Lester Maddox Passes…
Lester Maddox — the restaurateur who became a symbol of segregationist defiance and then Georgia governor in a controversial election — died this morning at an Atlanta hospice. He was 87.
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“I think history will judge him well,” said former House Speaker Tom Murphy, who served as Maddox’s floor leader. “He had a reputation as a segregationist, but he told us he was not a segregationist, but that you should be able to associate with whoever you wanted. He went on to do more for African-Americans than any governor of Georgia up until that time.”
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, said Maddox “did a lot of good things” for blacks in the state, but would be remembered for his segregationist views.
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Maddox, the only Atlantan to serve as Georgia’s governor, served from 1967 to 1971. He might have been elected to a second term had the state constitution then allowed governors to succeed themselves. Instead, he settled for lieutenant governor from 1971-75, leaving little doubt that he would try to regain the governor’s office.
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