Atlanta mayoral election, 1973

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The 1973 Atlanta mayoral election was held on October 16, 1973 in Atlanta, Georgia. Vice Mayor Maynard Jackson was elected as the city's first African-American mayor, defeating incumbent Mayor Sam Massell.

Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. was an American politician and attorney from Georgia, a member of the Democratic Party, and elected in 1973 at the age of 35 as the first black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia and of any major city in the South. He served three terms, making him the second longest-serving mayor of Atlanta, after six-term mayor William B. Hartsfield.

Samuel A. Massell Jr. is a businessman who served from 1970 to 1974 as the 53rd mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. He is the first Jewish mayor in the city's history, and as of 2018, the most recent white Mayor of Atlanta.

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In the primary election that preceded the general election, Jackson finished first with 46.4 percent of the vote. Massell finished second with 19.9 percent, followed closely by former United States Representative Charles Weltner with 19.1 percent. Former State of Georgia Department of Industry and Trade Deputy Commissioner Harold A. Dye finished with 8.4 percent and State Senator Leroy Johnson finished with 3.9 percent. Other candidates were former Atlanta Police Officer John Chambers, Socialist Workers Party activist Debby Bustin, Hare Krishna community leader William Ogle, attorney John Genins, Betty Morrison, Ernest Moschella and write-in candidate Howard Tucker. Jackson then defeated incumbent Mayor Sam Massell in a runoff election.

Leroy Reginald Johnson is an American former politician who served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1975 after winning a seat in the 1962 Georgia General Assembly election. He was the first black state senator to be elected to the legislature in more than fifty years, since William Rogers in 1907, and the first to be elected to the Senate since 1874. He served District 38 in Fulton County and Atlanta, a predominantly black senate district created after the elimination of the county-unit system that same year. Before his term as senator, Johnson was an attorney where he played a role in Atlanta's civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was later a candidate in the 1973 Atlanta mayoral election but received few votes, despite being familiar to voters and having endorsement from The Atlanta Constitution. The position went instead to Maynard Jackson who in turn became Atlanta's first African American mayor.

The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a communist party in the United States. Originally a group in the Communist Party USA that supported Leon Trotsky against Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, it places a priority on "solidarity work" to aid strikes and is strongly supportive of Cuba. The SWP publishes The Militant, a weekly newspaper that dates back to 1928. It also maintains Pathfinder Press.

International Society for Krishna Consciousness Religious organisation

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organisation. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada the Guru and spiritual master of the organization. Its core beliefs are based on the Hindu scriptures, particularly the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam, and the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India since the late 15th century and American and European devotees since the early 1900s in North America. In West Virginia, the Prabhupada's Palace of Gold is now a shrine for the founder, who died in 1977.

In the same election, Atlanta voters elected Alderman Wyche Fowler as President of the Atlanta City Council. Fowler defeated Reverend Hosea Williams in a runoff election. In the primary election, Fowler and Williams finished first and second, respectively, followed by former Alderman Wade Mitchell and Rector Robert B. Hunter.

Wyche Fowler American politician and ambassador

William Wyche Fowler Jr. is an American former politician and diplomat. He is a member of the Democratic Party and served as a U.S. Senator from Georgia from January 1987 to January 1993. He had previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 until his senatorial election.

Atlanta City Council city council of Atlanta, Georgia

The Atlanta City Council is the main municipal legislative body for the city of Atlanta, Georgia. It consists of 16 members primarily elected from 12 districts within the city. The Atlanta City Government is divided into three bodies: the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The Atlanta City Council serves as the legislative branch. City departments, under the direction of the mayor, constitute the executive branch and the Courts, the judicial branch.

Hosea Williams Recipient of the Purple Heart

Hosea Lorenzo Williams, was an American civil rights leader, activist, ordained minister, businessman, philanthropist, scientist, and politician. He may be best known as a trusted member of fellow famed civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr.'s inner circle. Under the banner of their flagship organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King depended on Williams to organize and stir masses of people into nonviolent direct action in myriad protest campaigns they waged against racial, political, economic, and social injustice. King alternately referred to Williams, his chief field lieutenant, as his "bull in a china closet" and his "Castro". Vowing to continue King's work for the poor, Williams is well known in his own right as the founding president of one of the largest social services organizations in North America, Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless. His famous motto was "Unbought and Unbossed."

