Lester Maddox
Lester Maddox was the 75th Governor of Georgia from January 11, 1967 to January 12, 1971. A lifelong Democrat, he championed segregation, and like contemporary liberals, advocated the threat and use of violence to achieve political ends.[1] He later served as Jimmy Carter's Lieutenant Governor.
Maddox was a restaurant owner who famously kept a baseball bat in an umbrella stand at the door of his business to chase away Blacks who tried to enter. The publicity he received for these actions in 1964 qualified him for and got him elected governor of Georgia two years later in 1966. In 1968, between the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and nomination of Vice President Hubert Humphrey who did not run in any primary of caucus election, Maddox tossed his hat into the ring as a Democrat presidential candidate,[2] and received glowing MSM national attention.
After Humphrey's nomination, Maddox then supported the 3rd party candidacy of Alabama Democrat governor George Wallace, and ran as a 3rd party presidential candidate in the 1976 general election.