Benjamin Wynn Fortson Jr. (December 19, 1904 – May 19, 1979) was a

Secretary of State of Georgia The secretary of state of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public record Public records are documents or pieces of information that are ...

. After being selected by

Ellis Arnall Ellis Gibbs Arnall (March 20, 1907 – December 13, 1992) was an American politician who served as the 69th Governor of Georgia from 1943 to 1947. A liberal Democrat, he helped lead efforts to abolish the poll tax and to reduce Georgia's votin ...

, the governor in 1946, Fortson kept his title as secretary until 1979, making him the longest-running secretary in Georgia history.

Background

Benjamin Wynn Fortson Jr. was born in 1904 in

Wilkes County, Georgia Wilkes County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,565. The county seat is the city of Washington. Referred to as "Washington-Wilkes", the county seat and ...

. At 24, he was in a car accident that permanently paralyzed him from the waist down. Fortson served two terms in the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

. He was elected to the

Georgia Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The Georgia State Senate and the lower house of the General Assembly, the Georgia House of Representatives, comprise the bicameral leg ...

in 1938 and served until he was appointed secretary of state by Governor

in February 1946 to fill the unexpired term of John B. Wilson. Fortson was elected in the next election and every four years thereafter. He died on May 19, 1979, at the age of 74 at his home in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

(

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johann de Kalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama DeKalb County is a County (United States), county in the Northeast Alabama, northeastern part ...

) from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

. He was serving his ninth term as the

Georgia Secretary of State The Secretary of state (U.S. state government), secretary of state of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records. ...

when he died. After funeral services in the rotunda of the state Capitol, he was buried at Resthaven Cemetery in

Secretary of State

In 1946, Fortson was appointed secretary of state. While in office, he was assigned many different jobs that were not originally responsibilities of the office. Fortson was in charge of the preservation of the Capitol and looked after the Confederate cemeteries. In 1965, Fortson had the

Georgia Archives The Georgia Archives is the official repository of archive, archival records for the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, located in Morrow, Georgia, Morrow. Together, the Georgia Archives and the Georgia State Capitol#Georgia Capitol Muse ...

relocated to a building on Capitol Avenue because the archives were too big for its previous location. "Fortson often said this was his proudest accomplishment". The building was later renamed for him. Another accomplishment Fortson had while he was in office was the custom of giving information on Georgia history to teachers and allowing children to visit the Capitol. At one point there was a report that he was going to move up in office until he said that "Secretary of state is a fascinating job, not like being governor," revealing that he was running for another re-election.

Three governors controversy

The three governors controversy took place from 1946 to 1947.

Eugene Talmadge Eugene Talmadge (September 23, 1884 – December 21, 1946) was an attorney and American politician who served three terms as the 67th governor of Georgia, from 1933 to 1937, and then again from 1941 to 1943. Elected to a fourth term in November ...

was elected to be the next governor of Georgia, but he fell ill and died before he was inaugurated. Because of this, the General Assembly decided to elect

Herman Talmadge Herman Eugene Talmadge (August 9, 1913 – March 21, 2002) was a U.S. politician who served as governor of Georgia in 1947 and from 1948 to 1955 and as a U.S. senator from Georgia from 1957 to 1981. A Democrat, Talmadge served during a time o ...

, the son of Eugene Talmadge, to be the new governor of Georgia. However, two other people claimed the position.

, the governor who was about to leave office, decided to stay governor and refused to leave his office. The other man was Melvin E. Thompson, the newly-elected lieutenant governor. As Secretary of State, Fortson was in charge of the state seal. No one could do official government actions without this seal, so Fortson hid the seal and refused to tell anyone where it was until the government issue was resolved. This caused the council to take action. After the dispute ended, he revealed the location of the hidden seal. Fortson had put the seal under a cushion in his wheelchair and had been sitting on it during the dispute. Fortson later quoted that he was "sitting on it like a setting of duck eggs." The controversy ended with Thompson being declared the governor by the Georgia Supreme Court, setting a precedent in Georgia law.

References

External links

Benjamin Wynn Fortson - Find a Grave

Photo - Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall swears in Benjamin W. Fortson Jr. as Secretary of State, Atlanta, Georgia, February 25, 1946 - Atlanta Journal Constitution Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortson, Benjamin W. Jr. 1904 births 1979 deaths People from Wilkes County, Georgia Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Secretaries of state of Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly