Ernest Vandiver

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Samuel Ernest Vandiver Jr. (July 3, 1918–February 21, 2005) was an American politician who was Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1959 to 1963.

Vandiver was born in Canon, Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia. After serving stateside as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, he was elected mayor of Lavonia, Georgia in 1946 and supported Eugene Talmadge's candidacy for Governor, and Herman Talmadge's claim to the governorship after Eugene's death. In 1948, Talmadge appointed Vandiver to be the state's adjutant general. Vandiver was elected lieutenant governor in 1954.

Vandiver ran for governor in 1958 and promised to restore the state's image, which was tarnished by the scandals of Governor Marvin Griffin's administration; he was overwhelmingly elected.

As governor, Vandiver cleaned up the corruption associated with the Griffin administration. He pledged to defend segregation, and in March 1960 called "An Appeal for Human Rights" published in the Atlanta Constitution by black students at Spelman College "an anti-American document" that "does not sound like it was written in this country" (Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train [Boston: Beacon Press, 1994, 2002], p. 28). But when a federal district court ordered the admission of two African-American students to the University of Georgia, Governor Vandiver did not resist the court order. Atlanta's public schools were peacefully desegregated. Vandiver also presided over the end of the state's County Unit System: when the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, he ordered the Democratic Party to return to using the popular vote in primaries.

Vandiver was initially a candidate for Governor in 1966 but he withdrew for health reasons. He also ran for the United States Senate in 1972, finishing third behind Sam Nunn and Senator David H. Gambrell.

The stretch of I-85 through Franklin County, Georgia is named "Ernest Vandiver Highway" in memory of Vandiver. Vandiver was the person responsible in moving the path of the interstate to go through Franklin County. Ernest Vandiver died on February 21, 2005, at the age of 86.

[edit] External links

• New Georgia Encyclopedia: Ernest Vandiver

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