We had another free day to see what we wanted of the city. A small group of us went to CNN in the morning, and then to the Atlanta History Center in the afternoon. Here are some highlights of the day:
—The Atlanta History Center has the Swan House mansion built by the Inman family in 1928, the Tullie Smith farm from the 1840s, and a great Civil War museum. Emily Inman came from a well-educated Georgia family. Her mother, Emily MacDougald, led the suffrage movement in Georgia and was regional head of the League of Women Voters. The best story I heard during the Swan House guided tour was about Lizzie McDuffy, one of the family’s black servants. Lizzie’s husband “Mac” was a barber in Atlanta, and while Franklin Roosevelt was resting at his house in Warm Springs, Georgia, he hired Mac to cut his hair. FDR like Mac so much, he took him to Washington when he became president. Emily Inman insisted that Roosevelt also take Mac’s wife, Lizzie. It seems this didn’t cross Roosevelt’s mind. But in the end, FDR learned to trust and appreciate Lizzie’s presence. She became his unofficial advisor on African American affairs.
The best tidbit from Tullie Smith farm, named after the last resident of the house, was about the traveler’s room. Middle class southern homes often had a room on the front porch that was left for travelers. Each morning, the mother of the house would check the room to see if anyone had come along in the night. If yes, the traveler would get a big breakfast inside the house with the family. In exchange, the visitor would share news from his travels. This was the one of the few ways people could get information from outside their immediate areas. This warm welcome for strangers is at the root of “southern hospitality.”
I had only a few minutes left for the Civil War museum, but I learned a lot. The gist of the war is that southerners didn’t want the federal government to abolish slavery, which was a key part of the southern economy. The southerners thought they should have their own country and set their own laws. The northerners did not really care about slavery. Their motivation for fighting was to punish the south for treason against the union government. The war started in 1861 and ended four years later with the south surrendering. It was the bloodiest war in U.S. history, with 670,000 soldier deaths. One quarter of all the men in the south died in the war. (The U.S. lost “only” 60,000 soldiers in Vietnam.) What I found sad, but interesting, is that two-thirds of soldiers in the Civil War did not die in combat. They died from dysentery and other diseases caused by filthy conditions in the base camps.
—In the morning, we had a boring tour of CNN headquarters. Ted Turner started CNN in Atlanta in 1980, and though the main newsroom is still here, most of the big names work in New York, Washington and L.A. While we were on the tour, CNN was running pundit commentaries on Hillary Clinton and her tear-up the day before the New Hampshire primary vote. These commentaries added absolutely nothing of value for a voter wanting enlightenment on the issues. It made me think of a comment by Jordan Lieberman, the magazine publisher we met in Washington. (See my January 8 entry). He said there are basically four newspapers that influence all other commentators and pundits. These are Washington Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune and L.A. Times. Everyone else copies them — over and over. That’s what CNN was doing today.
—Page one of this morning’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on a poll in which 35 per cent of Georgians say the “water crisis” is their biggest worry. Georgia has had a two-year drought, and apparently everyone is talking about water shortages. The 20-country metro region of Atlanta now has five million people, stretching the water infrastructure. People want the state government to build more reservoirs and do more to reward people for installing low-flow plumbing features. Some also want controls on suburban expansion in the Atlanta area, but Governor Sonny Perdue won’t consider it.
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