128th Georgia General Assembly

The 128th Georgia General Assembly convened its first session on January 13, 1965, at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. The 128th Georgia General Assembly succeeded the 127th and served as the precedent for the 129th General Assembly in 1967.

128th Georgia General Assembly
← 127th 129th →
Great Seal of the State of Georgia
Overview
Legislative body	Georgia General Assembly
Meeting place	Capitol Building - Atlanta
Senate
Members	54
President of the Senate	Peter Zack Geer
Party control	Democratic Party
House of Representatives
Members	180
Speaker of the House	George T. Smith
Party control	Democratic Party

Governor Carl Sanders, who was elected in 1962 as the first governor elected by popular vote since 1908, spearheaded a massive reapportionment of Georgia's General Assembly and 10 U.S. Congressional districts, providing more proportional representation to the state's urban areas.[1] This, as well as passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 had opened voter registration to blacks, saw eleven African Americans elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in special elections in 1965 and 1966. By ending the disfranchisement of blacks through discriminatory voter registration, African Americans regained the ability to vote and entered the political process.[2] This was the first time that African-Americans had sat in the House since W. H. Rogers of McIntosh resigned his seat in 1907 during the 99th Assembly. Among them were six from Atlanta (William Alexander, Julian Bond, Benjamin Brown, J. C. Daugherty, J. D. Grier, Grace Towns Hamilton, John Hood) and one each from Columbus (Albert Thompson) and Augusta (Richard Dent). Horace T. Ward also joined Leroy Johnson as the second African-American in the State Senate.

Controversy

On January 10, 1966, Georgia state representatives voted 184–12 not to seat Julian Bond, one of the eleven African-American members, because he had publicly endorsed SNCC's policy regarding opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War.[3] They disliked his stated sympathy for persons who were "unwilling to respond to a military draft".[4] A three-judge panel on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled in a 2–1 decision that the Georgia House had not violated any of Bond's constitutional rights. In 1966, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 9–0 in the case of Bond v. Floyd (385 U.S. 116) that the Georgia House of Representatives had denied Bond his freedom of speech and was required to seat him.

Party standing

Senate

• Republicans: 9
• Democrats: 44
• Independents: 1

Officers

Senate

• President: Peter Zack Geer
• President pro tempore: Harry C. Jackson
• Administration Floor Leader: Julian Webb
• Secretary: George T. Stewart
• Assistant Secretary: Lamont Smith

House

• Speaker: George T. Smith
• Speaker pro tempore: Maddox Hale
• Administration Floor Leader: George Busbee
• Assistant Floor Leader: J. Robin Harris

