WEBVTT - Part Two: America's First Fascist Governor 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:06.200 Also media what my voice is not all the way 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:08.320 back yet, but we're recording a podcast Miami. 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:13.399 Hi Wow, Sophie, Wow wow Wow. I am the one 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:14.480 who's supposed. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:15.960 To start Get that. 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:17.040 It's very fun. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:19.920 I had a great time working legit. 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.639 Joy The greatest and sometimes the only joy in my 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:26.079 week is thinking how I'm going to open the show. 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.720 Like this week, I'm reading a bunch of court case 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:34.480 files for an international uh pedophile, uh cult leader, and 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:36.280 I'm just thinking of all the ways I'm going to 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.199 open the podcast that's going to make you livid, get 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.200 us canceled, lose everyone their jobs. 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:43.600 A likely thing for you to be doing. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.199 You know that, Garson. I've tested many intros out on you. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:49.199 Yes, yes, and. 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.080 You can send me the reimbursement for that therapy later, Gear. 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.240 But you know that's tax deductible. Oh good, good business expense, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:01.360 personal my personal work. Yes. 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:11.640 Anyway, So Garrison, we're here today to continue hearing the 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:17.520 tale of you know, your adopted home state's favorite son. 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:19.920 I think it's it's fair to say he. 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:23.399 Tried to be certainly. Yes, Governor of Georgia, Eugene Talmadge, 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:29.120 who just ascended to the governorship and almost immediately started 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.840 a military coup of local government, just like almost almost 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:35.319 as soon as he got into office. So that that 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:39.880 is where we are continuing now. Yeah, here here he goes. 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:43.920 So after he started placing military guard around the capitol, 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:48.960 he got military guards to follow around himself as well 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.280 as a few of his like closest allies, and they 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:56.320 just they just went everywhere with him. And Jane really 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.480 liked this. He liked the feeling of it. It made 0:01:58.520 --> 0:01:59.600 him feel like important. 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.400 This is one of my called shots is that if 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.680 Trump gets back in a whole bunch of guys are 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.480 going to start getting secret Service and maybe at some 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:14.200 point military escorts. Like you can tell what a a like. 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:16.640 It's kind of how he started the process of bribing 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.560 RFK Junior, right, It's something he wasn't really able to 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.200 do in the first term, but it's you just see 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.240 this hunger, like every rich man wants to be followed 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:30.960 around by a bunch of men in suits with ear pieces. 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.240 It's yeah, I think that's coming. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.560 He was having fun with his little military cosplay, and 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.040 the highway board chairman that just had his department taken 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.280 over made fun of Jean's antics by saying in response, 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.880 he would deploy a boy Scout troop to guard the 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:49.520 Highway Department. But Jane was not joking around. On June nineteenth, 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.000 nineteen thirty three, he declared a state of martial law 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.880 at the Capitol and seized complete personal control over the 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.000 Highway Department and its money. He claimed that board members 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.160 had abandoned their office and we're aiding in a bedding 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.160 in practices to incite insurrection. So you just did an 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.119 actual like like a legal coup. 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:07.560 Yeah. 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:09.960 He fired all the board members and appointed a man 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.440 named Judd P. Wilhoyt, which is another great Southern name, 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.080 just great stuff. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.640 And you know you like you don't even have to 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:19.800 tell me he's corrupt when he's a jud like I 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.880 can put two and two together in a judge together. 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.520 Jud Judd was put as supreme command over the Highway Department. 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.359 Again, we're talking to double jud right gear like we're 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.720 talking single d D. Yeah, I mean this was this 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:39.200 was like they hadn't developed the technology for a double 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:40.360 deep Judd yet. 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:44.119 But Jed invented this position as a supreme command over 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.160 the Highway Department. And that is that's. 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:48.840 Judd's guys, are the same. 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.520 Yeah, the old board a chair promised to set up 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.680 his own offices. Clay, he was still the rightful head 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:55.280 of the department. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.560 We have like an anti pope for the highway department. 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.800 This also becomes a recurring trend in Talmadge politics. Whenever 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.800 he takes over a piece of local government, the previous 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.600 leader is like, no, I'm still obviously the rightful, the 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:12.200 rightful guy. Ah. 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:14.880 This is something we miss in politics today. 