THE ADMINISTRATION: Conspiracy of Mediocrity

Looking around for someone to fill the state price-control jobs (at about $10,000 a year), the Democratic National Committee came to a typical solution: Why not hand them over to jobless and deserving Democratic politicians? In that way, the Administration inherited Melvin Ernest Thompson, who was Georgia's acting governor between the reigns of Gene Talmadge and his son, Herman.

The trouble was that Herman Talmadge would not have Thompson as Georgia's price boss; the Administration could have found that out by asking him before Thompson ever came to Washington. But Thompson was...

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