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7 1 The Beginning The Executive Mansion in those days was located where the Henry Grady Hotel is today. It was a red brick, two-story home set back about 75 feet from the sidewalk, and it was enclosed with a black, iron-picket fence. The gate of the fence had a large, shiny brass plate with the words, “Executive Mansion,” and much to my surprise, it was not locked. I opened the gate, but did not go in. I did, however, stand up on the bottom rail of the gate and “swung” on it a time or two. A city policeman came along and said, “young man, do you realize you are swinging on the Governor’s gate? He wouldn’t like that if he saw you.” He next asked me where I lived, and I told him down at Bainbridge, Ga. It seemed that he knew a number of Bainbridge people, and he scolded me no more, perhaps realizing that I had never been to the city before, which I hadn’t. On my return to the Kimball House I related my experience to my father, and he asked the question, “Well, do you think you would like to live in that mansion?” I replied that it seemed to me to be hard to get into, and he made the observation that it was extremely difficult to get into, and that many Georgians had tried for years to live in it, but few ever made it. —Marvin Griffin Bainbridge lies deep in the heart of southwest Georgia. Its live oaks draped with Spanish moss make it a stereotypical Deep South town. Traveling around the town one sees the traditional courthouse square and downtown area, with newer restaurants and stores located away from downtown . Near the courthouse lies Willis Park surrounded by towering trees and plaques honoring the fallen dead of prior wars. On one side lies a 8 “Some of the People Who Ate My Barbecue Didn’t Vote for Me” monument to the subject of our story: Marvin Griffin. The monument extols Griffin’s achievements as citizen, statesman, and soldier. Up the street is the Post-Searchlight, the local newspaper started by Griffin’s father, Ernest H. “Pat” Griffin. Marvin Griffin once remarked about the paper, “While just about everybody in Decatur County already knows the news before we print it, they take the paper to see ‘who got caught at it.’”1 Older residents of Bainbridge have memories of the former governor, but outside of Bainbridge those who remember Griffin are becoming fewer and fewer. Historians lump Griffin in the category of other southern governors of the time who resisted federal efforts to integrate schools and society. Yet such a cursory view of Griffin is inaccurate. Marvin Griffin had a deep love for the state of Georgia and his home. Before we begin looking at Griffin’s political career, we must first understand the environment and town in which Griffin was reared. ◆ As one drives through the plantations of southwest Georgia, it is evident how far removed Bainbridge is from much of the state. The highways are narrow, and one finds there is no simple, direct way to get to the town from the rest of the state. Bainbridge is the county seat of Decatur County in the far southwestern corner of the state. Situated on the border of Florida, the county is about 250 miles south of Atlanta and 20 miles north of Tallahassee, the Florida capital. Decatur County was created from a portion of Early County by an act of the Georgia General Assembly in 1823. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Decatur County was a major player in the state’s agricultural economy. A publication of the day advertised the easily arable land available in the county, which contained nearly one million acres. The county boasted of being home to the world’s largest tobacco plantation at that time, and Bainbridge was a major producer of Sumatra tobacco, used as a cigar wrapper. The southwest portion of Georgia is part of the coastal plain. The state is divided into three distinct geographic regions. The extreme northern section of Georgia is made up of mountainous areas that are part of the Appalachian Mountains. The middle portion of the state is made up of the Piedmont region, where a majority of the state’s citizens reside. The largest urban areas are in the Piedmont area, and the soil is the characteristic red clay for...

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