1966 Ellis Arnall for Governor


Former Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall campaigned in Chattooga County in February 1966, hoping to once again win the state's highest office. He appeared before a combined meeting of the Summerville and Trion Lions Clubs at the Riegeldale Tavern, promising to increase teacher's salaries to the national average, simplify voter registration, and build rest homes for the state's elderly citizens.


arnall
From left to right: local attorney and Lions Club member T. J. Espy, Jr.; Lions Club member W.P. "Bill" Selman; former Governor Ellis Arnall; and Roger McDonald, former pastor of Summerville First Baptist Church who was now pastor at Central Baptist Church in Newnan where Mr. Arnall was a member.

Despite an impressive list of accomplishments while governing Georgia from 1943 to 1947, Arnall lost to Lester Maddox in the Democratic runoff. He died in 1992.

You can read more about Ellis Arnall online at the New Georgia Encyclopedia.



Photograph by T. Emmett Nunn. Courtesy of Chattooga County Library.
This photograph and caption appeared in the February 17, 1966 edition of the Summerville News.



Copyright 2014 Greg W. McCollum.  All rights reserved.