Name Rufus Bullock Role American Politician | Party Republican Party | |
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Died April 27, 1907, Albion, New York, United States Books Address of Rufus B. Bullock to the People of Georgia: A Review of the Revolutionary Proceedings of the Late Repudiating Legislature. The Slanders and Misrepresentations of the Committees Exposed. A Republican Administration Contrasted with the Corrupt and Reckless Action of the Present Usurping Minority, Under the Lead of General Toombs | ||
Rufus Brown Bullock (March 28, 1834 – April 27, 1907) was an American Republican politician and Georgia businessman. During the Reconstruction Era he called for equal economic opportunity and political rights for blacks and whites in Georgia. He also promoted public education for both races, and encouraged railroads, banks, and industrial development. He was unpopular among whites during his governorship, but for three decades afterwards he was an esteemed private citizen.
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Early life
Bullock was born in Bethlehem, New York, and moved to Augusta, Georgia, in 1857 for his job with the telegraph company Adams Express.
Political Life
Bullock served as the 46th Governor of Georgia from 1868 to 1871 during Reconstruction and was the first Republican governor of Georgia. After Georgia ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the Omnibus Act declared that states were entitled to representation in Congress as one of the states of the Union. Georgia again lost the right to representation in Congress because the General Assembly expelled twenty-eight black members and prevented blacks from voting in the 1868 presidential election. In response to an appeal from Bullock, Georgia was again placed under military rule as part of the Georgia Act of December 22, 1869. This made Bullock a hated political figure. After various allegations of scandal and ridicule, in 1871 he was obliged by the Ku Klux Klan to resign the governorship. He was succeeded by Republican State Senate president Benjamin Conley, who served as Governor for the two remaining months of the term to which Bullock had been elected. Conley was succeeded by James M. Smith, a Democrat, and no Republican would serve as governor of Georgia again until Sonny Perdue in 2003.
Postbellum Life
Bullock served as president of the Macon and Augusta Railroad in 1867, and established the Augusta First National Bank. He later became president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and in 1895 served as master of ceremonies for the Cotton States and International Exposition. Bullock introduced the speaker, Booker T. Washington, who gave his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech.
Death and legacy
Bullock died in Albion, New York, in 1907 and was buried in Mt. Albion Cemetery nearby.
Bullock has had both detractors and admirers. He remains a controversial figure in Georgia state history.
In Books
The novel Gone With the Wind, by native Georgian Margaret Mitchell, references the election of Rufus Bullock at the end of Part Four, calling it the end of a process of Northern subjugation of Georgia that had begun with Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864. In the novel, the Republicans win the election, utilizing voter fraud with the help of their Negro (freed slaves) constituency. According to Mitchell, "The election had lasted three days instead of one. Trainloads of negroes had been rushed from town to town, voting at every precinct along the way. Of course, Bullock had won."