Zell Miller On Murphy:

'He Was A One-Of-A-Kind' Individual

By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia

(12/19/07) Make no mistake: there was real respect and, yes, even affection between Tom Murphy and Zell Miller, though you would never have known it from the way Murphy introduced Miller on occasion as the “extinguished” lieutenant governor, or the way Miller referred to Murphy’s House as the “mausoleum” for his legislative initiatives.

Murphy, who died Monday, and Miller came to the Georgia Legislature in the same year - 1961 - and their careers were forever entangled after Murphy became Speaker and Miller became lieutenant governor and later governor.

“I’ve often thought this as I looked back on (our) careers - we worked off each other to benefit what we were trying to get done,” Miller said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “If there had not been a Tom Murphy, I guess I would have created one, and if there had not been a Zell Miller, I guess he would have had to create one. Because that’s the way we rallied our troops.”

At such times, it often took a woman’s touch to keep them from doing each other a bodily harm, and Shirley Miller filled that role, Murphy used to say.

There was sadness in Miller’s voice as he spoke of Murphy’s legacy.

“He was a one-of-a-kind individual, and for four decades whatever happened in Georgia, he was right in the middle of it,” Miller said. “We will never see, I don’t think, ever again one Georgia leader have the power that he had for as many years as he had it. It’s really remarkable and I don’t think the way politics is today that you’ll ever see that again.”

Miller, who taught college history at an earlier point in his career, said Murphy came along at an historic time in the state’s history.

“We were all the same. We were white male Democrats, mostly from rural Georgia. And then suddenly that all changed with the court rulings and the county unit system, reapportionment and all of that. And it became a very, very volatile time to be in politics. And the fact that he could hold that House together like he did for so many years, it’s really historic.

“Loyalty is the most important ingredient in legislative politics and he enjoyed that from his House like no one ever has before or will again,” he said.

Why?

“They knew it was a two-way street; that he would look after them and he would be as loyal to them as they were to him. He, of course, very wisely would place people in various positions which would be of benefit to him later ... Next to his real family, the House was his family.”

“The night I was elected (November, 1990), he was one of the first to come up to where we were, and I appreciated that. The next day, I went up to the third floor, sat down and told him I might could get elected without him, but I sure couldn’t govern without him. That was the truth.

“We worked together and fought together for so many years, it’s hard to believe what a long period of time it really was. I give him a lot of credit for the fiscal soundness of the sound and bringing along rural legislators on things like the World Congress Center, which was not an easy job. So many things. It’s a shame he didn’t get that reservoir, which was looked upon as sort of pork at the time. It would have helped today if we had had it.”

For both men and for the state, that remarkable period of time was quite a ride. “I feel very, very fortunate to have been part of it,” he said.