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President Franklin Roosevelt’s Barnesville Speech Recognized in New Historical Marker

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Savannah, GA, September 21, 2009.  The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) along with the City of Barnesville, Gordon College, and Southern Rivers Energy will unveil a new historical marker to recognize President Franklin Roosevelt’s Barnesville speech in 1938. The dedication will be held on the corner of College Drive and Summers Field in Barnesville, Georgia on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, at 10:00 a.m.  

On August 11, 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt traveled to Barnesville, Georgia, to address a large crowd regarding the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) and Georgia’s congressional primary elections.  During the presentation the President was supposed to turn on, ceremonially, the power to homes in four surrounding counties.  FDR also took the opportunity to endorse the candidacy of Lawrence Camp against the popular incumbent, Walter F. George, in the September 1938 primary election.  George, although supportive of many New Deal policies, was opposed to several of the President’s proposals including the Wages and Hours bill.  Roosevelt saw in Camp a more acquiescent ally.  Georgians rejected the President's endorsement and Camp was resoundingly defeated in the primary election.  Furthermore, it was the indignation over the President telling Georgians how to vote that provided George’s rally cry against Yankee intervention and “carpet-baggery glorified.”  The marker text reads as follows:

Roosevelt’s Barnesville Speech

On August 11, 1938, as many as 50,000 people gathered in the stadium of Gordon Military College for an address by President Franklin Roosevelt dedicating the Lamar Electric Cooperative, a project of the New Deal’s Rural Electrification Administration (REA).  As part of a campaign to promote New Deal policies and the politicians who supported them, FDR also used the occasion to attack Walter George, the incumbent U.S. Senator from Georgia, and endorse George’s rival in the 1938 Democratic primary, Lawrence Camp.  FDR's endorsement drew wide criticism in Georgia and despite Roosevelt’s popularity, Georgia voters returned George to the Senate until 1957.

Erected by the Georgia Historical Society, the City of Barnesville, Gordon College, and Southern Rivers Energy