Skip to main content

Oral history interview with Ellis Arnall, 1986 February 18

Thumbnail for Oral history interview with Ellis Arnall, 1986 February 18
View
@ University of West Georgia. Special Collections

Description

Ellis Arnall (1907-1992) was born in Newnan, Georgia on March 20, 1907. After earning a degree in Greek from the University of the South, he served as president of his class and the student body at the University of Georgia where he got his law degree in 1931. He was elected to represent Coweta County, as a Democrat in the Georgia House of Representatives in 1932 at the age of 25, where he rose to the position of Speaker pro tempore. At the age of 31, he was appointed attorney general by Governor E.D. Rivers, and in 1942 he defeated Eugene Talmadge to become the nation's youngest governor. Arnall is considered one of the most progressive governors in Georgia history. Among his reforms was an end to the poll tax, lowering of the voting age, a revised state constitution, and paying off the state's debt. His popularity declined due to his support of court decisions allowing blacks to vote in the state's white only primaries. He was a successful lawyer and businessman and served for a short time in the Truman administration. He ran for governor again in 1966, but lost a runoff election to segregationist Lester Maddox. Arnall died of pneumonia at an Atlanta hospital in 1992.; Interviewed in Governor Arnall's Law Office at Arnall, Gold and Gregory on February 18, 1986, by Dr. Mel Steely and Ted Fitz-Simons.; Arnall begins the interview by talking about the early history of his family, known from family stories and history books....
Type:
Video
Contributors:
Steely, MelFitz-Simons, TedUniversity of West Georgia. Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program
View Original At:

Record Contributed By

University of West Georgia. Special Collections

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia

Keywords

  1. Alumni And Alumnae
  2. American Legion
  3. Arnall Manufacturing Company
  4. Atlanta Constitution
  5. Atlanta Gas Company
  6. Atlanta Journal
  7. Atlanta, Georgia
  8. Attorneys General
  9. Austin, Texas
  10. Bank Of The South, The
  11. Barrett, William Hale
  12. Biggers, George C
  13. Board Of Regents, University System Of Ga
  14. Bremen, Georgia
  15. Butts County, Ga
  16. Callaway, Howard Hollis (Bo)
  17. Campbellton University, Kt
  18. Carmichael, Stokely
  19. Carrollton, Georgia
  20. Central Baptist Church, Newnan, Ga
  21. Civil War
  22. Clay, Lucius Dubignon
  23. Cook, James F., Jr
  24. Cornwall, U.K
  25. Coulter, E. Merton
  26. Coweta County, Ga
  27. Cox, James Middleton
  28. Coxon, Helen Williams
  29. Culpepper, John Wesley
  30. Dallas, Tx
  31. Dayton, Ga
  32. Delta Air Lines
  33. Democratic Party
  34. Diva, Judge
  35. Douglas, William Orville (Bill)
  36. Dublin, Georgia
  37. Eastern Air Lines
  38. Ellis County, Texas
  39. Ellis, Joseph Matthew
  40. Fdr Warm Springs Memorial Commission
  41. Fitzsimmons, Ted
  42. Ford, Gerald Rudolph, Jr. (Jerry)
  43. Gallogly Family, The
  44. Gallogly, Richard (Dick)
  45. General Mills, Inc
  46. George, Walter Franklin
  47. Georgia
  48. Georgia Education Convention
  49. Georgia. General Assembly. House
  50. Gillis, James L. (Jim)
  51. Government
  52. Governor's Mansion (Georgia)
  53. Governors
  54. Great Depression
  55. Griffin, Samuel Marvin, Sr
  56. Hannegan, Robert E. (Bob)
  57. Hanover County, Va
  58. Hodge, George Baird
  59. Howell, Clark
  60. Integration
  61. Ireland
  62. Jenkins, Roy Harris
  63. Johnson, Lyndon Baines
  64. Kentucky
  65. Ku Klux Klan
  66. Laurens County, Ga
  67. Lee, Robert E
  68. Legislators
  69. Little White House, Warm Springs, Ga
  70. Lumpkin, Wilson
  71. Macon, Ga
  72. Maddox, Lester Garfield
  73. Martin, Jessie
  74. Mercer University, Atlanta, Ga
  75. Miller, W. L. (Lint)
  76. Moore, Wiley Lemuel
  77. Moses, George Biggins
  78. Murray, William Henry Davis (Alfalfa Bill)
  79. National Association For Advance Foods
  80. National Fisheries Institute (Nfi)
  81. National Frozen & Refrigerated Food Association (Nfra)
  82. Nestle, Carnation
  83. New Orleans, La
  84. Newnan, Ga
  85. O'daniel, Wilbert Lee (Pappy)
  86. Oglethorpe University
  87. Paige, Leroy Robert (Satchel)
  88. Peachtree Creek, Ga
  89. Politics And Government
  90. Poll Tax
  91. Republican Party
  92. Rivers, Eurith Dickinson (Ed)
  93. Roberts, Columbus
  94. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano
  95. Russell, Richard Brevard, Jr. (Dick)
  96. Sargent, Ga
  97. Savannah, Georgia
  98. Schmid, Smoot (Sheriff)
  99. Shepperson, Gay Bolling
  100. Short History Of Georgia
  101. Spivey, Alfred
  102. Spivey, Jack
  103. Stevenson, Coke Robert
  104. Stevenson, Cope
  105. Supreme Court Of The United States
  106. Talmadge, Eugene
  107. Texas
  108. Texas State Capitol
  109. Thompson, Melvin Ernest
  110. Truman, Harry S
  111. Union Springs, Al
  112. United Kingdom
  113. United States
  114. Universities
  115. University Of Georgia, Athens, Ga
  116. University Of Georgia. School Of Law
  117. University Of The South
  118. University Of The South, Sewanee, Tn
  119. University System Of Georgia (Usg)
  120. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tn
  121. Wallace, Henry Agard
  122. Walton County, Ga
  123. Warm Springs, Ga
  124. Washington (D.C.)
  125. White Primaries
  126. Wilson, Charles Erwin
  127. Woolman, Charlie
  128. Works Progress Administration (Wpa)
Download JSON