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west Georgian
Volume XXXVIII. No. 38
WGC Backers Aid Welcome
For McGovern's Dixie Trip
BY LEE HOWELL
Two dozen or more West
Georgia students, faculty, and
area residents joined the
estimated 5,000 persons who
gathered under sometimes
threatening skies to hear South
Dakota Senator George
McGovern declare that President
Richard Nixon’s so-called
“southern strategy” is a “hoax to
deceive Southerners into voting
against their own best interests.”
McGovern, presently making a
tour of the deep South in an effort
to attract uncommitted delegates
in his quest for the Democratic
Presidential nomination, is also
seeking to “cool” some of the
expressed antagonisms and
hostilities of Southern
Democratic leaders.
RECEPTIVE CROWD
The warmly receptive,
predominantly white and youth
ful crowd which had begun
gathering over an hour before
McGovern was scheduled to
arrive, exceeded by several
thousand the number that had
been expected by organizers of
the affair. Many sections of
Georgia were represented at the
“speechmaking” and groups
from several other neighboring
states were also present.
The junior senator from South
Dakota was accompanied on his
swing through the heart of the old
confederacy by his wife,Eleanor,
and by Warren Beatty, an actor
noted for his performance in
“Bonnie and Clyde” who recently
organized the celebrity concert in
Madison Square Garden in New
York City.
Joining the candidate on the
platform were Georgia state
representative Julian Bond;
Atlanta vice-mayor Maynard
Jackson; and Mrs. Coretta Scott
King, the widow of the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
A FIERY POPULIST
The platform from which
McGovern spoke had been
constructed in the shadow of the
Tom Watson stature —a fiery,
populist of tl?e last century One
The Big Bang
American Memory Sparked By Fourth
BY L. M. HANSON
Summers proceed slowly for
those in school, and, as a result, it
is with great glee that students
look forward to the Fourth of July
holidays.
Independence Day is looked
upon by many as a day of
celebration: the aged become
inflicted with feelings of
nationalism, youngsters await
nightfall and fireworks with the
suspense and anticipation
common on Christmas Eve, and
students unbend, unwind, relax
and rejuvenate themselves, not
so eager for classes to resume.
To students, the Fourth is a day
to go to the beach and soak up the
sunshine, to eat fried chicken and
juicy watermelon, to win prizes
of the early “doves” on Vietnam,
McGovern sought to cloak
himself in the mantle of the
modern “populist" leaders of
“the new South” quoting by
name Florida governor Reuban
Askew, Arkansas governor Dale
Bumpers, and Georgia governor
Jimmy Carter, who later that
evening was to be host to the man
he had earlier tried to “stop.”
Denying any concessions,
McGovern did seem to be trying
to gain Carter’s favor by pledging
“equal and vigorous treatment of
laws in every state of the union.”
This was basically the statement
Carter had demanded of all
presidential candidates as a key
to his support.
PRESTIGIOUS
ENDORSEMENT
At Tuesday night’s rally.
Fletcher In The Flesh
Fletcher Thompson, United
States Congressman from the
Fifth District of Georgia
(Atlanta) and a candidate for the
Republican nomination to the
U.S. Senate, will bring his
campaign to the Carrollton area
next week. He will speak on
campus July 6at 10:45 a.m. in the
Social Science Lecture Hall.
Thompson, who will arrive at
the Carrollton airport at 9:00
a.m. and is tentatively set to
make some brief stops in the
downtown area before coming to
the college, will be on campus for
approximately an hour. He will
make a brief speech and answer
questions from the audience.
After his campus visit, Rep.
Thompson is scheduled to ad
dress the dinner meeting of the
Carrollton Lions Club. He will
leave afterwards to continue his
campaign in other portions of the
state.
The Fifth District represen
tative in Washington is nearing
at the fair, ribbons at the picnic,
and to watch or make fireworks
with their favorite date. The
holiday leaves behind memories
of the parade, swollen stomachs
from beer-drinking or pie-eating
contests, sunburns from swim
ming or tubing, scrapbook pic
tures of delighted relatives, and
headlines of traffic accidents.
If it were not for the historical
implications of the Fourth, the
day could be like any other —one
could as well celebrate the Six
teenth of May or the Twenty-third
of September. And, this is the
case with many persons; to them
the Independence Day Holidays
have become commercialized,
pre-fabricated, and mail-order.
