George
E. Goodwin:
Service
Before Self
By Matt Porter
Behind
the Scenes Advisor’s Wisdom and Long Perspective
Shaped
Modern Atlanta … and Countless Lives
For
more than 60 years, a Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist and public relations counselor
George Goodwin was one of Atlanta’s leading civic architects —
and perhaps its greatest and most unseen. Beginning in the 1940s, he
helped shape modern Atlanta, guiding it to become an economic
powerhouse and leading population center. While Goodwin never sought
the spotlight for his influence, his fame was legend, earned by his
talent for helping people of different political, religious and
social backgrounds work towards common purpose: the improvement of
Atlanta.
Born
June 20, 1917, George Evans Goodwin, Jr. 97, died January 21, 2015,
at his Atlanta residence surrounded by his family. His guiding
philosophy was captured in a brief, revealing inscription penned in
his own hand to his son Allen inside the cover of a book he
co-authored with Atlanta writer Anya Martin and Herbert Miller
entitled Boys
High Forever: The History of an Extraordinary Atlanta Public High
School:
“This book is about my
high school in Atlanta. It no longer exists, but its well-trained
alumni have helped make Atlanta the good city it is. The moral — if
there is one — is seek the best, and all around you will benefit.”
Belief
in the Capacity of Others
Search
the Internet for Atlanta’s history over the past 70 years, and
Goodwin’s name is interwoven with the city’s story. His role in
shaping the city is preserved in the archives of the state’s trade
associations, newspapers, major universities, philanthropic
organizations, museums, civic associations, corporations and
religious institutions. He was a quiet giant, shaping Atlanta through
expansion of its civic, cultural and economic infrastructure,
including the building of the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, Oglethorpe
University, Westminster Schools, Alliance Theater, MARTA, the Atlanta
Arts Alliance, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Atlanta
Public Library. He achieved these things by drawing together people
of diverse perspectives, means and talents to create philanthropic
organizations, businesses, and economic might as well as advancing
the quality of race relations, religious tolerance and civic
responsibility.
Former
Trinity Senior Minister Rev. Joanna Adams, speaking at Goodwin’s
95th birthday observance (2012) said, “Of all the legacies George
is going to leave, his greatest is helping our city learn how
different people can live together and communicate with each other in
a spirit of civility and respect.”
Goodwin’s
sincere belief in capacity of others and his interest in their lives
was legend, inspiring generations to make Atlanta the economic
capital of the Southeast and a city of international significance. He
made Atlanta’s success the measure of his success, generating
valuable friendships with scores of business, civic and religious
leaders. Every Atlanta mayor from William B. Hartsfield to Shirley
Franklin saw him as a progressive, practical thinker who fully
understood and drew energy from the
urban environment and need for bi-racial cooperation. Said Mayor
Shirley Franklin in a tribute to Goodwin in 2004: “I think George
has made all the difference in the world to this city. If it hadn’t
been for George and his commitment to this city and his willingness
to tackle tough problems, I am not sure we’d be the city we are
today. His mark will be long-lasting.” (Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeJeESOW59A)
In
the cause of Atlanta’s spiritual, cultural economic and civic
development, no one was more devoted than he. He helped lead the
effort to build the Woodruff Memorial Arts Center following the
tragic jetliner crash on June 3, 1962, at Paris Orly Airport that
claimed the lives of more than 106 Atlanta arts patrons, plus 24
others. He and his wife were among a handful of families who used
their own homes as collateral to found and build Trinity Presbyterian
Church in northwest Atlanta. When Atlanta’s leaders were organizing
for the 1996 Olympic bid, the call came to Goodwin to help shape the
communication effort. In economic development, he worked with such
leading businessmen as James D. Robinson (First National Bank of
Atlanta), Robert Woodruff (Coca-Cola), and John C. Portman (Portman &
Associates). And while Goodwin could walk among civic titans, his
greatest satisfaction came in helping the young and disadvantaged
form careers of good purpose, opening doors and encouraging them to
exceed his high expectations. He sincerely believed that all good
people, no matter their background or education, could help make
Atlanta great, step-by-step, brick by brick, deed by deed.
When
asked what
set his father apart, his son
Allen Goodwin said,
“My father had an aura that engulfed every person he encountered,
evoking the best in them because he honestly expected it.
It was amazing to watch, like magic. He inspired those around him to
excel.”
 |
| Skippy and George Goodwin in 1998 |
While
George’s first and only love was Lois “Skippy” (Milstead)
Goodwin, his wife of 65 years whom he married in 1940, Atlanta was
his life-long passion. His stock and trade were friendships and civic
connections, which he wove into coalitions that dared mighty things
for decades. His final great civic contribution came in the fall of
2003 when Mayor Franklin and other leaders sought his advice on how
to handle the controversy that had erupted over the renaming of
Atlanta’s airport in the wake of former Mayor Maynard Jackson’s
death in June that same year. Goodwin’s advice was archetypical in
its succinct blend of historic accuracy, cultural respect, and
reason: “The new name is clear to any reasonable person,” he told
them. “Two great mayors, one great name: ‘Hartsfield-Jackson
International.’”
