Post-World War II Developments in Georgia

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Post-World War II Developments in Georgia
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Georgia After the WWII

• Georgia remained a farming state until after
  World War II, which ended in 1945.
• The number of people living in the country
  remained about the same from 1920 to 1960.
• In 1920, there were 2.1 million people living in
  rural areas.
• In 1960, there were 1.98 million living in rural
  areas.

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Georgia After the WWII

• By 1990, however, the Percentage of the
  population living in the country would drop to
  only a quarter of those in Georgia.
• Georgias cities had begun to grow.
• Today, less than 2 of Georgians are involved
  with farmseither living on them or working on
  them.
• Most Georgia farms sell less than 10,000 in
  products a year.

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William B. Hartsfield

• William B. Hartsfield (1890-1971) served as mayor
  of Atlanta for longer than any other mayor in the
  citys history-_six terms, from 1937 to 1961.
• During his tenure, Atlantas population
  multiplied by ten timesfrom 100,000 to 1
  million.
• Another important change was the laws governing
  people of color.
• Hartsfield promoted the idea of Atlanta as A
  City Too Busy to Hate.

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William B. Hartsfield

• Hartsfields political career began at the age of
  32, when he was elected to the Atlanta City
  Council.
• There, he worked to build Atlantas aviation
  industry.
• At the time that he began this campaignin the
  l920speople did not yet fly on airplanes for
  travel as they do today.
• In 1928, he was named Atlantas father of
  aviation by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

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William B. Hartsfield

• In 1924, Hartsfield ran for the Georgia House of
  Representatives, but lost.
• He ran again in 1932 and was elected to represent
  Fulton County.
• In 1936, Hartsfield was elected as Atlantas
  mayor.

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William B. Hartsfield

• The Great Depression had hurt Atlantas economy a
  great deal by that time.
• He secured donations from Coca-Cola for the
  citys funding.
• Hartsfields strict budgeting helped the city
  recover from the Great Depression by 1938.

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William B. Hartsfield

• Hartsfield was defeated as mayor in 1940.
• However, when the U.S. joined World War II in
  1941, the sitting mayor joined the military.
• A special election was held in 1942 and
  Hartsfield won again.
• He was elected in four more elections.

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William B. Hartsfield

• In 1952, Atlanta tripled its size from 37 to 128
  square miles, adding 100,000 people to its
  population.
• Hartsfield presided over the construction of
  expressways and parks throughout the city.
• In 1961, Hartsfield chose not to run for office
  again, and was named mayor emeritus of the city.
• He died in 1971, and the Atlanta airport was
  renamed in his honor.

10
Ivan Allen, Jr.

• Ivan Allen, Jr. (19112003) served in World War
  II.
• Then, he worked for the governor and then in his
  fathers business.
• When Hartsfield left office, he won the following
  election and served as mayor from 1962 to 1970.
• Many people thought Allen kept the city calm
  during the civil rights movement.

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Ivan Allen, Jr.

• As mayor, Allen was politically liberal.
• When he took office, it was still common to see
  signs on public facilities, like water fountains,
  saying White Only.
• Allens first act as mayor was to order these
  signs removed from City Hall.
• Before he took office, black police officers
  could not arrest white people and there were no
  black firefighters.
• Allen ended these rules.

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Ivan Allen, Jr.

• Allen worked with civil rights leaders such as
  Martin Luther King, Jr.
• He was the only politician from the South to
  speak in favor of the Civil Rights Act in the
  U.S. Congress.
• By 1964, AlIen was able to bring desegregation to
  all public facilities in Atlanta.

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Ivan Allen, Jr.

• Unfortunately, Allen was also mayor during the
  construction of a concrete wall intended to keep
  black people away from a white area.
• This incident was called the Peyton Road Affair.
• The wall was later found to be unconstitutional
  and was torn down.

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Ivan Allen, Jr.

• Allen worked to bring the Atlanta Braves to the
  city.
• He worked to build the Atlanta Stadium for a team
  and then convinced the team to move from
  Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• He also helped to bring major league football and
  basketball teams to the city in the late 1960s.

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Atlanta Braves

• When the Braves moved to Atlanta, they were the
  first professional sports team to be located in
  the South.
• In 1966, the baseball team played its first
  season.
• In 1969, they won the Western Division of the
  National League.
• Throughout the 1970s, however, the Braves
  continued to be one of the worst professional
  teams.
• One player, however, Hank Aaron, set the 1974
  record for the most home runs, in front of a
  television audience of millions.

