AKS/GPS Content Standard/s:
SS8H10 The student will evaluate key post-World War II developments of Georgia from 1945
to 1970.
a. Analyze the impact of the transformation of agriculture on Georgia’s growth.
b. Explain how the development of Atlanta, including the roles of mayors William B. Hartsfield and
Ivan Allen, Jr., and major league sports, contributed to the growth of Georgia.
c. Discuss the impact of Ellis Arnall.
Essential Questions
1. Discuss the impact of Ellis Arnall, William Hartsfield, Eugene
Talmadge, and Ivan Allen Jr.
2. Elaborate on how major league sports helped to strengthen
Georgia’s economy.
3. Explain why Herman Talmadge is re-elected for a third term.
Georgia’s Governors
Let’s Review
Good Ole Gene Talmadge Attacked
“The New Deal”
He warned that The New Deal had communist tendencies
 He urged against the minimum wage: he stated it would
hurt private enterprise by paying too high of a wage and it
would threaten white supremacy by giving blacks equal pay
with whites.
 He urged that Roosevelt not be nominated for a second
term
 Talmadge’s fight against the national administration made
little headway in Georgia where President Roosevelt & the
New Deal became increasingly popular.
 Georgia elects a new Governor

Eurith Rivers promised to bring the New Deal to
Georgia Rivers won the election as antiTalmadge & pro-New Deal.

Georgians began to participate in the “New
Deal” programs.
 Created new hospitals, schools, and
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highways.
Created the Georgia State Patrol and required
a license to drive for all those who operated a
vehicle.
Rivers tried to bring basic healthcare and
welfare to rural citizens.
Upgraded public education and provided funds
for free textbooks.
Created four lane highways to connect major
Georgia cities together.
Abolished the prohibition law and allowed for
the sale of alcohol based county voters to
decide.
Ed Rivers!
A New Governor is Needed!



Eurith Rivers promised to bring
the New Deal to Georgia
Rivers won the election as antiTalmadge & pro-New Deal.
Although many changes and
improvements occurred during his
four year term Rivers must have
not realized that funding for these
improvements must come from
taxes thus, he raised state taxes
and will not win re-election.
Eugene Talmadge back in office and
“White Supremacy Rules the South”
1. He used the county unit system
to his advantage by appealing to
rural voters. He became very
powerful and does little to help
poor farmers once he enters
office.
2. He fired enemies and became an
outspoken opponent to FDR’s
New Deal.
3. As a white supremacist,
Talmadge was against any sort of
racial integration in schools.
Oh the Promises he makes….
1. Run the government more economically
than Rivers.
2. Balance the state budget
3. Lower utility rates
4. Reduce the price of automobile tags to
three dollars
5. Reorganize the state highway board.
6. Rid Georgia’s colleges of any professor
who favored “communism or racial
equality.”
When two university administrators were accused of supporting school
integration, Talmadge succeeded in having them fired because of this
Georgia colleges lose accreditation for a while.
He does not win re-election!
Ellis Arnall
He was elected to represent Coweta
County in the Georgia House of
Representatives when he was just 25
years old.
 At only 31, he was appointed attorney
general of the state, the youngest
attorney general in the country at that
time.
 In 1942, at the age of just 35, Arnall
defeated Eugene Talmadge and became
governor, also the youngest in the nation.

During his four years as
,
Ellis Arnall created an
impressive record of reform
by:
1.increasing education spending
2.managing the state's economic
recovery
3.balancing the state's budget for
the first time in more than a
century.
governor
Ellis Arnall wins the election
Arnall worked to bring progressive reform
to the state.
 Georgia’s universities had fallen out of
accreditation, which Arnall worked to
restore.
 Arnall also backed a liberal candidate who
was unpopular in Georgia, in the 1944
presidential election.

