William b hartsfield quotes pictures
Journey Description
Born on March 1st, 1890, in Atlanta, Georgia, William Hartsfield dedicated his life to the betterment of his hometown and community. During his six terms as mayor of Atlanta, Hartsfield helped guide the city through tremendous change and growth. Due to the efforts and policies of Hartsfield, Atlanta grew from a city of 100,000 to one million people, transforming the city into a major economic and cultural center. Mayor during a time of violent opposition to integration, Hartsfield envisioned Atlanta as a “city too busy to hate." In many ways, Hartsfield helped turn this vision into a reality for his home city.
Growing up in Atlanta, Hartsfield attended the city’s public schools but failed to earn his high school diploma. At the age of 25, he began work as a law clerk for the firm Rosser, Slaton, Phillps, and Hopkins. He spent his nights studying legal journals and books in the hope of passing the Georgia bar. In 1917, he achieved his goal and he was admitted to the bar. Hartsfield left the law firm where he started his legal career and opened his own office in 1921. A year later, Hartsfield successfully ran for a position on the Atlanta City Council. Hartsfield firmly believed in Atlanta’s potential for air transportation and as an alderman, urged the city council to establish the Atlanta’s first airport in 1925. Hartsfield’s work to develop and grow Atlanta’s airport earned him the title “father of aviation.”
In 1936, Hartsfield successfully campaigned for his first term as mayor of Atlanta. He took office as the city struggled to recover from the Great Depression and his first priority was to ensure Atlanta did not sink into bankruptcy. Hartsfield recruited the help of major business leaders in Atlanta, such as Coca-Cola CEO Robert Woodruff, and convinced the Georgia General Assembly to pass budget reforms. Despite the accomplishments of his first term in office, Hartsfield was not reelected for a second term in 1940, defeated by Roy
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By Maria Saporta So close. But still not close enough. Finally there’s a branding campaign to give equal billing to two great Atlanta mayors who helped ensure the city’s status as an aviation hub. Huge posters welcome arriving passengers as they step off the escalators to go to baggage claim on the domestic terminal. The headline says: “Two Men, One Vision: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.” The wall-sized posters include large portraits of Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield and Atlanta Mayor Maynard H. Jackson Jr. “Somehow, Atlanta always meets the challenge… We have been doing it and will continue in the years to come.” – William B. Hartsfield, Mayor of Atlanta from 1937 to 1941 and from 1942 to 1961. “We stand not as much as a gateway to the South but as a gateway to a new time, a new era, a new beginning for the cities of our land.” – Maynard H. Jackson Jr., Mayor of Atlanta from 1974 to 1982 and from 1990 to 1994. The purpose of the “Two Men, One Vision” campaign is to make sure both men get their due when it comes to referencing Atlanta’s airport. Old-time Atlantans worry that Mayor Hartsfield’s contributions to Atlanta’s ascendency as a hub of aviation gets overlooked during the modern era. It was Hartsfield who really stuck his neck out to invest millions of dollars in this new and untested mode of transportation. It doesn’t help that the International Terminal is named after Maynard H. Jackson, but there is no similar designated naming in Hartsfield’s honor. On the other hand, friends and family of Mayor Jackson have become increasingly concerned when people drop the Jackson name from the airport’s name. Sometimes people revert back to the airport’s former name before the Jackson name was added in 2003. It was Jackson who led the push to build our current airport – the first phase of which was complete in 1980. That airport design developed in Atlanta – a fishbone with a spine in the middle and multiple March 1, 1890 to February 22, 1971 As mayor of Atlanta, William B. Hartsfield helped negotiate desegregation of the city’s businesses. When Martin Luther King and others were arrested during a demonstration in 1960, Hartsfield personally saw to it that the charges were dropped. King expressed his appreciation for Hartsfield’s leadership over the years in a 1965 letter, where he told the former mayor, “I will never forget the great role you played” in the city’s civil rights successes (King, 15 March 1965). Hartsfield was born in Atlanta on 1 March 1890. He studied business and law and was admitted to the Georgia Bar Association in 1917. He joined the Atlanta City Council in 1923, and went on to serve in the State Legislature a decade later. In 1937, he was elected mayor of Atlanta and served until his retirement in 1961. In recognition of his unprecedented 23 terms, he was given the title Mayor Emeritus of Atlanta. Within the segregationist leadership of the South, Hartsfield was a moderate on civil rights issues. Martin Luther King, Sr., even campaigned for Hartsfield in 1953, winning the mayor’s appreciation. When 80 students, along with King, Jr., were arrested for participating in sit-ins at segregated lunch counters and restaurants on 19 October 1960, Hartsfield intervened. He brokered a truce by calling several dozen black leaders and student representatives to meet at City Hall. Afterward, Hartsfield announced that demonstrations would be halted for 30 days in exchange for the release of jailed students. King stayed in jail to face a hearing on whether his arrest violated his probation for a previous traffic offense. He remained in custody until 27 October, when a phone call from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to the judge in charge of the case prompted his release on bail. Although Hartsfield’s later negotiations among the local parties broke down and the demonstrations
As you may have noticed, this blog uses a lot of pictures from ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. There is one face which keeps turning up, always seeming to find the camera. This is the face of William Berry Hartsfield, the Mayor of Atlanta between 1937-1941, then again between 1942-1961. He is the namesake of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and Willie B, the gorilla at Zoo Atlanta. Mr. Hartsfield is one of the reasons ATL airport is the aviation powerhouse that it is. He probably had little to do with the conception of Willie B, although one can never be too sure.
Mr. Hartsfield was born March 1, 1890, in Atlanta. He did not finish high school or attend college. At 25, he began work as a legal secretary, reading law journals at night. Mr. Hartsfield was admitted to the Georgia Bar.
In 1909, Coca Cola mogul Asa Griggs Candler bought some land near Hapeville, GA, and built a racetrack. There was only one season of racing ( with an appearance from Barney Oldfield), before the track was shut down. There was a series of aviation exhibitions on the site in the following years, and talk of using the land as an airport.
In 1922, William Hartsfield was elected to the Atlanta City Council, and started to promote the idea of an airport. The 285 acres of the Candler racetrack was leased in 1925, On April 13, 1929, the city bought the land for “Candler Field” for $94,400. During World War II , Candler Field was declared an army air base, and doubled in size.
In 1936, Mr. Hartsfield defeated incumbent James Key to become Mayor of Atlanta. He guided the city through the last years of the depression, only to be defeated by Roy LeCraw in 1940. When Mr. LeCraw was called into military service after Pearl Harbor, Mr. Hartsfield won a special election for the Mayor’s job. He held the job until the election of Ivan Allen in 1961.
Atlanta grew tremendously during the H Hartsfield, William Berry