Ernest Vandiver was elected governor of the state of Georgia in 1958 on a platform of fiscal conservatism and steadfast resistance to desegregation. Having vowed to defend Georgia s segregated social system at all costs, Vandiver nevertheless concluded that the state could not close its schools to avoid desegregation. Because of his decision to reject the path taken by George Wallace in Alabama and Orval Faubus in Arkansas and to protect public education in the state by complying with federal court mandates, Vandiver was denounced by the state s more vocal proponents of...