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Atlanta Braves

• In 1976, entrepreneur and billionaire Ted Turner
  bought the Braves.
• Turner owned a cable network and he wanted to
  play the teams games on his channel.
• This was the beginning of the well known cable
  television station, TBS.
• The station televised Braves games throughout the
  country.

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Atlanta Braves

• Through the 1980s, the Braves continued to play
  poorly.
• In 1991, the team hired new players.
• The season ended with the team winning the
  Western Division title.
• Through the early 1990s, the numbers of fans
  attending games rocketed to 3 million.

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Atlanta Braves

• Finally, in 1995, the Braves won the World
  Series.
• It was the first time a major league team in
  Georgia had won a national title.
• The Braves made it to the World Series two more
  times, in 1996 and 1999.
• Both times, however, they lost to the New York
  Yankees.

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Atlanta Falcons

• In 1965, the Atlanta Falcons football team joined
  the National Football League.
• Rankin M. Smith of the Life Insurance Company of
  Georgia purchased the team for 8.5 million.

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Atlanta Falcons

• Like the Braves, the Falcons played their first
  game in 1966, at Atlanta Stadium.
• Through the mid-1970s, the Falcons were not a
  particularly strong team.
• Beginning in 1977, the team began to improve.
• They reached the play-offs three times, but
  continued to play losing seasons through 1997.

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Atlanta Falcons

• In 1998, they played in the Super Bowl for the
  first time, but lost.
• Since 1998, the team has continued to struggle
  for wins.
• Today, Arthur Blank and Rich Mckay of The Home
  Depot own the Falcons.

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Atlanta Hawks

• The Atlanta Hawks, a basketball team that plays
  in the National Basketball Association, moved to
  Atlanta in 1968.
• They play at the Philips Arena.
• The team moved to Atlanta from St. Louis,
  Missouri.

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Atlanta Hawks

• Georgia real estate developer Thomas Cousins and
  former Georgia Governor Carl Sanders purchased
  the team for Atlanta.
• The team went through several seasons of
  unsuccessful play.
• In 1977, Ted Turner purchased the team. In 1980,
  the team won the Central Division title.

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Atlanta Hawks

• Although many players and coaches have strong
  records as individuals, the team has never won a
  major championship.
• The Hawks are currently owned by Atlanta Spirit,
  a company with nine owners that also controls the
  Philips Arena, where they play.
• The Hawks are currently coached by Mike Woodson,
  the teams tenth head coach since the Hawks moved
  to Atlanta in 1968.

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Atlanta Thrashers

• The Atlanta Thrashers is a hockey team that plays
  in the National Hockey League.
• It came to Atlanta in 1999 when it was purchased
  by Ted Turner.
• Today, Atlanta Spirit owns the team. Atlanta
  Spirit bought the Hawks, the Thrashers, and the
  Philips Arena for 250 million.
• The Thrashers played their 1st winning season in
  2006 and are active in community service.

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Ellis Arnall

• Ellis Arnall (1907-1992) served as governor of
  Georgia from 1943 to 1947.
• During his tenure, Arnall aggressively reformed
  Georgia government and paid off the state debt.

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Ellis Arnall

• He was elected to represent Coweta County in the
  Georgia House of Representatives when he was just
  25 years old.
• At only 31, he was appointed attorney general of
  the state, the youngest attorney general in the
  country at that time.
• In 1942, at the age of just 35, Arnall defeated
  Eugene Talmadge and became governor, also the
  youngest in the nation.

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Ellis Arnall

• Arnall worked to bring progressive reform to the
  state.
• Georgias universities had fallen out of
  accreditation, which Arnall worked to restore.
• He also reformed the state prisons, tax system,
  and constitution and lowered the states voting
  age.
• Arnall also backed a liberal candidate who was
  unpopular in Georgia, in the 1944 presidential
  election.

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Ellis Arnall

• In addition Arnalls reforms allowed black voters
  to vote in the states white-only Primary
  elections.
• Court rulings had already held that such
  primaries were unconstitutional.
• Other states had avoided enforcing such rulings,
  but Arnall did not.
• The politically powerful Eugene Talmadge unseated
  Arnall in the next governors race.

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Summary

• Analyze the impact of the transformation of
  agriculture on Georgias growth.
• Explain how the development of Atlanta, including
  the roles of mayors William B. Hartsfield and
  Ivan Allen, Jr., and major league sports,
  contributed to the growth of Georgia.
• What impact did Ellis Arnall have on Georgia?