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.