Prior to
his 1966 bid for the governor's office, Maddox had
never been elected to anything, though he had twice
lost elections for mayor of Atlanta. In 1957, he
lost to William B. Hartsfield, the original namesake
of Atlanta's airport*, and in 1961 he was defeated by
Ivan Allen Jr.
Despite
never having won election to any office, Maddox's
political views were well known. During his
court battle to prevent the forced desegregation of
the Pickrick Restaurant, his views were frequently the
subject of local and national news stories. In
addition, he frequently included biting political
commentary in the ads for the Pickrick that ran in
Atlanta's newspapers, as seen on the right..
* In 2003
Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport was renamed
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to
honor former mayor Maynard Jackson, who died earlier
that year.
PHOTO:
One of Lester Maddox's "Pickrick" advertisements from
a Feb. 13, 1965 edition of The Atlanta
Constitution. Maddox adopted and used the name
Pickrick to refer to himself in his outrageously
opinionated newspaper ads. In addition to
strident political commentary, Maddox used the ads to
sell LP records, Confederate auto tags, and axe
handles, which he referred to as Pickrick
drumsticks. Also of note is the text at the
bottom of the ad, in which he explains the origins of
the name Pickrick.
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