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:17.919 So all this happened on the same day. Later that 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.440 same afternoon, the Deputy Sheriff, Sidney Wooton served Gene a 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.240 court order preventing the state treasurer from allowing highway money 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.280 to be used for other purposes, because Gene was really 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.040 after the money. And I'm going to quote now from 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.440 Jeene's biographer, William Anderson in his book The Wild Man 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.960 from Sugar Creek. Quote. Jeane became furious with the deputy. 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.719 He ordered the adjunct General Lindley Camp to arrest the 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:40.960 deputy on the spot, and he told Camp to place 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.839 a military guard around the persons and offices of himself, 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.640 the Treasurer, and the comptroller. The guards were to follow 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.440 the men even to their barbers Camp was later ordered 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.960 to physically remove the old board chair and his engineers 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:55.200 from their offices, which they did, and which prompted the 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:58.040 defeated board chair to call Talmadge a tyrant and a 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.640 man with a quote unquote deranged mind. Behind The following day, 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:04.599 he filed an injunction against Gene in federal court in 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:06.840 defiance of a recent court order. The governor issued a 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.160 warrant to the state treasurer for one million and three 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.320 hundred thousand dollars to run the highway Department, saying he 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.520 felt the matter was none of the court's business and 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:20.359 that they should quote not to interfere with the issue unquote. Okay, 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:22.680 So it's a it's a pretty it's it's a pretty 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.080 intense little legal coup. He's trying to he's trying to 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:25.440 do here. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.279 It is interesting, how Yeah, you were right. This really 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.960 is like the same playbook that uh like he or 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.520 at least he built the basis of the playbook. Like 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:37.440 it's only just evolved from here, but it's all the 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:38.760 same basic tactics. 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:42.840 No, it really is. And like Huey Long eventually kind 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:46.599 of called Gene kind of like a more like inefficient version, 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:48.919 and it's it's of it's not that he was a 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.919 more inefficient version of Huey Long, it's that he was 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.320 kind of just more ragtag, Like he didn't have the 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:59.360 same like long term planning as Long. Both both were 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.200 kind of dictator in their own way, but Gene just 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.680 kind of followed his whims versus like Long had like 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.200 a vested interest in like slowly gaining legitimate power. 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.560 Long was a planner, and Long he didn't fuck around. 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.360 Would be how I would describe the way. 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:13.520 Gene fox around all the time. 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.880 Yeah, yeah, yeah, Huey Long didn't fuck around, yeah, at 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.600 least now until he was well established. 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:22.840 The federal government got scared of what was going on 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.520 and declared that they would be withholding ten million dollars 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.600 in road funds until the situation was resolved. During a 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.080 luncheon a few days later, two Shriff's deputies busted in 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.320 and served Gene a twenty five thousand dollar lawsuit from 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.400 Sheriff Wooton for damages from his arrest earlier that month. 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:39.240 Jene freaked out, tore up the papers and ordered the 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.080 adjunct General to kick out the deputies, and he was 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.640 so enraged that he then gave a very damaging speech 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.760 lashing out against popular government work programs. Hours later, a 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.280 judge ordered Gene to appear in federal court over the 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.440 martial law who of the Highway Board, and at a 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.280 hearing on June thirtieth, the board's lawyer called Gene an 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.200 outlaw and compared him to a South American dictator. This 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.799 is this is in nineteen thirty three. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.040 Well, I mean they had a lot. They actually did 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:08.919 have a lot of dictator because in the in the 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:13.120 like the era immediately post like liberation from Spain, That's 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.240 kind of what the first thing that happened was a 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:17.000 little patchwork of different dictators. 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:18.960 Well yeah, and this is just like just prior to 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:23.160 like the European dictator emerging. Yeah, you know, he's like 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.520 like Mussolini and Hitler like on the rise. 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.640 Yeah, well this is what year is this? 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:30.280 This is nineteen thirty three, So yeah. 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.440 Mussolini's been in power for a little over a decade 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.080 and Hitler's just about just about taking power. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:36.960 Yeah, like World War two is going to be ramping 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:41.840 up soon, You're not, We're not there yet. Now, little 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.880 did the Highway Department know all of these legal battles 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.160 against Gena were actually completely pointless because there was a 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:52.640 new bill reorganizing the Highway Department that said the state 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.480 attorney General has the sole right to represent the Highway 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.040 Board in court. So on July first, the age he 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.280 announced that he was now the lawyer for the Highway 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.840 Department and dismissed the case. Previously he was he was 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.040 a lawyer for the defense, and then he said that 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:09.920 he's now also the lawyer for the plaintiff and close 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.040 the entire case out. And somehow this worked. I really, 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:17.200 I really don't know how legally that should play out. 