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Lester Garfield Maddox (September 30, 1915–June 25, 2003) was an American segregationist politician who was Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971.
Lester Maddox was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He dropped out of school and took a correspondence course, ultimately opening the segregated "Pickrick" restaurant. He armed his white customers with pick handles to use as weapons against any blacks that might seek service, and in later years sold pick handles as souvenirs.
When the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which required integration of public facilities, passed, he sold the restaurant rather than integrate it.
He entered politics, running twice for Mayor of Atlanta and once for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, losing each time.
He ran as the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Georgia in 1966, and received fewer votes than Republican nominee Howard Callaway, but the large number of write-in votes prevented Callaway from attaining a majority. The election was decided by the state legislature, which was under Democratic party control, and so Maddox became Governor, serving from 1967 to 1971. His chief of staff was Zell Miller, who himself became Governor in 1991.
After his term as Governor, he became Lieutenant Governor while Jimmy Carter was Governor. Maddox ran again for governor in 1974 and lost: when Carter ran for President in 1976, Maddox ran against him as the nominee of the American Independent Party, but got few votes.
His political career over, he had a short-lived nightclub comedy career with a black man he had pardoned from jail while he was governor. They called themselves "The Governor and the Dishwasher."
Maddox was diagnosed with cancer in 1983, and had intestinal surgery not long before he died of pneumonia in an Atlanta hospice.
External links
- Lester! (http://www.southerncurrents.com/misc/maddox.htm) from Creative Loafing, March 20, 1999 (with link to his personal rebuttal to the article)
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