Seated & Subdued

Unfolding a crumpled sheet of yellow legal paper, Lester Garfield Maddox reedily intoned: "My heart is full. I am humbled and honored by the decision of this august body." Thus, 63 days after narrowly losing (450,626 to 453,665) Georgia's gubernatorial election to Republican Congressman Howard ("Bo") Callaway, did onetime Restaurateur Maddox acknowledge the state legislature's decision to seat him anyway.

His selection by the legislators last week hardly came as a surprise. Both the U.S. and the Georgia Supreme Courts upheld Georgia's peculiar law allowing the state legislature to elect the Governor if the voters failed to give any candidate more than 50% of the vote; there had been little question what the body would do. With a Democratic majority of 231 to 28 in the legislature's two houses, the legislators voted 182 to 66 to seat Democrat Maddox.

What was startling, in view of his stridently racist campaign, was the subdued, even soporific tone of the new Governor's inaugural address in Atlanta. Speaking to a crowd of several hundred--including a little old lady in red tennis shoes--gathered in 32DEG weather, Maddox, 51, pointedly avoided any hint of bigotry. Promising to follow the progressive policies of outgoing Governor Carl Sanders, he declared: "There is no necessity for any conflict to arise between federal-state authority. We should--and we can--solve any disagreements under the framework of the Constitution, respecting the authority of the national Government, and being ever mindful of protecting the rights of Georgia and Georgians."

Philosophical Bond. Those were mild words indeed from a man who first gained national attention three years ago by brandishing a pistol and a pickax handle in the face of Negroes seeking to eat in his Pickrick restaurant--and then closed it rather than serve them.

Exclaimed Atlanta Constitution Editor Eugene Patterson: "The man was elected like a demagogue, but he spoke like a Governor!" Other longtime critics of Maddox remained skeptical that he could easily repudiate his white supremacist backers.

Among ten legislators abstaining from the vote on Maddox was Julian Bond, 26, the bright, outspoken Negro who finally gained his seat in the State House of Representatives after twice being deprived of it because of his public advocacy of draft-card burning. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that Bond must be seated and, along with ten other Negroes, he took his place in the Georgia legislature. "I don't think," philosophized Bond, "most members of the house care at this point whether I'm here or not--and that's the attitude I want them to have."

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