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:19.960 I'm not an expert on the law, but what knowledge 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.480 I do have, I don't think it's supposed to work. 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.720 That you're not supposed to be the lawyer for both sides. 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:25.520 I don't think so. 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:30.680 That's generally not supposed Yeah, yeah, but fascinating play though. 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:32.200 You got to give him, You got to give credit 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:32.800 for Kutzpah. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.120 Gene had a lot of guys who would just look 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.560 into like very like minute details of state law, and 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.040 he would he would like weaponize that. He had a 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.440 lot of a lot of his like workers would just 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.000 be tasked with like looking into old state laws and 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:49.400 also and also new laws just to see how much 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:51.560 he could like flex power. And this is kind of 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.920 an example of that. A few weeks later, Gene also 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:57.720 came out on top of the utility hearings and subsequently 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.280 fired all of the public service commissioners. Jane was able 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.880 to capitalize on a weakened legislature and insufficient safeguards to 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.559 seize near total power over the state departments and local government. 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.880 After his victory, Jane appointed friends and family to the 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.400 department boards and called for the release of the ten 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:18.640 million dollars in frozen federal funds. The federal government told 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:20.800 Gene that he must ensure the money only gets spent 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.040 on road construction, and that his militia must cease their 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.400 operation of the capital in order for the money to 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.199 be sent. And thus the military style occupation of Georgia 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:34.920 lasted from June nineteenth to July twenty ninth. And that's 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:40.679 Jane's first real dictator moment. Is like just immediately putting 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.840 the state capital under a military occupation. That gives you 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.680 a sense of kind of how he goes about political problems. 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:48.960 How far away can we be from the next time 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:49.720 someone does that. 0:09:51.559 --> 0:10:00.559 Months. Yeah, Like Jean loved the military aesthetic for his. 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:04.840 Kentucky meat the horrible uniforms they wore back then, the 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.959 Terrible hats Man. It just just looked. 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.760 Great for his Kentucky Derby trip, which he did annually, 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.200 but this one in nineteen thirty four, Jean got all 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.960 of his friends and family custom military dress uniforms to wear. 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.199 See that, that's ten pot dictator shit. 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:28.679 Right, you're just actually caused plague as like a military leader. 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.280 You're the governor of Georgia. What are you doing? 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.480 And the governor militant? Yes. Yes. 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.560 After all the partying at the Kentucky Derby, Jane wanted 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.280 to return to Atlanta by overnight train so he could 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.400 sleep on the way. So Jean and his friend John Whitley, 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.280 and the New Highway Board chairman left early to catch 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.480 the train, though upon boarding, they discovered the dining card 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.320 already closed for the night, so Jean told Whitley to 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.479 quote get off and go find some coffee and sandwiches. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:02.120 We'll hold the train unquote. Now, Whitley took a porter 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.280 to help ensure the train wouldn't leave without him. The 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.320 diner at the train station was out of cups, so 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:09.839 Whitley bought the whole coffee urn and forced the porter 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:11.679 to carry it back to the train, but they were 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.600 too late. The train left without both of them. Whitley, 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.080 with the Sandwiches coffee urn and the porter in tow, 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.040 hailed a taxi caap and ordered the driver to follow 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.439 the train to its next stop. I'll quote now from 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.440 William Anderson quote. On the train, Jeane was giving the 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:27.839 conductor hell for leaving his friends, and the conductor was 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:29.720 trying to run the tal which party off the train 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.160 because Whitley had their tickets. The taxi creening through one 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:36.240 small Tennessee town, was sirens to halt by the sheriff. 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.880 Peering into the cab, the sheriff saw a man in 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.480 military dress, a black porter holding a coffee urn, and 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:46.719 a terrified driver. The sheriff figured it was John Dillinger 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:48.240 in disguise with his gag. 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.960 I do love the idea that John Dillinger walks around 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.360 with his coffee guy while he's like on their run 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:55.000 from the law. 0:11:55.559 --> 0:12:00.600 Yeah. A long and loud argument finally can the sheriff 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.720 of their identity, and he waved them onto into the night. 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.160 The next morning, a very dusty Kentucky taxi was seen 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.760 pulling up to the Georgia capital. A man in rumpled 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.760 military dress waved goodbye to his driver and the porter, 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.240 who still had his arm around the coffee urn. 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.960 That Dallager in a military uniform. I mean there's a lot. 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.200 He's in disguise. He's in disguise. 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:22.840 No, it'll catch that. 