John M. Slaton

John M. Slaton

John Marshall Slaton (born December 25, 1866 in Greenville , Meriwether County , Georgia , † January 11, 1955 in Atlanta , Georgia) was an American lawyer, politician ( Democratic Party ) and governor of Georgia.

Early years and political advancement

After graduating from elementary schools, Slaton studied law at the University of Georgia . In 1887 he was admitted to the Georgia bar. He then worked for the law firm Glenn, Slaton and Phillips . In 1896 he was also politically active. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives for Fulton County . He stayed there until 1909. Between 1905 and 1909 he was speaker of the house. From 1909 he was in the Georgia Senate and also became its chairman. This office helped him to the position of incumbent governor of Georgia in 1911, since the actual governor, Hoke Smith , had changed to the US Senate and, according to the constitution at the time, the Senate president had to succeed a former governor. Accordingly, Slaton had to fill Governor Smith's term until the end of his term in 1912. The next gubernatorial elections were then won by ex-governor Joseph Mackey Brown , who held this office between 1909 and 1911. Slaton applied but after the end of the term of office of Brown for the next legislature as governor and was able to win the elections.

Georgia Governor

As governor, he managed to win the citizens' trust in the financial stability of the state. When he subscribed to new government bonds, they yielded higher returns than those of New York State . He also became known for converting the death sentence in the case of the convicted murderer Leo Frank into a prison sentence and then a mob first threatened Slaton personally and then forcibly took Frank out of prison and lynched. The case was controversial anyway. Frank had been charged with the murder of an employee at his pencil factory. In this case, future governor Hugh M. Dorsey had represented the prosecution. Since Frank was a Jew, anti-Semitic tendencies were brought into the process from outside. This took place in a turbulent atmosphere and ended with the death sentence, which Slaton had now commuted because he questioned the legality of the conviction.

End of life and death

After the end of his tenure, Slaton never allowed himself to be re-elected to public office. He returned to law and was active in the state bar association. He died in Atlanta on January 11, 1955.

literature

• Mark K. Bauman: Factionalism and Ethnic Politics in Atlanta: The German Jews from the Civil War through the Progressive Era. In: Georgia Historical Quarterly. 82 (Fall 1998): 533-58.
• Leonard Dinnerstein : The Leo Frank Case. 1997; reprint, University of Georgia Press, Atrhens 1999.
• Franklin M. Garrett: Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events. 3 vols. (1954; reprint, University of Georgia Press, Athens 1969.
• Stephen J. Goldfarb: The Slaton Memorandum. In: American Jewish History. 88, no.3, 2000).
• Steve Oney: And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank. Pantheon, New York 2003.

Web links

• The New Georgia Encyclopedia (English)

• John M. Slaton in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• John M. Slaton in the National Governors Association (English)