Members of the State Senate

District	Senator	Party	Residence
1	Frank O. Downing	Democratic	Savannah
2	William Searcey	Democratic	Savannah
3	Joseph Tribble	Republican	Savannah
4	B. Avant Edenfield	Democratic	Statesboro
5	John M. Gayner, III	Democratic	Brunswick
6	Roscoe E. Dean, Jr.	Democratic	Jesup
7	Frank Eldridge, Jr.	Democratic	Waycross
8	Bobby Rowan	Democratic	Enigma
9	Ford Spinks	Democratic	Tifton
10	William H. Flowers	Democratic	Thomasvile
11	Julian Webb	Democratic	Donalsonville
12	Al Holloway	Democratic	Albany
13	Martin Young	Democratic	Rebecca
14	Jimmy Carter	Democratic	Plains
15	A. Perry Gordy	Republican	Columbus
16	Ivey William Gregory	Republican	Columbus
17	John Thomas McKenzie	Democratic	Montezuma
18	Stanley Smith	Democratic	Perry
19	Roy Noble	Democratic	Vienna
20	Hugh Gillis	Democratic	Soperton
21	Roy G. Foster	Republican	Wadley
22	Rudolph Holley	Democratic	Augusta
23	Michael Padgett	Independent	McBean
24	Sam P. McGill	Democratic	Washington
25	Culver Kidd	Democratic	Milledgeville
26	John W. Adams III	Republican	Macon
27	Oliver Bateman	Republican	Macon
28	Robert Smalley	Democratic	Griffin
29	Render Hill	Democratic	Greenville
30	Lamar Plunkett	Democratic	Bowdon
31	Albert F. Moore	Democratic	Cedartown
32	Edward Kendrick	Democratic	Marietta
33	Kyle Yancey	Democratic	Austell
34	Standish Thompson	Republican	East Point
35	Frank Coggin	Democratic	Hapeville
36	Joe Salome	Democratic	Atlanta
37	James Wesberry	Democratic	Atlanta
38	Leroy Johnson	Democratic	Atlanta
39	Horace Ward	Democratic	Atlanta
40	Dan MacIntyre	Republican	Atlanta
41	Gene Sanders	Republican	Tucker
42	Ben F. Johnson	Democratic	Atlanta
43	Frank G. Miller	Republican	Decatur
44	Kenneth Kilpatrick	Democratic	Forest Park
45	Brooks Pennington	Democratic	Madison
46	Paul C. Broun	Democratic	Athens
47	Robert Lee	Democratic	Hartwell
48	J. Albert Minish	Democratic	Commerce
49	Erwin Owens	Democratic	Dahlonega
50	Robert Ballew	Democratic	Blue Ridge
51	Jack Fincher	Democratic	Canton
52	James Battle Hall	Democratic	Rome
53	Joseph Loggins	Democratic	Summerville
54	W.W. (Bill) Fincher, Jr.	Democratic	Chatsworth

Members of the House

District	Representative	Party	Residence
1-1	Maddox Hale	Democratic	Trenton
1-2	Billy Shaw Abney	Democratic	LaFayette
1-3	Wayne Snow, Jr.	Democratic	Chickamauga
2	Joe T. Clark	Democratic	Ringgold
3-1	Thomas M. Mitchell	Democratic	Dalton
3-2	Virgil T. Smith	Democratic	Dalton
3-3	Gerald H. Leonard	Democratic	Chatsworth
4	A.C. Duncan	Democratic	McCaysville
5	Carlton Colwell	Democratic	Blairsville
6	Fulton Lovell	Democratic	Clayton
7	James H. Floyd	Democratic	Trion
8	J.C. Maddox	Democratic	Calhoun
9	Charles B. Watkins	Democratic	Ellijay
10	James Otwell	Democratic	Cumming
11	Thomas Irvin	Democratic	Mt. Airy
12	Don C. Moore	Democratic	Toccoa
13-1	Sidney Lowrey	Democratic	Rome
13-2	Jerry Lee Minge	Democratic	Rome
13-3	Dick Starnes	Democratic	Rome
14-1	Joe Frank Harris	Democratic	Cartersville
14-2	David N. Vaughn	Democratic	Cartersville
15	Thomas Roach	Democratic	Ball Ground
16-1	Bill Williams	Democratic	Gainesville
16-2	Howard T. Overby	Democratic	Gainesville
16-3	Joe Terrell Wood	Democratic	Gainesville
17	Thomas Stovall	Democratic	Danielsville
18	A.T. Mauldin	Democratic	Carnesville
19	M. Parks Brown	Democratic	Hartwell
20-1	J. Harvey Moore	Democratic	Cedartown
20-2	Nathan D. Dean	Democratic	Rockmart
21	George Bagby	Democratic	Dallas
22-1	Earl P. Story	Democratic	Lawrenceville
22-2	Tom O. Watson	Democratic	Lawrenceville

References

1. Cook, James F. (September 12, 2002). "Carl Sanders". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
2. Timothy Crimmins, Anne H. Farrisee; University of Georgia Press (2007). Democracy Restored: A History of the Georgia State Capitol. pp. 140–144. ISBN 978-0820329116.
3. "Julian Bond Only Candidate For Vacant Post". Rome News-Tribune. February 8, 1966. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
4. The World Almanac 1967, pp. 54–55

External links

• Georgia's Official Register 1965–1966