Three governors controversy

Last updated December 31, 2024

The Three governors controversy was a political crisis in the U.S. state of Georgia, from 1946 to 1947. On December 21, 1946, Eugene Talmadge, the governor-elect of Georgia, died before taking office. The state constitution did not specify who would assume the governorship in such a situation, so three men made claims to the governorship: Ellis Arnall, the outgoing governor; Melvin E. Thompson, the lieutenant governor-elect; and Herman Talmadge, Eugene Talmadge's son. Eventually a ruling by the Supreme Court of Georgia settled the matter in favor of Thompson. Georgia's Secretary of State Ben Fortson hid the state seal in his wheelchair so no official business could be conducted until the controversy was settled.

Election

The 1945 state constitution required a candidate receive a majority of votes to be elected governor; if no one had a majority, the General Assembly was to hold a contingent election between the top two candidates "who shall be in life, and shall not decline an election".^[1] When Eugene Talmadge's health issues became evident in the fall of 1946, his supporters believed this provision would require the General Assembly to choose between the second- and third-placed candidates in case of his death, and thus prepared by organizing enough write-in votes to ensure his son Herman Talmadge would take part.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Eugene Talmadge died on December 21, 1946, after the general election but before his swearing-in.

Legislative action

The General Assembly met to certify the 1946 election on January 14, 1947. When the returns were first opened and counted, Republican write-in Talmadge Bowers was second, with Democratic primary challenger James V. Carmichael third and Herman Talmadge fourth. However, after the first canvass, additional write-in votes were then discovered for Herman Talmadge from his home county of Telfair – probably the result of electoral fraud – and he ended up second in what became the official results.^[6]

After this, the General Assembly then declined to certify Eugene Talmadge as the winner, instead resolving that "no person had a majority of the whole number of votes" because of his death. It immediately proceeded to the contingent election between the top two living candidates.^[7] Carmichael declined to participate; Talmadge opponents voted "present" out of protest, and Talmadge won the contingent election 181–87.^[8]

Both Arnall and Thompson refused to accept the vote by the General Assembly. Thompson began legal proceedings, appealing to the Supreme Court of Georgia. Arnall physically refused to leave, so on January 15, 1947, both Talmadge and Arnall sat in the Georgia State Capitol claiming to be the governor.^[9] The next day, Talmadge took control of the governor's office and arranged to have the locks changed. On January 18, Arnall formally resigned any claim to the office in favor of Thompson.^[7]

Three governors controversy: 1946–1947
Claim	Claim	Claim

Herman Talmadge	Ellis Arnall	Melvin Thompson
Democratic	Democratic	Democratic
Claim: Elected by the General Assembly	Claim: Being the incumbent governor	Claim: Being the lieutenant governor
Outcome: Resigned	Outcome: Resigned	Outcome: Declared sole governor

Judicial action

The state's highest court, the Supreme Court of Georgia, ruled in March 1947 that Eugene Talmadge's death did not change the fact that a majority of votes had been cast for him, and the General Assembly had violated the constitution by resolving there was no majority. It defined the General Assembly's role in certification as purely ministerial, and held that the constitution did not allow it any discretion in the process, including considering the death of a candidate.^[7]

Ironically, the court then resolved the initial controversy of who should have been governor after certification in favor of Ellis Arnall; since the constitution defined the gubernatorial term as four years but stipulated it does not expire until a successor is "chosen and qualified", and a dead person is not qualified, the court held Arnall should have continued serving as governor. However, he had voluntarily resigned any claim to the office to make way for Thompson. At that point, the court held, power devolved on the duly elected lieutenant governor.^[7]

Following the court's decision, Herman Talmadge ceded the office of governor to Thompson, ending the controversy. In any case of succession to the office of governor, the constitution required a special election to complete the gubernatorial term "at the next general election for members of the General Assembly", which was in November 1948.

Herman Talmadge then ran in the Democratic special primary, defeating Governor Thompson for the Democratic nomination with 51.8% of the votes to Thompson's 45.1%. Talmadge went on to win the general election with 97.51% of the vote.^[10] He served the final 26 months (November 1948 to January 1951) of the term for which his father had been elected, and was elected for a further full term in November 1950.

Related Research Articles

The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard, when not in federal service, and State Defense Force. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legislature, and the power to convene the legislature into special session. The current governor is Republican Brian Kemp, who assumed office on January 14, 2019.

Herman Eugene Talmadge 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. 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. 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.

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References

↑ "1945 Constitution of Georgia" (PDF). p. 32.
↑ Bullock, Gaddie & Buchanan 2015, p. 134-135.
↑ Georgia Register 1950, pp. 542.
↑ Henderson 1991, p. 178.
↑ Novotny 2007, p. 233.
↑ Hackle, Al (August 5, 2016). "The 3 governors controversy". Statesboro Herald.
1 2 3 4 Thompson v. Talmadge, 41S.E.2d883 (Ga.1947).
↑ Bullock, Gaddie & Buchanan 2015, p. 165.
↑ Herlithy, Ed (January 20, 1947). "Governorship Feud Rages in Georgia". Universal Newsreel. 3:04–6:10. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
↑ "GA Governor: Special Election Race, Nov 02, 1948". Our Campaigns.

Sources

Bullock, Charles S.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith; Buchanan, Scott E. (2015). The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Compiled by Mrs. J.E. Hays, State Historian and Director (1950). Georgia's Official Register, 1945-1950 (PDF). Atlanta, GA: State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History.
Henderson, Harold Paulk (1991). The Politics of Change in Georgia: A Political Biography of Ellis Arnall. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Novotny, Patrick (2007). This Georgia Rising: Education, Civil Rights, and the Politics of Change in Georgia in the 1940s. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. ISBN 978-0-88146-088-9.