Box 19, Folder 9, Document 10

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ATLANTA, Ga. (AP)—Lester
G. Maddox, a segregationist
running a shoestring campaign,
has captured the Democratic
nomination for governor—upset-
ting a moderate candidate and
Georgia's middleroad racial
course.

Maddox, a furniture merchant
who quit the cafeteria business
rather than be forced to serve
Negroes, decisively defeated
|Ellis G, Arnall, a former gov-
‘enor, in yesterday’s primary
runoff. Arnall had led a. six-
man race two weeks ago.

“God and the people are my
campaign managers,” exulted
Maddox, 50, after pulling off the
upset without big-money back-
ers or the support of highrank-
ing politicians. reported the vote
‘count stood at: Maddox 419,557,
Arnall 356,078,

Not a Racial Campaign

A fiery opponent of the federal
government, President Johnson,
liberalism, socialism and com-
munism, Maddox says he shares
the racial views of Alabama’s
Gov. George C. Wallace. But
}Maddox said very little about
\racial issues in his campaign.

Arnall, 59, who scored a major
upset two decades ago to win the
governorship over the popular



Eugene Talmadge, had charged
in the runoff t that Mad-
dox was radical and an ex-

tremist, a man whose symbols
were ax handles and pistols.





Segregationist Tops Arnall
In Georgia Democrat Runoff

A Look at the Lester Maddox Politi-
cal Method. Page A-12



Maddox, in resisting integra-
tion in 1964 and 1965, once waved
a pistol to chase Negroes from
his place and provided ax
handles for white patrons. When
ordered by a court to serve
Negroes, Maddox quit the
cafeteria business.

Arnall met Maddox to concede
personally. Some followers of
Arnall said Republicans voted
for Maddox as the easier oppo-
nent for their nominee in No-
vember.

Taking on Maddox in the first
Georgia two-party contest for
governor since Reconstruction
will be Rep. Howard H. (Bo)
Callaway, the state’s lone Re-
publican congressman. He is a
conservative ex-Democrat who
helped carry the state for Barry
Goldwater in 1964.

The voting patterns were
jumbled strangely—adding at
least some weight to the view
that Republicans voted for
Maddox. In the Goldwater
strongholds of Macon, Augusta
and Columbus, Arnall managed
bare majorities after leading the
field two weeks ago in those
same cities.

In the lieutenant governor’s
race, the voters nominated
moderate George T. Smith,
speaker of the Georgia House,
over conservative Peter Zack
Geer, the incumebnt.



Geer told newsmen last night:
“I want to tell you one more
time—I’m still the lieutenant
governor of the white folks, ’m
glad Lester Maddox beat Ellis
Arnall.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
who lives in Atlanta, said the
voting “revealed that Georgia is
desperately competing with
Mississippi for the bottom.”

“T must confess that Mr.
Maddox’s victory causes me to
be ashamed to be a Georgian.
This pretends that the days
ahead in race relations will be
confusingly dreary and the
nights will be darker than a
thousand midnights.”’

Maddox takes charge of the
almost completely disorganized
Democratic party which under
Gov. Carl E. Sanders has
steered a moderate
course,

Maddox will control the state
delegation to the Democratic
National Convention in 1968 and
serve as titular party chief, even
i he loses to Callaway on Nov.



racial |

Wallace is expected to run for
president on a third-party ticket
in “68.

Other Results

In other contests yesterday,
Rep. G. Elliott Hagan won re-
nomination to Congress from
Georgia’s 1st District, beating

See MADDOX, Page A-6


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