Eugene Talmadge's Eulogy

For many years citizens of the south have disagreed with the assumption that their politics enjoy a monopoly of demagoguery. Demagoguery is a manipulative approach often associated with dictators and sleazy politicians that appeals to the worst nature of people. In the state of Georgia, Eugene Talmadge is known as the historical demagogue. Talmadge was a Democratic candidate in every statewide Democratic Primary between 1926 and 1946. Talmadge won Georgia’s governorship four times. After Talmadge’s death in 1948, he transferred his duties to his son. Herman Talmadge, was elected Georgia Governor in 1948. Eugene Talmadge and his son Herman built up a major political faction in the state of Georgia. Unlike most states, Georgia was still a one party system with a split within the Democratic Party. Talmadge was a very smart individual he and his son would place candidates in other races with high correlation between the vote that they got and the vote that a legislative executive coalition among those elected from Pro-Talmadge districts that was strong enough to be a proper faction. The Talmadge’s had loyal voters who were aware of issue of …show more content…
During this period there was a clear divided between Talmadge and anti-Talmadge Democrats. In Georgia when a candidate won a county it got all of it units in a county-unit system. This is how Talmadge was so success because he controlled most all of the rural areas of Georgia. Unlike most Southern States, in Georgia the first Democratic primary will divide among a reasonable number of candidates, which will pull the most support from the candidates friends and neighborhoods. With the rise of the bi- factional structure this was much harder to accomplish. That’s why the small rural counties could not be ignored during this period. Talmadge also did a great job of convincing the bankers and merchants that he was against rural interest to help get their vote as