“Newly released files from the lynching of two black couples more than 60 years ago contain a disturbing revelation: The FBI investigated suspicions that a three-term governor of Georgia [Eugene Talmadge] sanctioned the murders to sway rural white voters during a tough election campaign.”
“I’m not surprised … historians over the years have concluded the violently racist tone of his 1946 campaign may have been indirectly responsible for the violence that came at Moore’s Ford,” said Robert Pratt, a University of Georgia history professor who has studied the case. “It’s fair to say he’s one of the most virulently racist governors the state has ever had.” …
Today, Talmage is remembered with a statue on the grounds of the Capitol. His name is also on the steel bridge spanning Savannah’s harbor.
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