Herman Talmadge

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Herman Talmadge
Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee
In office January 21, 1971 – January 3, 1981
Preceded by	Allen Ellender
Succeeded by	Jesse Helms
United States Senator from Georgia
In office January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1981
Preceded by	Walter F. George
Succeeded by	Mack Mattingly
71st Governor of Georgia
In office November 17, 1948 – January 11, 1955
Lieutenant	Marvin Griffin
Preceded by	Melvin E. Thompson
Succeeded by	Marvin Griffin
In office January 15, 1947 – March 18, 1947
Lieutenant	Melvin E. Thompson
Preceded by	Ellis Arnall
Succeeded by	Melvin E. Thompson
Personal details
Born	Herman Eugene Talmadge (1913-08-09)August 9, 1913 McRae, Georgia, U.S.
Died	March 21, 2002(2002-03-21) (aged 88) Hampton, Georgia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Katherine Williamson Betty Shingler Lynda Cowart Pierce
Children	2
Relatives	Eugene Talmadge (father)
Education	University of Georgia (BA, LLB)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1941–1945
Rank	Lieutenant Commander
Battles/wars	World War II

Herman Eugene Talmadge (August 9, 1913 – March 21, 2002)^[1] was an American politician who served as governor of Georgia in 1947 and from 1948 to 1955 and as a U.S. senator from Georgia from 1957 to 1981. A Democrat, Talmadge served during a time of political transition, both in Georgia and nationally.^[2] He began his career as a staunch segregationist known for his opposition to civil rights, including supporting legislation that would have closed public schools to prevent desegregation.^[3] By the later stages of his career, following the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, which gave substance to the Fifteenth Amendment enacted nearly one hundred years before, and increased African American voter participation, Talmadge, like many other Southern politicians of that period, had modified his views on race. His life eventually encapsulated the emergence of his native Georgia from entrenched white supremacy into a multiracial political culture where many white voters regularly elect Black and other non-white candidates to the U.S. Congress and Georgia General Assembly.^[4][5]

When his father, Eugene Talmadge, won the 1946 Georgia gubernatorial election but died before taking office, Herman Talmadge asserted claims to be the 70th governor of Georgia, in what became known as the three governors controversy. He occupied the governor's office from January until March 1947, before yielding to a Georgia Supreme Court decision in favor of Lieutenant Governor Melvin E. Thompson. In 1948, Talmadge defeated Thompson by more than 6 percent in a special election to complete the elder Talmadge's unfinished four-year term. He was reelected in 1950, defeating Thompson by a narrower margin. Talmadge served until the end of his term in 1955.^[6][7]

Talmadge, who first became governor at age 33, supported a new statewide sales tax during his second term to fund the construction of new schools and expanded state services. He also supported other infrastructure improvements and increased teachers' salaries.^[8] In so doing, the younger governor Talmadge departed from his father's stingy, low-tax and low-spending philosophy while remaining steadfastly opposed to racial desegregation and political equality for Black Americans. He left the governor's office as an incredibly popular executive whose administration earned praised from the traditionally liberal outlets such as the Atlanta Constitution and even Harper's Magazine.^{[7][2][9][10]}

Herman Talmadge was elected to the United States Senate in 1956 when Walter F. George, Georgia's senior senator and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, declined to seek reelection. In the Senate, Talmadge was a long-serving member of the Senate Agriculture Committee as well as the Senate Finance Committee. During the latter part of his career, he also served as a member of the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (better known as the Senate Watergate Committee). As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, he oversaw the passage of numerous pieces of important legislation, including the expansion of the Child Nutrition Act and the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1972, the first major legislation dealing with rural development since the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. The Senate later denounced Talmadge for financial irregularities revealed a Senate Ethics Committee investigation following a contentious divorce from his second wife.^[2] The investigation, as well as Georgia's changing demographics, helped Republican Mack Mattingly defeat Talmadge during his 1980 reelection campaign. Following his defeat, Talmadge retired from public life.