1947
1947 I N AN optimistic report Dr. Allen D. Albert,Jr., head of the Department of Sociology at Emory University and a noted authority on city planning , detailed the status of Atlanta and its environs as of 1947. Though the city ofAtlanta itself was limited by municipal boundaries, Albert declared that "Greater Atlanta" had passed the half-million mark and was rapidly on the way to making it a million. The advantages enjoyed by Atlanta as to population and income "derived from the two revolutions, one agricultural, one industrial," said Albert. However, he went on to note, "another trend is added to make the city great: the tendency in this society to develop regional capitals. The greatest of these is, of course, New York, but every region is in the process of developing its own, and Atlanta is rapidly becoming the capital of the Southeast." He cited the classic reasons for Atlanta's promise of future growth: "Its location as an air, rail and highway hub, its strong and broadvisioned local banks, functioning under a progressive Federal Reserve Bank with a breadth of vision as to the South's future, and the growing influence of branch offices from all over the nation that are coming into the city in increasing numbers."1 Mayor William B. Hartsfield, of course, agreed wholeheartedly with Albert 's analysis of Atlanta's virtues and strove tirelessly to create a political and governmental climate in which they could thrive. He renewed in 1947, unsuccessfully, his effort to bring the suburbs into the city through large-scale annexation. He appointed a charter commission to sponsor legislation that would revise the city charter, giving him as mayor power to appoint department heads for an indefinite term—subject to confirmation by council, along with the right to appoint all boards, commissions, and committees of the various city offices. The changes sought by the mayor would have confined the elected council to a purely legislative function, giving Hartsfield, in effect, control over all city departments. After much debate, the decision was made not to carry out Hartsfield's proposed changes at that time.2 Hartsfield, however, was allowed to appoint his own executive secretary, private secretary, and the deputy recorder. Fulton County in 1947 was somewhat more successful in changing its government structure. The county manager plan went into effect; A. E. Fuller was named to coordinate the many functions of county government. Under this arrangement the county manager would handle administrative details for the five county commissioners, leaving the commission to function primarily as policy makers. During the manager's first year there were improvements in the budgeting system and in purchasing responsibilities regarding uniforms, a strengthening of the civil service system, and a reorganization of the Public Works Department. The efforts of years past to combine many city and county functions continued, but two separate governments still existed side by ATLANTA AND ENVIRONS, 1947 133 side, one in City Hall, the other in the nearby Fulton County Courthouse. Nor did the county manager's job, in its original form, survive past 1949. (Fulton County does have a manager form of administration today.) Perhaps more important to Atlanta as a city than these administrative changes was the subtle change taking place in the mind of the mayor. His attitude toward Atlanta's black citizens was undergoing a gradual conversion. He began his political career as a typical segregationist, and his first efforts to become "mayor to all the people" were tentative. Instead of removing the "white" and "colored" signs from restrooms at the airport, for example, he had them reduced until they could barely be seen. He required City Hall clerks, when sending letters to black citizens, to address them to Mr., Mrs., or Miss. (By southern custom a black man could be addressed as Doctor, or Professor, but not Mister.) The mayor grew suddenly bolder after the U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing the white primary in 1946. This was not a matter of social relations. This to Hartsfield was politics, and he immediately recognized what he must do. He spoke at the black nerve center in Atlanta— the Butler Street YMCA—to those black leaders he respected—Grace Hamilton , A. T. Walden, Warren Cochran, and others—and told them that once they and their people had registered to vote, they could sit anywhere on the bus they wanted to sit—and many other avenues would be opened to them as well. Come to him with 10,000...
OR