1.
Removed the prison system from
the governor’s control

Established Board of Corrections to
oversee prisons

Established Pardon and Parole Board
2.
Progressive Reform
1. State prisons
Abolished the poll tax

3.
This allowed more African Americans
to become eligible to vote in elections.
Led GA to become the first state to
grant 18 year olds the right to vote
in state elections

When young men were drafted during
WWII he argued that individuals who
were old enough to fight for their country
were old enough to vote.
2. Tax system
3. Lowered the
state’s voting age
to 18.
Many black political leaders agreed with
Arnall, hoping labor unions would bring job
equality to Georgia
In cities, many blacks registered to vote.
Fewer living in rural areas registered.
Worked aside Helen Mankin who
appealed to the black voters to
win a vacancy in the
congressional district of Atlanta.
She was the first woman elected
to Congress from Georgia.
Eugene Talmadge Returns to Office
as Governor
He WINS
re-election
for a
Third Time!
Southerners generally did not like labor
unions that Arnall created, particularly
when rumored that Communists were
involved with running the unions.
Southerners did not like Arnall’s progressive
reform to the state.
Many wanted Georgia to back to the old
southern white supremacy standards that
Arnall worked so hard to break.
Many favored school segregation and
Talmadge appealed to the southern white
farmers for their vote.
William B. Hartsfield
The Great Depression had hurt Atlanta’s
economy a great deal by that time.
 He secured donations from Coca-Cola
for the city’s funding.
 Hartsfield’s strict budgeting helped the
city recover from the Great Depression
by 1938.

Atlanta Grows and Expands
William B. Hartsfield-Mayor of Atlanta
1. Served as mayor of Atlanta for
6 terms 1937-1941 and 19421946.
2.
Helped make Atlanta an
aviation hub for the Southeast
3.
Chose the site for the Atlanta
Airport
4. Helped lead the city in the
area of civil rights
•
1946 - he organized a
biracial coalition that
worked on voter registration
drives.
•
1948 – hired 8 black police
officers for restricted duties
A Timeline of Success
•
1955 – city’s golf courses
integrated without incident
•
1957 – city busses
integrated
•
1958 – asked state to allow
Atlantans to decide whether
to keep integrated schools
open. State was refusing to
fund integrated schools
•
1960 – state committee
found overwhelming support
for keeping schools open.
A Mayor who fights
for Integration
August 30, 1961 –
integrated 4 white
high schools
without incident.
• 1961 - ended
lunch counter
segregation.
•
Reading
Article
Father of a
New and
Progressive
Atlanta.
Major League Sports


City leaders worked
together to raise
both the prestige of
the city and
generate millions of
dollars each year in
revenue.
Major league sports
was a vehicle used
to accomplish both
tasks.


The Atlanta-Fulton
County Stadium was
built and in 1966,
the Atlanta Braves
played their first
game in the new
stadium.
Other professional
sports teams soon
followed.
Atlanta
Braves
 When the Braves moved to Atlanta,
they were the first professional
sports team to be located in the
South.
 In 1966, the baseball team played its
first season. In 1969, they won the
Western Division of the National
League Throughout the 1970s,
however, the Braves continued to be
one of the worst professional teams.
 One player, however, Hank Aaron,
set the 1974 record for the most
home runs, in front of a television
audience of millions.
Atlanta
Braves
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In 1976, entrepreneur and
billionaire Ted Turner bought
the Braves.
Turner owned a cable
network and he wanted to
play the team’s games on his
channel.
This was the beginning of the
well known cable television
station, TBS.
The station televised Braves
games throughout the
country.
Today the Braves play at
Turner Field.
 In 1965, the Atlanta Falcons football
team joined the National Football
League.
 In 1966, Rankin M. Smith of the Life
Insurance Company of Georgia
purchased the team for $8.5 million.
 The Falcons play at the Georgia
Dome.
The Atlanta Hawks,
a basketball team
that plays in the
National Basketball
Association, moved
to Atlanta in 1968.
 They play at the
Philips Arena.
 The team moved to
Atlanta from St.
Louis, Missouri.

 The Atlanta Flames were
a professional ice hockey
team based in Atlanta,
Georgia, USA from 1972
until 1980. The team
dissolved from lack of
interest.
 Later in 1997, the league
expanded and hockey
became a Georgia sport
again.
 The Atlanta Thrashers play
at Phillips arena.