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Atlanta, Georgia
October 1, 1966
Mr. Ivan Allen, Mayor
City Hall
68 Mitchell Street,
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear Mayor Allen:
No doubt you have already heard of the people's unfavorable reaction to
your speech on T. Ve, last Thursday night, against our newly-elected
Governor, calling the people who voted for him, "IGNORANT". This will
not soon be forgotten.
I rode the bus into Atlanta, Friday morning, and the topic of conversation,
among my fellow-passengers, was your speech and your derogatory remarks
against Mr. Maddox. One woman passenger, who appeared to be in her middle
seventies, said "Jn all my life, I have never seen as much venom in a mants
eyes as you had in yours during your speech against our choice for the next
Govenor of Georgia¥’ As in the case of the Atlanta Newspapers, We Se Be;
every knock, the people reacted the same — EVERY KNOCK TO MR. MADDOX WAS A
BOOST.
If former Mayor Hartsfield saw all the hatred, bitterness and jealousy dis—
played during your speech, he will change his mind about "THE PEOPLE OF
ATLANTA BEING TOO BUSY TO HATE."
Mr. Mayor, instead of your worrying abput the seal of our great state of
Georgia being tarnished, by the people's choice for our next Governor of
the state of Georgia, you had better be-worrying about the tarnish to you,
due to that unjust speech you made against Mre Maddox and the people of
the state of Georgia, which will not rub off, even if you used one of
Mr. Maddox's pick handles.
Mr. Mayor, you should have let Martin Luther King make his own speech if
you intend to ever run for public office again, because the speech in
question neither won you any votes nor influenced the people. You left
out part of Martin's speech - the part where he said that Mr. Maddox's being
elected Governor made him sorry that he is a Georgian. Thousands of Georgians
share his sentiments - for we, too, are sorry that he is a Georgian.
I have never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Maddox, but I feel sure that
he is a Christian, standing up for what we all know in our hearts is right.
Mr. Maddox is the Horatio Alger-type, having worked hard all his life to
make this world a better place in which to live. I have always voted for
Mr. Maddox, and will continue to do so.
Mr. Allen, you have shown the firemen of the city of Atlanta no consideration
whatsoever. All the firemen I know have to work at two jobs to earn a living, but
you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?
Happy fishing to you and Martin Luther, come voting day, NOVEMBER 8th.
Mr. Maddox will have enough votes without yours and Martints to win.
I would like to sign off, for now, with this little poem:
"THERE IS A DESTINY THAT MAKES US BROTHERS
NONE GOES HIS WAY ALONE.
ALL THAT WE SEND INTO THE LIVES OF OTHERS
COMES BACK INTO OUR OWN."
Think about this poem when dealing with our city firemen, won't you?
Sincerely
(we) Sree “Rc ¢
Mrs. ‘Grace Rice -
Atlanta, Georgia