Roosevelt's Barnesville Speech

Roosevelt's Barnesville Speech is a Georgia historical marker in GA., Lamar County, dedicated 2009.

At the intersection of College Dr and Summersfield Drive on the campus of Gordon College in Barnesville, GA.

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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.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1866 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1869 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1895 · Gen. map IX. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1895 · Gen. map VIII. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1924 · South Carolina. Florida. Georgia. Mississippi. Alabama. North Carolina. South Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Georgia, 1869, covering the location of Roosevelt's Barnesville Speech, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Georgia, 1869, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

More markers nearby

Gordon Military Collegeunder 1 mi
Lamar Countyunder 1 mi
Confederate Hospitals (Lamar County)under 1 mi
Confederate Hospitalunder 1 mi