Some of the People Who Ate My Barbecue Didn't Vote for Me: The Life of Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin

4. The Switch Is On

43 4 The Switch Is On Just for a handful of silver, he left us. Just for a riband to stick in his coat. —Robert Browning, quoted by M. E. Thompson As 1946 dawned, Marvin Griffin bowed to his ambitious nature and decided to run for governor. In March 1946, he formed a “Griffin for Governor Club” in Bainbridge, where he formally announced his candidacy . Among the platforms of his campaign were better schools, including higher teacher salaries and twelve grades (previously there had only been eleven); better hospitals; and a “business-like road building program with emphasis on rural roads.”1 The planks of his platform seem almost simplistic, but such a platform when running for governor in those days was the norm. Griffin would advocate these three proposals for the rest of his political career, and the twelve-grade provision would indeed come about when he later became governor. He would even make the paving of rural roads the central theme of his successful 1954 gubernatorial campaign. Griffin’s 1946 campaign also stressed the need for “good government, clean government and decency in government.”2 Such promises may have seemed odd given that allegations about Griffin’s involvement in the controversies of the Rivers administration still raged in the state. Perhaps Griffin was attempting to distance himself from his past with the Rivers administration. He could have also been attempting to associate himself with the efficiency and honesty that marked the Arnall administration. In either case, Griffin’s promise of honesty in government rang hollow to his critics. In his gubernatorial announcement speech, Griffin pointed out that 44 “Some of the People Who Ate My Barbecue Didn’t Vote for Me” he was running as a people’s candidate to serve as an alternative to the still-unannounced candidacies of Eugene Talmadge and Griffin’s former boss, E. D. Rivers. Griffin stated that he had been to seventy-five counties in 1945 in his duties as adjutant general, and he believed a majority of Georgians wanted another option for governor. Naturally, Griffin saw himself as that option, though the editors of the Atlanta Journal did not see Griffin as the alternative to either Talmadge or Rivers. The day after Griffin’s entry into the race, the Journal ran an editorial that was very critical of his candidacy. The editorial criticized the viability of Griffin posing a legitimate threat to Talmadge or Rivers, and reminded its readers of Griffin’s alleged involvement in the pardons scandal. In fact, the editors quoted part of the Fulton County Grand Jury report of the pardons scandal investigation. In the report, the grand jury was critical not only of Rivers but also criticized Griffin’s involvement. In closing, the Journal argued that if Georgia voters were looking for someone to carry on the progressive aspects of Ellis Arnall’s administration they would have to look elsewhere.3 Obviously, the unearthing of the pardons scandal by the Atlanta Journal connected Griffin to his past service in the Rivers pardons. Interestingly , the Atlanta Constitution never had anything substantive to say about Griffin’s candidacy, suggesting that the editors were not as concerned about Griffin or his past. The Atlanta Journal had been the most critical of the pardons scandal in 1940, and they were the most aggressive in reviving memories of the scandal when Griffin announced his candidacy. Undaunted , Griffin began his campaign for governor. About a month after Griffin’s entry into the gubernatorial campaign, legislator Jimmy Carmichael announced his candidacy for governor. Carmichael was the chosen candidate of Ellis Arnall, and he also had the support of the Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution. Commenting on Carmichael’s entry, Griffin opined, “So this is the superman the two Atlanta newspapers and the special interests have euchred into the governor’s race and who they claim will cause me to withdraw from the race, cause another unannounced candidate to refuse to run and put another candidate on ‘shaky ground.’ This is absurd.”4 Whether Carmichael’s entry into the contest was absurd or not is a matter of opinion. Griffin was correct when arguing that Carmichael’s entry would not deter either Eugene Talmadge or E. D. Rivers from running for governor. Within two weeks of Carmichael’s entry, though, Griffin exited the gubernatorial campaign. Whereas Carmichael had the support of The Switch Is On 45 Arnall, Talmadge had his rural appeal, and...