ATLANTA -- Carl Sanders was a rare southern politician when Georgia voters elected him governor in 1962. Sanders was a racial moderate. That same year, voters in Alabama elected the arch segregationist George Wallace. It was a contrast that shaped the two states for generations.
Sanders "didn't want to see happen what was happening in Alabama and in Mississippi and other parts of the deep south, take place in the state of Georgia," said Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia.
"Carl Sanders is one of the primary reasons Atlanta is the center of the southeastern economy" instead of Birmingham, said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
"We captured the leadership of the south and that's what we have today," Sanders said in an wide-ranging 2004 interview with the University of Georgia. "I think I happened to be at the right time with the right attitude about what we needed to do in the state in order to do that."
While he was in the legislature in 1961, Sanders said he advised segregationist Gov. Ernest Vandiver to allow the University of Georgia to admit two African American students, rather than shut down the university. Vandiver took the advice.
Sanders, a Democrat, died November 16 at age 89. The accolades were bipartisan. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) said Sanders' legacy is "that education is important, that leadership is important and that humility is important." Isakson called Sanders "a great man with tremendous integrity."
Sanders served one term as Governor. He was term-limited from running for re-election in 1966. But he tried again in 1970, and his disdain for segregation became a big issue in that race. His opponent was a fellow Democrat, a state senator named Jimmy Carter.
"Jimmy Carter, much to my chagrin, took the opportunity that he was going to play the racial card," Sanders said in the UGA interview. Carter "took the position that he was a supporter of George Wallace, which I was not."
Sanders said Carter ran "a mean, dirty campaign. But it was politics." Carter has said frequently that he regrets his brush with segregationism.
After he won, Carter quickly pivoted to Sanders' viewpoint and renounced segregation. In a statement following Sanders' death, the former president called Sanders "an outstanding governor... and a courageous proponent of ending racial segregation in our state."
