you know what I enjoy eating up?

win elections. Some of the county races were quite close, and a difference of just over two hundred vot in certain counties would have given Talmage the election under the county unit system, but Gene wasn't going to back down this time. He refused to concede the election and announced he would contest the vote. Stop this deal, Gene filed complaints with the Democratic Committee in thirty four counties, claiming a recount would qute unquote clearly give me the election

to quote Anderson. The Talmage office had been literally flooded with phone calls and letters complaining of voting irregularities. Many were sworn affidavits. People claimed that dead people, children, and non residents had voted for George, payoffs, had payoffs had been made, counting falsified, and ballots pre marked unquote. Time is a flat circle.

This was an odd strategy, considering that Gene was not currently in the good graces of either man, but he was getting desperate, and when it became clear that crucial counties were going to reject his complaints, Jen began sending letters to friends in the counties asking for assistance. One such letter read, get all the evidence of regularities in the election that you can. If you can get any evidence of money being used, get this in AFFI David form.

We will then appeal it to the convention in Macon on October fifth. Now, the counties did not like having their elections questioned. Gene's accusations of misconduct were near unanimously rejected, and counties billed him for the trouble. At he cost, which is also a good thing. We don't see as much anymore, being like you made us do all this extra work here, We'll just send you a bill. His appeal to the State Executive Committee was also rejected in

a sixty one to four vote. Gene responded to the ruling by saying, the very resistance of the State Executive Committee to recount bears out our contentions that something was wrong. Sure, sure, buddy, of course. Yeah. As his grasps for power continued to fail, Jean became increasingly angry and desperate. He called on his supporters to march on the Macon Convention to demand that Jane's accusations be heard. He tried to planet Jasis.

forty governor's race. Now, Howell was still mad that Jean had turned his back on him in the last election, and it was now Howell that refused to help Jeane. The convention came, Gene and his cronies were going around trying to course a roll call decision on Jeene's election denial. Governor Ed Rivers actually allowed this to happen, confident that the result would serve Gene one final humiliation, and he was correct. Jane's call for a reconsideration of the vote

was firmly shut down. Jane went into a tantrum, telling supporters that it was Hugh Howell's fault that they had failed at the convention, saying, quote, we had stacks of evidence at the making convention, but they refused to even look at it. The great trouble there was that Hugh Powell sold out the talent which people and appoint and appointed George men as delegates unquote again just flat circle shit. We had, we had all, we had, all this evidence.

They refused to look at it. It's been stolen, et cetera, et cetera. Basically, what happened here was that Jean's disinterest and periodic disrespect of the machinery of party politics, as well as like state and county power structures, finally began to damage him. Politically, what once helped to get him into power was now self sabotaging his ability to hold

onto power and effectively navigate party politics. So after his second Senate defeat in a row, Jean wished to return to his comfort zone and retake the governor's office in nineteen thirty nine. Gene kept relatively low profile, but he would still travel around the state to speak at local clubs and organizations, nothing too notable, but ensured that he remained a presence to his core base at like rural

barbecues and church socials. Meanwhile, a loose organization of Jeane's political allies spent the year quietly lobbying courthouse gangs and promoting Jane as governor across the state. Ed Rivers couldn't seek reelection, so Jane's biggest competition was his friend turned rival, Hugh Howell, who tried to run for a third time. I'm going to quot from Anderson again quote. A number of factors made the return of Talmage possible. One was the scandalous debts run up by Rivers the state was

almost bankrupt. Another was the shadow of a world war and the anxieties that fear produced a crisis was created. There was a need for strength, a desire for the simple solution in a complex and confusing world. A future that no one wanted made the past a psychological crutch. Gene Talmadge, the iron man of action, would once again ride on to the political stage to save the day. He saw no way he could lose. He had in two elections been recognized as a man disjointed from the times.

