Ernest Vandiver, Governor of Georgia

Title Details

Pages: 352

Illustrations: 34 b&w photos

Trim size: 6.120in x 9.250in

Formats

Paperback

Pub Date: 06/15/2008

ISBN: 9-780-8203-3060-0

List Price: $36.95

Ernest Vandiver, Governor of Georgia

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  • Description
  • Reviews

Ernest Vandiver was elected governor of the state of Georgia in 1958 on a platform of fiscal conservatism and steadfast resistance to desegregation. Having vowed to defend Georgia’s segregated social system at all costs, Vandiver nevertheless concluded that the state could not close its schools to avoid desegregation. Because of his decision to reject the path taken by George Wallace in Alabama and Orval Faubus in Arkansas and to protect public education in the state by complying with federal court mandates, Vandiver was denounced by the state’s more vocal proponents of segregation.

Using primary sources and extensive interviews with the governor and his contemporaries, Henderson tells the full story of Vandiver’s life as a transitional figure in the political history of the state. He portrays Vandiver as a man cast by circumstances into presiding over a crisis greater than any faced by a Georgia governor since the Civil War. Henderson also notes some of Vandiver’s less recognized accomplishments, including the involvement of state government in furthering tourism, foreign investment, and industry. Ernest Vandiver is here recognized for his significant achievements in guiding the state through a period of rapid transformation.

This enthralling read is thoroughly researched, lucidly written and indeed fascinating.

—Loch K. Johnson, University of Georgia

The [book] not only serves as an informative work on the life of Ernest Vandiver, but also provides the reader a new angle on state politics in an era of great change. . . . Henderson’s work is worth the time of anyone who harbors an interest in not only Georgia political history, but also southern politics in general. In addition, this book illuminates an often-hidden side of the Civil Rights movement, examining those charged with implementing policy while caught between a hostile voting public and an equally antagonistic federal judiciary.

—Justin Nystrom, Atlanta History

A useful study of a contentious and important era in the history of Georgia and the South.

Journal of American History

Meticulously researched and lucidly written, this is a first-rate work, a must read for anyone interested in modern Georgia politics. . . . [Henderson] explains the events clearly, avoids sweeping generalizations, and quotes numerous sources to give the reader a balanced viewpoint.

Georgia Historical Quarterly

A thoroughly researched, evenhanded political biography, heavy in detailed accounts of legislative battles over policy, that fills an important gap in political history.

Journal of Southern History

About the Author/Editor

HAROLD PAULK HENDERSON is a professor emeritus of political science at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, author of The Politics of Change in Georgia: A Political Biography of Ellis Arnall (Georgia), and coeditor of Georgia Governors in an Age of Change (Georgia).