ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The arrival of major league professional sports in 1966 was only part of Atlanta’s efforts to remake itself into a modern, tolerant 20th century metropolis.
But while Atlanta was modeling itself as “the city too busy to hate,” the election of segregationist restauranteur Lester Maddox as Georgia governor reminded municipal leaders of how far they still had yet to travel to reach evolving political and cultural sensibilities.
Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. was in the middle of his two-term run as Atlanta mayor when the Atlanta Braves played their first game at Atlanta Stadium (as it was then christened) on April 12, 1966. Later that year, insurance executive Rankin Smith Sr.’s Atlanta Falcons took the field — also at Atlanta Stadium — to begin their first season in the National Football League.
Allen had already taken a nationally notable step by testifying in July 1963 in support of the public accommodations section of the federal civil rights bill that became the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and his tenure continued to shape Atlanta’s image and business-first politics.
Civic leaders treated major league sports and stadium construction as proof Atlanta had arrived — part of a broader push to be seen as a modern Southern hub. Atlanta’s leadership leaned heavily into business recruitment, modernization and civic branding, even as racial inequities and police community tensions remained a defining undercurrent.
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A major civil unrest episode began Sept. 6, 1966, in the predominantly Black Summerhill neighborhood after the police shooting of Harold Prather, with residents protesting long-running grievances including policing, housing and services, as well as the new stadium’s construction at the neighborhood’s edge.
Georgia’s 1966 governor’s race is remembered for a rare outcome: the voters didn’t ultimately decide the winner, but rather, the General Assembly.
In the Democratic primary, former Gov. Gov. Ellis Arnall won a plurality but was forced into a runoff, where Maddox beat him in an upset.
On Nov. 8, 1966, Republican Bo Callaway won a narrow majority of the popular vote, but a write-in campaign for Arnall kept Callaway from getting a majority, which Georgia’s constitution required.
Because no candidate had a majority, the Georgia General Assembly — overwhelmingly Democratic — chose the governor and selected Maddox. The episode marked the first serious modern-era breach in one-party Democratic dominance, with the GOP mounting a credible statewide challenge.
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