Post WWII Developments GA Studies

Georgia after the War Immediately after WWII, Georgia remained a farming state The number of people living in rural areas remained approximately the same between 1920 & 1960 (2million) By 1990, the number of people living in the country had dropped to only ¼ of the state’s population Today, Less than 2% of Georgians are involved with farms Most sell less than $10,000 in products per year

William B. Hartsfield Hartsfield served as mayor of Atlanta for longer than any other mayor in Atlanta’s history (6 terms) During his tenure, Atlanta’s population increased from 100,000 to 1 million Hartsfield promoted the idea of ATL as “A City Too Busy To Hate”

William B. Hartsfield Early in his political career, as a member of Atlanta’s city council, he worked to build Atlanta’s aviation industry (1920’s) In 1928, he was named Atlanta’s father of aviation by the ATL Chamber of Commerce In 1936, he was elected mayor and helped ATL recover from the Great Depression by soliciting donations from Coca Cola for the city’s funding

William B. Hartsfield He was defeated in the election for mayor in 1940, but was re-elected in a special election when Atlanta’s sitting mayor joined the military during WWII In 1952, ATL tripled its size from 37 to 128 square miles Hartsfield presided over the construction of highways and parks throughout the city He died in 1971, and the airport was renamed in his honor

Ivan Allen, Jr. Ivan Allen, Jr. was elected mayor of ATL after Hartsfield Many felt he kept the city calm during the Civil Rights Movement His first act as mayor was to remove signs from City Hall that designated drinking fountains “White Only” He also ended rules that did not allow black police officers to arrest whites and allowed blacks to serve as firefighters

Ivan Allen, Jr. Allen worked alongside Civil Rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. He was the only white politician from the South to speak in favor of Civil Rights By 1964, he was able to bring desegregation to all public facilities in ATL

Ivan Allen, Jr. Allen worked to bring the Atlanta Braves to the city by building the Atlanta Stadium for the team and convincing them to relocate from Milwaukee, WI He helped bring major league football and basketball teams to the city in the late 1960’s

Atlanta Braves The Braves were the first professional sports team to be located in the South Relocated in 1966, they won their first division title in 1969 Although they were one of the worst pro teams in the 1970’s, Hank Aaron set the record for most home runs in 1974

Braves, cont. In 1976, billionaire Ted Turner bought the Braves and began televising their games on TBS In 1991, the team hired many new players, and again won the division title In 1995, the Braves won the World Series—the first Georgia team to accomplish this feat

Atlanta Falcons In 1965, the Falcons joined the NFL Rankin M. Smith of the Life Insurance Company of Georgia purchased the team They played in 1966 for the first time at Atlanta Stadium

Atlanta Falcons The team struggled until 1977, then reached the playoffs three times After their brief success, the team played losing seasons until 1997 The Falcons played in the 1998 Super Bowl where they lost Today, the Falcons are owned by Home Depot founder Arthur Blank

Atlanta Hawks The NBA’s Hawks moved to ATL in 1968 from St. Louis after being purchased by GA real estate developer Tom Cousins and former GA governor Carl Sanders Ted Turner bought the team in 1977 The team has never won a major championship They are currently owned by Atlanta Spirit a company that controls Philips Arena where the Hawks play

Atlanta Thrashers This NHL team was brought to ATL in 1999 when it was purchased by Ted Turner Today it is owned by Atlanta Spirit and plays at Philips Arena Although they have only had one winning season, they are active in community service

Ellis Arnall Served as governor of GA from 1943 to 1947 During his tenure he worked to reform government and paid off state debt He worked to bring progressive reform to GA and to restore accreditation to Georgia’s universities Because of his reforms black voters were allowed to vote in the white-only primaries Eugene Talmadge defeated Arnall in the next governor’s race