The 1973 election saw a rise in the influence of African-American politicians in Atlanta. Five new black City Council members were added to create a 9-9 split, while two black women were elected to the Atlanta Board of Education for a 5-4 black majority. [1]

Background

Sam Massell was elected mayor of Atlanta in 1970. The first Jewish mayor of Atlanta, he had gained the support of Leroy Johnson of the Atlanta Negro Voter's League, helping Massell win 90 percent of Atlanta's black vote. Massell was the first Atlanta mayor to receive more votes from black voters than white voters. Shortly after his election, Massell clashed with his vice mayor Maynard Jackson when Jackson tried to handle negotiations during a strike by Atlanta sanitation employees. Jackson was fond of speaking to the local media about racial inequalities within Atlanta's government, but Massell complained that Jackson was "playing to the gallery". In October 1971, Massell gave a speech to Atlanta's black community, exhorting them to "think white" to halt the flight of white Atlantans to the suburbs. With this speech, Massell alienated key members of the black community; his speech was criticized by John Lewis and alderman Henry Dodson. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Urban League resisted Maynard Jackson's attempts to gain support for his campaign until he showed them the results of a Cambridge Survey Research poll that demonstrated he could win 54 percent of the total vote. [2]

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Mayoral campaign

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Gladys Maria Knight, known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and author. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight is known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Edward Patten and William Guest.

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Mayoral primary

The primary election was held on October 2, 1973. Jackson received the most votes with 46.4 percent. Massell finished second with 19.9 percent, and Charles Weltner earned 19.1 percent. Harold A. Dye finished with 8.4 percent of the vote and Leroy Johnson finished with 3.9 percent. Since Maynard Jackson finished 3,500 votes under the majority required for a win, he faced Massell in a runoff election. Jackson received over 80 percent of the black vote in the primary; he received less than 5 percent of the white vote. [4]

Mayoral runoff election

For the runoff election, Massell changed his slogan to "Atlanta's Too Young to Die" and ran a series of print and television ads depicting Atlanta under Maynard Jackson as a barren wasteland. He also appeared on WQXI and labelled Jackson and his political ally Hosea Williams as racists. Massell ran a second ad campaign, naming himself as "Atlanta's Greatest Black Leader" who "Doesn't Happen To Be Black". As a result of Massell's campaigning tactics, the Atlanta Constitution and the Atlanta Journal changed their endorsements to Jackson. Jackson gave speeches urging racial unity and campaigned for the runoff in black churches. In the days leading up to the runoff, Jackson's staffers called local radio stations and warned that black turnout was expected to be low. [5]

The mayoral runoff election was held between incumbent Mayor Sam Massell and Maynard Jackson on October 16, 1973. Early returns demonstrated that Jackson was scoring 20 percent in white districts and 95 percent in some black districts. By 11:00 pm, it became clear that Jackson had won, and he delivered his acceptance speech at the Sheraton Biltmore ballroom. Jackson received 95 percent of the black vote and 21 percent of the white vote. [6]

Atlanta Mayoral runoff election, 1973 [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Nonpartisan Maynard Jackson 73,60359.8
Nonpartisan Sam Massell (inc.)49,30040.1
Total votes122,903100

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Poinsett, Alex (January 1974). "1973: Year of Watergate". Ebony (Volume XXX, No. 3). p. 32.
  2. ↑ Pomerantz, Gary (1996). Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn. Simon and Schuster. pp. 383–403. ISBN   0684807173.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Harmon, David Andrew (1996). Beneath the Image of the Civil Rights Movement and Race Relations. Taylor and Francis. p. 266. ISBN   0815324375.
  4. ↑ Pomerantz, Gary (1996). Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn. Simon and Schuster. p. 410. ISBN   0684807173.
  5. ↑ Pomerantz, Gary (1996). Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn. Simon and Schuster. pp. 411–416. ISBN   0684807173.
  6. ↑ Pomerantz, Gary (1996). Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn. Simon and Schuster. pp. 417–419. ISBN   0684807173.
  7. ↑ "1973". Fulton County Government. Retrieved May 30, 2017.


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