Talmadge, Herman Eugene

▪ 2003

      American politician (b. Aug. 9, 1913, McRae, Ga.—d. March 21, 2002, Hampton, Ga.), as governor of Georgia from 1948 to 1955 and U.S. senator from 1957 to 1981, evolved from an ardent foe of desegregation to a politician whose efforts to help expand school-lunch and food-stamp programs drew strong support from rural African Americans in his home state. Talmadge's entry into politics was a tumultuous one. His father, Eugene, was a three-term governor of Georgia who died after being reelected in 1946. In a highly controversial move, Talmadge persuaded the state legislature to allow him to succeed his father, but the State Supreme Court ruled that the office should go to Lieut. Gov. M.E. Thompson. Two years later Talmadge defeated Thompson in a special election, and he went on to win a full four-year term in 1950. He vociferously opposed the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed school segregation, but his opposition to racial integration gradually waned over the years. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Talmadge engineered passage of the Rural Development Act of 1972, which brought jobs and much-needed infrastructure to rural areas. Talmadge's political career ended in disgrace, however, after the Senate denounced him for financial irregularities that included pocketing cash from supporters. He lost his bid for reelection in 1980. An autobiography, Talmadge, appeared in 1987.

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