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.280 From that day on, Whitley was known as Taxi John, 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.800 and another improbable story had been added to the burgeoning 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:36.360 Talmadge folklore. Unquote m Taxi John. To kind of fill 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.719 in that Talmadge folklore. I have a few kind of 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.840 small anecdotes to give a better sense of Gene as 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.960 both a person and as a politician. Jean was driving 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.920 around town to his friend Henry Sperlin, and they came 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.680 up on a patrolman checking for licenses. Sperlin recalled that 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.080 Gene quote, leaned out of the window and cussed the 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:58.520 man out for doing it. Soon after that, he spoke 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:00.880 before the highway patrol and told them their job was 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:03.080 not to be stopping the poor people in Georgia, but 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.920 to help them out. Unquote, this is like Jeane's more 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:11.760 like libertarany Like yeah, side. Jane was just very anti 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.760 license in general. He would get mad at fishwartans for 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:16.959 finding people who were fishing without a license. 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:18.719 Nothing wrong with that, So. 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.200 Like this is like Jean's politics are kind of interesting 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.200 because yeah, he's an authoritarian dictator but almost like a libertarian. 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:28.880 Nothing went wrong with that. 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.160 He went, the state should the state should only fund 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.600 his military bodyguard, but it certainly should not be checking 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:36.959 whether or not people can drive. 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:39.240 That was that was basically his politics. 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:41.880 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the states get it. 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:44.719 The state shouldn't be like helping anyone out either. There, 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:46.920 Like they shouldn't be like paying, like paying for you 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.760 to like farm better. They should just like pay for 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:51.760 me to have fun and kind of stay out of 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:56.040 everyone else's business. Whenever Gene would get into bad moods, 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:57.720 he get what he would get one of his boys 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:01.000 basically out of pocket private assistance to drive his Buick 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.640 down in the open roads south of Atlanta, with Jeane 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.000 sitting real low in the back seat, hiding under his 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.760 wide brim hat. One of his drivers recalled quote, I 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.320 remember driving Gene when he was in one of them moods, 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:14.960 and the only words he would ever say were go faster, 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.520 go faster, and I'd say, goddamn it, Jeene, it won't 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:19.880 go any faster. And then he'd say, are you going 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.840 ninety because he knew it would go ninety, And I'd 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.920 say it's on ninety, and that he'd sink back into 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:27.440 his spell unquote. 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.120 He just wanted to know the car was going as 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:31.120 fast as it could go. 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.760 It's as fast as it could just blazing through those 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:38.840 Georgia roads. There was like an aura of informality in 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:42.160 his office, at least compared to other governors. He had 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:45.080 no regularly scheduled meetings with advisors, and he had a 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:49.320 very free form approach to office management. Farmers would flock 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.200 to his office in droves just just to speak with 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.400 the governor, as Gene told him to during speeches, and 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.320 he received a staggering amount of mail from his supporters. 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.000 Whenever Jean saw a farmer outside of he'd welcome them 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.880 in cutting past whoever had reserved an appointment. There was 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.080 just generally a lot of people in and out of 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.680 his office, but Jean would refuse to take most advice 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:12.800 unless it was presented as already in line with his 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.400 ultra conservative philosophy. Once he made a decision he would 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:20.280 not change his mind. Speaking to a friend and political mentor, 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:23.360 Lamar Murdeau, he said, quote, you would never make a 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.440 governor because you admit you were wrong too much. I'll 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:28.920 never admit I'm wrong even if I am, and I'll 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.880 never apologize. If I made a mistake, I'll ignore it 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.640 and in time it'll work itself out. Unquote. 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.960 Yeah, I mean that is the essence of how Donald 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.760 Trump got where he is. Like that, that is how 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.360 you do it, Okay, yeah. 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:48.240 Similar. Speaking of mister Trump, a friend of Jean said 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.160 that Gene, you usually had about four girlfriends going at 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:51.920 the same time. 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:56.360 Well, a man like that who could stay away. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.720 He was described as like having a real magnetism around women. 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.200 Mm hmmm. They also read a military bodyguard, so you know, 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.840 might have been a couple of things going on there. 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:13.120 That is true. A friend recalled, quote, I remember one 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:15.160 day he was going out to visit one and was 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:17.400 worried he might be seen. He asked me to get 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.440 him a wig and a mustache, which I did, and 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.280 he wore that into the night. Unquote. He's just wearing 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.040 those little like glasses and fake mustaches as a disguise, 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:31.880 hoping that no one will recognize the governor. Gene would 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:35.480 also just bolster rumors of his own infidelity. His biographer 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.880 Anderson remarked, quote, he was reported to have jumped in 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.480 and out of every bedroom in Atlanta. To Gene, it 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:47.440 was almost part of his radically masculine appeal. Unquote Yeah, okay, 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:49.520 radically masculine appeal. 