These are the people who are
West Georgia College, Carrollton, Ga. 30117
McGovern did pick up the
prestigious endorsement of vice
mayor Jackson who had begun
his brief platform remarks by
saying, "I’m the other man from
across the street the one who
did not endorse Humphrey!” (He
was referring to Atlanta Mayor
Sam Massell’s recent en
dorsement of former vice
president Hubert Humphrey who
is also seeking his party’s
presidential nod. The capitol
building is located directly across
the street from city hall.)
At latest counts, McGovern’s
delegate tally was nearing the
magic majority of 1,509 votes
needed to nominate a candidate.
Some sources said he had already
surpassed that count.
(Related pictures are found on
page 5.)
completion of his third term. He
was first elected to Congress in
1966 over Fulton County Com
missioner Archie Lindsey, who
became the Democratic nominee
when the incumbent
congressman Charles L. Weltner
refused the nomination he had
won in the primary. The way he
interpreted his party loyalty
oath, he would have had to
support the Democratic nominee
FLETCHER THOMPSON
unthinking of what this nation
would be without its in
dependence. They never sit down
and realize what the nation was
like before the fourth day of July
in 1776.
Before the Fourth became a
national holiday the only
“rockets’ red glare” were seen
during time of war. Big industry
did not exist, nor did a govern
ment with its controlling laws on
fireworks. There was no
telephone, no TV, not even a
radio to take along on the picnic.
Watermelon eating was not in
troduced as a popular sport until
years later. Undoubtedly there
was no fried chicken because
deep fat fryers and Colonel
Sanders weren’t around at the
POLITICAL PASSION
In a white heat of passion this crowd greets Senator George
McGovern on the steps of the State Capitol in Atlanta.
for governor Lester G. Maddox
who had long been at political
odds with him.
Thompson was re-elected in
1968 over Weltner who had
decided to run again. In 1970,
Thompson was the winner over
the Rev. Andy Young, a long-time
associate of the Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., who now serves
as the Community Relations
Commission’s director in
Atlanta.
Asa House member, Thomp
son has made himself the
“champion of hot issues.” He
has taken an interest in such
varied causes as the en
vironment, technology, and
education. Most recently, he has
been noted for his strong anti
bussing stands.
The congressman’s home is
East Point, a middle-class
suburb of Atlanta which
Thompson represented in the
Continued On Page 3
time.
Bikinis hadn’t been invented
yet, nor were there cars to get to
the beach. Boy Scout troups had
not been formed to distribute the
nation’s flag. There was no
national anthem to sing loud
and proud; ball games, cotton
candy, and the hobby of pinching
scantily clad fannies were not in
existence.
Thomas Jefferson was still
busily writing the Declaration of
Independence (actually com
pleted and signed on the 2nd in
1776), pulling all-nighters by
candlelight, without the aid of a
few Vivarin tablets. Paul Revere
was busy making his lovely
silver, George Washington was
hanging around the old plantation
June 30, 1972
SAC Sets
July Meet
The Student Advisory Council
(SAC) to the University System
Board of Regents will hold their
summer meeting July 8-9 at West
Georgia College in Carrollton.
The group will discuss the
actions of the Regents on a recent
SAC presentation concerning
physical facilities at Black in
stitutions, according to Council
chairman Jim Langford.
The SAC, composed of student
leaders of all state-supported
institutions of higher learning,
will also discuss progress on
other Council projects, including
a study of non-resident fees, said
host Rick Waites of West Georgia
College, vice-chairman of the
SAC.
David Tisinger of the Board of
Regents will speak.
For further information con
tact Russ Childers, (404) 658-2236
supervising activities, Ben
Franklin busied himself thinking
up new proverbs for old ideas,
and John Hancock was going
blind, as evidenced by his ex
traordinarily large signature on
die Declaration.
In addition, before the original
Fourth of July holiday, the
American public did not have
bobby socks, bubble gum, B-B
guns, or Pollock jokes, public
schools, freedom of religion, the
right to assemble for a cause,
forced busing, Women’s Lib,
AT&T, immigration quotas, West
Georgia College, or any of the
other facets of American life that
are taken for granted today.
What the Fourth led to was the
Continued On Page 3