Vandiver's leadership skills were worthy of praise

Perhaps there are legal subtleties enmeshed in Gov. Vandiver's plan, which we, as laymen, do not comprehend.

- Augusta Chronicle editorial, Jan. 1961

When Georgia Gov. Ernest Vandiver left office in early 1963, celebrated Atlanta newspaper editor Gene Patterson declared the state should erect a statue to him.

The reason for such enthusiasm and - 40 years later - the kind words of so many eulogies at Mr. Vandiver's funeral Thursday - was that the courtly, north Georgia gentleman had successfully ushered his state's school systems and university out of the swamp of legal racial segregation without the celebrated pains of his Dixie neighbors.

It sounds pretty simple today, but four decades ago, it wasn't.

Segregation - separate facilities for black and white pupils - was state law.

It wasn't, however, federal law, and many Southern states were beginning to have painful clashes with the feds.

Here's where Mr. Vandiver first demonstrated a political deftness that remains a historic highlight of Georgia leadership.

He appointed a popular Atlanta banker named John Sibley to head a commission that went around the state reviewing the school situation. It will buy us time with the feds, he told Georgia segregationists.

What the Sibley Commission actually did was recommend that local school systems decide.

To make sure Georgians got a chance to thoughtfully consider this approach, the governor conveniently forgot to call the Legislature back into session for about 10 months.

Then a new challenge arose.

In January 1961, a federal judge ordered the desegregation of the University of Georgia.

Mr. Vandiver now had a real and immediate challenge.

If he allowed the federal court to desegregate the university, the governor was legally bound to follow state law and close it.

Again, he stalled for time.

Though Mr. Vandiver didn't officially close the university, he did cut off its funding, in effect, forcing it to close for about a week.

He used the time to personally lobby the Legislature to pass laws that would allow him as governor to deal with the segregation crisis.

Taken off the hook of political responsibility, the lawmakers complied, and the governor set into motion the integration of the University of Georgia.

This political leadership has won him history's vindication, but it seems to have cost him political electability.

At one time, he was considered a front-runner in the 1966 governor's race, but illness stopped his effort and Lester Maddox eventually moved into the new Governor's Mansion.

A few years later, some thought he was a favorite for a U.S. Senate post, but that didn't work out, either.

He spent most of the next three decades with his lovely wife, Betty, as the most famous resident of Lavonia, Ga.

Last week, they buried the old governor, and as far as I can tell, nobody ever got around to erecting that statue. I think it would be better to name a public school somewhere in the state after this able political tactician.

Open Georgia classrooms are, after all, the result of Mr. Vandiver's leadership years ago.

Reach Bill Kirby at (706) 823-3344 or bill.kirby@augustachronicle.com.