I couldn't help but shudder when I saw the picture of Lester Maddox in your post Ric!
I was in school in Stone Mtn. Ga. when he was governor and one of the reasons I left home.
And just like another duly elected official, he was an embarrassment to those how didn't vote for him and a hero for those who did.
It was bittersweet to have run across him years later in Underground Atlanta selling autographed ax handles to drunken tourists (he was famous for running black folks out of his restaurant with an ax handle he kept behind the counter).
Interestingly, that same year I was working banquets at the Hyatt in Atlanta and met a fellow named Carter who was holding a small fund raiser I was bar backing at.