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.000 Look, if there's if there's one thing the lady's like Garrison, 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.040 it's a man who's followed around by a bunch of 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:56.880 armed men they don't know at all times. 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.400 That's always that always puts me at ease. 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.360 Yeah, m yes, that's why everyone loves the airport. 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:10.760 Gina apparently became a better husband and family man as 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.920 he aged his wife wouldn't be hard. 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:17.280 That's a low bar given the start of this story. 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:20.240 His wife absolutely knew about all the cheating, and she 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.439 eventually did become like a trusted political advisor to Jeane. 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.359 Okay, she was one of those deals where she's really 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:30.000 in it more for the things besides companionship. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.000 Yeah, they're like tied together for life. They like got 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.800 along very well. Even though you know, Jeane's always out 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.520 doing whatever he's doing okay now. Gene was also raising 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.560 up his favorite son, Herman, to continue the Talmadge career 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.760 in politics. Herman's wife, Betty, recounted her experiences of the 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:51.600 Talmadge household. Quote, Gene and Mitt were not so demonstrative 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.159 with their affections. I remember taking our first child to 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.679 see Jane at the mansion. He would hold it, but 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.600 he seemed uncomfortable when I said he could the baby 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:06.280 if he wanted. Unquote, just this very southern frail man 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:07.960 just uncomfortable holding a baby. 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:10.440 Yeah, that's true. 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:14.240 And though Gene was not really a hardcore Christian himself, 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.040 he would use religion to appeal to his rule constituency. 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.280 Gene heavily familiarized himself with the Bible, and his memoration 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.679 of scripture impressed Southern preachers. Most Sundays he could be 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.600 found in a different country church serving as guest preacher. 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:31.640 His knowledge of the Bible was very encyclopedic, but very performative. 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.120 He told a friend, quote, I wish I was religious, 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.520 but I just ain't. And I do believe that like 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.159 he just he just didn't click with religion, but he 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:42.760 knew it was valuable politically. 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.800 There's a there's a great believe It's from the movie, 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.440 the old, very old movie Spartacus. There's a great line 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:53.239 that's attributed to Pompey when he's like tutoring Caesar, and 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.040 Caesar's like, you don't believe in the gods, and He's like, well, publicly, 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.919 I do. Privately, No, no, of course not. Yeah, like 0:18:59.000 --> 0:18:59.880 it's silly. Yeah. 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.560 Jean paid careful attention to talk and sound like farmers 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.160 when he was in rural areas. He would basically code 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:10.080 switch when talking to like businesses, bankers, and politicians in Atlanta, 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:14.480 speaking with the most correct grammar and pronunciation. I'm gonna 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:18.159 quote Anderson here to Gene. It was all theater, he 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.280 felt those who criticized him for playing the role of 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.880 the redneck in order to beguile the country people misunderstood 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.520 his politics and his constituency. They wanted a show and 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.200 a wound up Gene Talmadge was the best show in town. 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.359 Through his entertainment, he gained their loyalty and trust, for 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:38.719 the essence of his performance was their honesty. And I 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.840 really liked that line that Jean's like political performance worked 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:47.960 by weaponizing his audience's honesty. Like that was that's what 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.680 sold it. And I find that to be a really, 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:54.360 a really a poignant remark in terms of how how 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.960 politicians will like definitely like court certain people and talk 0:19:58.080 --> 0:19:59.560 like them, sound like them, and try and try to 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.240 try to appeal to them as a form of entertainment. 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:09.480 There's one one last anecdote from Anderson here quote. Probably 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:13.199 no incident better characterized to Talmage the politician in nineteen 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.120 thirty three than when the state Health Board asked him 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.240 for support in getting X ray clinics built in rural areas. 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:21.960 They were desperately needed, and gen knew it, but after 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.680 much discussion he said, in his characteristic way of refusing someone, Nope, 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.280 I ain't gonna do it. The doctors were incredulous that 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.320 he would deny his supporters this aid and asked didn't 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:35.040 he think they needed it. He startled them by saying, yep, 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.520 but I don't believe an X ray would show germs 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.560 won't show nothing but air. The doctors left his office 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.280 swearing that he was the dumbest educated man they'd ever met. 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.440 When they had gone, he turned to a friend and said, succinctly, 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.520 country folk don't believe in germs. If I sent those 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.240