That fact that had been his strength in earlier races but became his weakness, now again would be his strength. Unsettled times had thrown the people out of sea depth. With war threatening, they began to look for that well worn path. They dug back in their past and found the certainty they had been seeking. Old Gene. He was their crutch in a way, only this time it was war and needless bankruptcy that demanded an aura of toughness.

Now I find this quote to be one of the more like unsettling in how it kind of shows how the backwardness can like flip flop, like how things that are your strength can become your weakness, and then as times get tougher, that can be your strength again. And considering the current economic situation, in this country as well as raging wars in the Middle East. It does not leave me with tons of comfort.

will always happen. Yeah, never, there's no getting away from it, Like, there's no Somebody made a post on the subburn at the other day where they were like, is it just are we just going to every four years be worried about becoming a dictatorship? And like, yeah, bro it feels so to homie, that's how that's that's how it is.

that are that are in this book. And Apple Jesus Christies are so bad, and Apple for the teacher is very fine, indeed, but sad to state, and apple is not all the teachers need, the needless of state employees and the government so wild had a very marked effect on every Georgia child. Unfortunately, these are all of the lyrics I can find. But it's just a song about how big. How about how big a government is hurting children?

And this saw everyone became sick of this song because this was now the only song I would play before all of the talentage speeches, just on a loop. This was the first. This was like the first ession of hell. Like usually before campaign speeches, they had like live music. They they just to have like you know, just some some like local band would like play some tunes. This now they were hooking up a record to like to like loudspeakers and it's blasting out hell bad bad. Now.

Jean's son, Herman Talmadge, was growing increasingly influential within the Talmadge machine and provided his father a newfound political savvy. Though Gene was reluctant at first, Hermann struck a deal with the Georgia New Deal Democrats for their backing in exchange for an ever so slightly more liberal Talmage platform focusing on education and the economy. The resulting platform was widely deemed the most like, legitimate and practical out of

Talmadge's whole career. To quote Anderson, a Talwich victory was so certain that the race took on a great deal of boredom. Fistfights at speeches a common occurrence, began getting as much press attention as the speeches themselves unquote. Kind of. The most emblematic day of the nineteen forty race was on July twenty seventh. All of the candidates held rallies

in Warm Springs. Gene didn't arrive on time, but his customs song blared over the loudspeakers on repeat, drowning out the other candidates.

just like the old days. About the only punches Gene's opponents were able to land that summer were in regard to Talmadge's early admiration for Europe's rising dictators. They all honed in on Gene's propensity for militaristic action and pointed to where that type of action had gotten Europe. Gene ignored them, unquote. The election for the Democratic primary was held on nine to eleven, and the results handily gave Gene a clear and decisive victory. Just truly, truly the

worst nine to eleven. Jane got like three hundred and twenty county unit votes. He just completely swept the race. Gene arrived late to his own celebration party and left early to pass out in his hotel room. He was getting old, he was having hemorrhoid operations. He wasn't the same kind of fiery young man that that started his career.

lays out what Gene was like going into World War two. Quote. The Nazi devastations in Europe brought out the isolationism in Talmach. He saw the conflict as a potential drain on the American economy. There was for him, little value in foreign aid taking money from the hungry farmer's pocket. Talmach singled out FDR as the main force behind America's growing involvement in the war and This increased his hatred of the man. He felt that if the United States remained strong, the

country would be left alone. He said in November, quote, if you lead a bulldog around with you, nobody is likely to jump on you. Unquote. In the same breath, he warned, quote America cannot take the stand of being permanent guard for Europe. Some thought Jean's isolationism had gotten out of hand when he wrote some highly favorable editorials about to Japan in The Statesman after that country had

just killed thousands of Chinese. Japan thought it had an ally in gene and invited a member of his newspaper to quote, witness the real life and the scenic beauties of Japan. They represent them to the American people through your newspaper. Unquote.

as special guests of the Japanese government. He's reading Mine com a few too many times. I would say little.