Reflections on Georgia Politics Oral History Collection
Oral histories conducted by Bob Short between 2006 and 2010 with politically prominent Georgians.
More About This Collection
Creator
Short, Bob, 1932-
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Date of Original
2006/2013
Subject
Georgia. General Assembly
Civil rights--United States--History
Civil rights--Georgia--History
Journalism--Georgia
Political campaigns--Georgia
Political campaigns--United States
Segregation--Georgia
Civil rights
Journalism
Political campaigns
Politics and government
Segregation
Georgia--Politics and government
Georgia--History
Atlanta (Ga.)--History
United States--History
People
Baker, Thurbert E.
Barnes, Roy E. (Roy Eugene), 1948-
Blackburn, Benjamin B. (Benjamin Bentley), 1927-
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Chambliss, Saxby, 1943-
Clarke, Harold G., 1927-
Cleland, Max, 1942-
Coverdell, Paul Douglas, 1939-2000
Fowler, Wyche, 1940-
Gambrell, David Henry, 1929-
Gingrich, Newt
Griffin, Marvin, 1907-1982
Harris, Joe Frank
Isakson, Johnny, 1944-
Lance, Bert, 1931-2013
Maddox, Lester, 1915-2003
McBee, Mary Louise
Miller, Zell, 1932-2018
Nunn, Sam
Russell, Richard B. (Richard Brevard), 1897-1971
Sanders, Carl, 1925-2014
Shipp, Bill
Short, Bob, 1932-
Talmadge, Herman E. (Herman Eugene), 1913-2002
Vandiver, S. Ernest (Samuel Ernest), 1918-2005
Vandiver, Betty Russell
Nunn, Sam
Location
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Southern States, 33.346678, -84.119434
Medium
oral histories (literary works)
interviews
moving images
Type
MovingImage
Description
This oral history collection consists of 120 video interview programs with politically prominent Georgians, hosted by Bob Short. The programs include public oral histories recorded at Young Harris College in 2006 and 2007, and one-on-one interviews recorded in the homes and offices of interviewees around the state of Georgia from 2007 to 2010. The range of Georgia politics is covered, particularly the gubernatorial contests from 1946 to 2002, the U.S. Senate races of 1972, 1980, 2002, and 2008, the Civil Rights Movement, reapportionment, the development of Atlanta, political journalism, and the careers of key Georgia politicians not available for interview or deceased, particuarly Richard B. Russell, Jr., Herman E. Talmadge, S. Ernest Vandiver, Paul Coverdell, Jimmy Carter, Newt Gingrich, Sam Nunn, Lester Maddox, and Marvin Griffin.
Charles Robert "Bob" Short was born in Clayton, Georgia on April 17, 1932 and educated at Young Harris College, Georgia Southern University, and the Woodrow Wilson College of Law. Upon discharge from the Air Force in 1956 he began his career as a sports writer for the Atlanta Journal, and then served in various capacities in the administrations of Georgia Governors Marvin Griffin, Ernest Vandiver, and Carl Sanders. Short coordinated the campaign of Jimmy Carter when Carter ran for governor of Georgia in 1966, and later worked as press secretary for Carter's opponent in that race, Governor Lester Maddox, in 1967 and 1968. In 1968 he was appointed regional director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness -- the forerunner of FEMA -- by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Entering the private sector in the early 1970s, Short worked for Hoffman LaRoche and Hospital Corporation of America, and for his own firm, Investmart, Inc., a marketing consulting business. Short remained active politically, consulting on a limited scale and serving as special assistant to Governor and Senator Zell Miller and Senator Johnny Isakson. Short retired to Blairsville, Georgia. Bob Short wrote the only biography of Lester Maddox titled, Everything is Pickrick (Mercer University Press, 1999), which won him the title "Author of the Year" from the Georgia Writers Association. In 2006 he began a lecture and discussion program at neighboring Young Harris College entitled, Reflections on Georgia Politics. He then partnered with the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies to make Refelections on Georgia Politics an oral history series.
Related materials available in the following collections of this repository: Zell B. Miller Papers; Carl E. Sanders Papers; Bob Short Audiovisual Materials Collection; Richard B. Russell Library Oral History Documentary Collection; Erwin Mitchell Papers; J. Roy Rowland Papers; Larry Walker Papers; David Gambrell Papers; Ben Blackburn Papers; Williamson S. Stuckey Papers; T. Rogers Wade Collection of Herman E. Talmadge Materials; Mack F. Mattingly Papers; Saxby Chambliss Papers; Cathy Cox Papers; Tommy Irvin Papers; Doug Barnard, Jr. Papers; George W. Darden Papers; Michael L. Thurmond Papers; M. Louise McBee Papers; James L. Gillis, Sr. Papers; John C. Foster Papers; Helen M. Lewis Collection of James V. Carmichael Campaign Material; Eurnice L. Mixon Papers; Harold L. Murphy Papers; Jim Martin Papers; Harold G. Clarke Papers; George J. Berry Papers; Fletcher Thompson Papers; Charles E. Campbell Papers; Max Cleland Papers; Aubrey Morris Collection of Richard B. Russell, Jr. Materials; Steve Wrigley Papers; Keith Mason Papers; Harry D. Dixon Papers; Reid Harris Papers related to the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act; Pete Wheeler Papers; Bill Shipp Papers; Joe Frank Harris Papers; Roy E. Barnes Papers.
Related collections held by Georgia State University Special Collections and Archives: Georgia Government Documentation Project; State University of West Georgia: Georgia's Political Heritage Program.
Finding aid available in repository.
Disc user copies and transcripts are available for use at the Russell Library. Apple Quicktime files and transcripts are available online via the Russell Library website.
Language
eng
Contributing Institution
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Rights
