In 1947, one of the most bizarre incidents took place in the history of U.S. state politics. Eugene Talmadge had been elected governor of Georgia for the fourth time in November 1946.  The problem arose when "Ole' Gene" died of cirrhosis of the liver on 21 December 1946 before he had been inaugurated governor.  The controversy that followed quickly evolved into a constitutional crisis.

Knowing that Gene Talmadge was not well going into the November general election, some of Talmadge's followers undertook a write-in campaign for Gene's son, Herman Talmadge.  The reason for the write-in campaign was due to a provision which stated that the Georgia General Assembly would elect a governor from the next two candidates, "then in life" if the winner of the general election died before taking office.  Since no Republican candidate was present, the Talmadgites reasoned that young "Hummon" would become governor should Gene die.

Before 1945, this ploy would have been constitutional since Georgia had no lt. governor before this time.  The 1945 Georgia Constitution, however, created the office of lt. governor to succeed  governors should they die while in office.  In 1946, M.E. Thompson, an anti-Talmdage, was elected Georgia's first lt. governor.  With the presence of Lt. Governor-elect Thompson,
the attempt of the Talmadge camp's write-in effort seemed to be dubious given the new constitution.

Simultaneously, the outgoing governor, Ellis Arnall, who was also an anti-Talmadge refused to relinquish the office of governor until the Georgia Supreme Court heard the case and made its decision concerning this crisis.  These three individuals would face each other off in January 1947 when the General Assembly convened.

The General Assembly, which was overwhelmingly in support of the Talmadge forces, moved to disregard the new Constitution, and the solons decided that M.E. Thompson was not the governor since neither Thompson nor Talmadge had been sworn in when "Ole' Gene" met his demise.  In an attempt to thwart the Talmadge forces, the Thompson camp began serving drinks laced with knockout drops to pro-Talmadge legislators.  After the unconscious legislators were revived,
the General Assembly moved to choose the next governor from the next two candidates receiving votes.  It was quickly discovered, however, that young "Hummon" had actually placed third among write-in votes.  The Talmadge forces in the General Assembly quickly pressed for an adjournment regroup.

Finally, the day was saved when it was discovered that a set of ballots from Telfair County, Talmadge's home county, had gone "uncounted" when the election took place in November 1946. The ballots were rushed to Atlanta to be counted.  Upon the arrival of the Telfair ballots, the write-in ballots placed Herman Talmadge into the top two of candidates receiving votes behind
his late father.  It was later discovered that all of the Telfair ballots were written in the same handwriting.  The voters had also cast their ballots in alphabetical order, and some of the voters resided in local Telfair county cemeteries.  Arguing that he was popular enough in his home county to get votes from live voters, Herman Talmadge has consistently denied any knowledge of
these dead voters.

In anticipation of possible bloodshed, the major radio networks sent their war correspondents to cover this riveting story in Atlanta.  There was a real concern about possible violence in the chaos at the Capitol.  The National Guard, which had recently returned from World War II, supported the Talmadge camp.  When the National Guard had left during WWII, the State Guard was formed to be the National Guard's temporary replacement.  However, the State Guard had not been disbanded by 1946, and it supported Arnall.  There was a fear that these two armies might start fighting with each other over this issue.  Luckily, no violence erupted during the crisis.

The younger Talmadge was then sworn in at 2 A.M. on 15 January 1947 as governor of Georgia. However, the outgoing governor, Ellis Arnall refused to relinquish the office of governor stating that Herman Talmadge was a "pretender" to the governorship.  Talmadge left the governor's office and told the adjutant general, Marvin Griffin, to see to it that Ellis Arnall got back safely to his home in Newnan, about 40 miles south of Atlanta.  Griffin was then instructed to change the locks on the
doors of the governor's office at which point Talmadge would take control.  Talmadge's orders were followed, and he took control of the governor's office later that morning.

Arnall returned to the Capitol late on the morning of 15 January to the governor's office.  When he tried to go into the governor's office, he was told that he could wait to see Governor Talmadge just like any other citizen.  Fuming at the turn of events, Arnall took control of the information booth at the front door of the Capitol building.  From here, Arnall would continue to claim that he was still governor.  When a pro-Talmadge legislator dropped a firecracker into the information booth, Arnall then moved to his nearby law office, although rumors circulated that Arnall had commandeered the men's bathroom as his office.  Arnall would continue his claim to be governor for 3 more days until he "resigned" the office in favor of M.E. Thompson.

Upon the "resignation" of Arnall, Lt. Governor Thompson then claimed to be the acting governor.  Some of the other state department heads began to choose sides between Talmadge and Thompson.  The attorney general refused to bond Talmadge's choice for state revenue commissioner, and the state treasurer refused to honor any spending requests from Talmadge.  Not knowing which man was the legitimate governor, the secretary of state even began sitting on and sleeping with the state seal which was needed by the governor to make certain documents legal.  On 21 January, Talmadge proposed that he and Thompson resign, and re-run the election and allow voters to decide among the two.  Thompson quickly refused to do this, but did file a motion before the Georgia Supreme Court.

The resolution of this event had a rather anticlimactic peaceful ending.  In March 1947, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned two lower court rulings and decided that M.E. Thompson was the governor.  The Court ruled that the General Assembly should have declared Eugene Talmadge the governor-elect although he had been dead for three weeks by the time the legislature met.  At that point, M.E. Thompson should have been sworn in as governor because the declared governor-elect was dead.  The Court did rule that a special election be held in 1948 to decided the remainder of the term ending in 1950.  To the surprise of some, Talmadge abided by the Court ruling and gave up the governorship to Thompson.  However, Talmadge would have the last laugh.  In 1948, Talmadge decisively defeated Thompson in the special election to decide the remainder of the term.
 

For further reading on this event the following sources are available:

Atlanta Constitution
Atlanta Journal
Henderson, Harold Paulk. 1991. The Politics of Change in Georgia : A Political Biography of
     Ellis Arnall. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Talmadge, Herman. 1987. Talmadge: A Political Legacy, A Politician's Life. Atlanta:
     Peachtree Publishers.