Youth
and Early Career, 1917 to 1939
The
only son of Carrie (Clark)
and George Goodwin, Sr., he was born June 20, 1917, and grew up in
Atlanta’s west end near Gordon Street. His father was a travelling
salesman for a fire extinguisher company, and after separating from
young George’s mother, settled in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a
single mother Carrie Goodwin was an indomitable, self-sufficient
woman and an icon ruling as manager at the Ponce de Leon Apartments
(North Avenue and Peachtree, now the Ponce Condominium) from 1913
into the 60s. She died there a resident at age 94 in 1989.
Yet
Carrie was not alone in raising her son. In 1932, she moved to
Morningside to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Anna and Ben
Burgess, he a builder and developer of Cascade Heights and
Morningside Park. While Carrie, Anna and Ben protected and shaped
young George, George never lost the love for his father. “I was
lucky,” he said of his childhood. “I had two mothers and two
fathers. No boy could have wanted more.”
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On
December 15, 1939, Goodwin was among the pool of reporters who
covered the star-studded, three-day premier of Gone
With the Wind.
Goodwin recalled accompanying Olivia de Havilland from a press event
to the film premier at the Lowes Grand — a moment in his
reporting career he would never forget, but one that would be
eclipsed by his Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for distinguished Local
Reporting nine years later. When the Atlanta
Georgian
merged with the Atlanta
Journal
in the days following the premier of GWTW, Goodwin left Atlanta to
join the Charleston
News & Courier
(1940) and, soon after,
the Washington
Times-Herald
(1940-1941).
.jpg)
The
War Years, 1942 to 1945
George Goodwin and
Skippy then moved to Miami where he joined the staff of the Daily
News
(1941-1942). Shortly after December 7, 1942 he enlisted in the Office
of Naval Intelligence and took basic training in Santa Barbara,
California. Ordered to Attu Island, the
westernmost and largest
island
in the Near Islands
group of the Aleutian Islands
of Alaska,
en route, foul weather delayed his connecting flight from Seattle.
The plane he missed crashed that night, killing everyone on board.
Goodwin was soon transferred to the Philippine Islands, tasked with
gathering the nighttime reconnaissance reports from incoming torpedo
boat squadrons. Japanese fighters often strafed his base and, in one
instance, came close enough that an explosion injured Goodwin,
earning him a Decorated
Purple Heart.
During the war years,
Goodwin wrote his wife every day, but his letters took two weeks to
reach her. Goodwin spoke of the excruciating fear his wife then
endured, not knowing where George was, or if he was alive. “Like
many loved ones, Skippy endured that fear every day of the war,” he
recalled. “Upon my safe return, she made me promise that when the
time came, she wanted to be the first to go. She never again wanted
to endure the agony of waiting to rejoin me.” God helped George
keep his promise: Skippy Goodwin died peacefully on December 11,
2005.
 |
| Goodwin (circled) covered the 1946 Winecoff fire for the Atlanta Journal. His front page article began, "The Winecoff Hotel was a scene of garish, water-soaked terror Saturday morning..." |
In 1945, Goodwin
returned from war and was hired by the Atlanta
Journal
as staff writer assigned to cover City Hall. There, Goodwin began to
form relationships with men and women such as William B. Hartsfield,
Margaret Mitchell, Ralph McGill and Eugene Patterson that would
define his career. On December 7, 1946, Goodwin covered the
Winecoff Hotel fire, which remains America's deadliest hotel fire.
It was
also at the Journal
in 1948 he would win his greatest acclaim: Pulitzer
Prize in
Journalism
for distinguished Local Reporting for outstanding coverage of what
became known as “The
Three Governor’s Affair.”
In
November 1946 Eugene Talmadge won his fourth term as governor but
died the next month. His death led to a special election, with three
leading contenders: Ellis Arnall, Melvin Thompson and Eugene
Talmadge’s son, Herman. While canvassing write-in election results
in January 1947, state officials reported irregularities in voting
patterns from Telfair County, the seat of Talmadge power. The Atlanta
Journal
sent Goodwin to investigate, and he phoned in his report from the
McRae, Georgia train depot. On Sunday, March 2, 1947, the Atlanta
Journal broke the story under a 150-point headline, “TELFAIR DEAD
WERE VOTED.” The 29-year-old George Goodwin reported:
“Examination by
Journal representatives revealed that the last 34 names on the list
of 103 appeared in alphabetical order, starting with A and ending at
K. It appeared impossible that 34 citizens anywhere could have
appeared at the polls and voted in alphabetical order, starting with
the first letter and stopping abruptly at K. So this reporter paid a
visit to the Helena precinct [of Telfair County] to find there as
many of these 34 persons he could and ask them some questions.”
Some,
he reported, were alive but had not voted; others, he proved, were
dead and couldn’t have voted. Goodwin’s report resolved the
“Three Governor’s Affair,” chasing Herman Talmadge from his
occupation of a desk inside the Governor’s office at the Georgia
Capitol and leading to the Pulitzer Prize. His reporting and the
historical events it precipitated were the most publicly celebrated
achievement in his long career — yet his most significant
contributions to Atlanta history were still to come.
Selling
a Precocious Southern City, 1952 to 1964
Goodwin’s
career in journalism ended at the Atlanta
Journal
in 1952. With Ralph McGill as Managing Editor and Eugene Patterson as
City Editor, there wasn’t room for him at the top. Moreover, Skippy
and he had two young sons, Clark Milstead (b. 1947) and Allen Burgess
(b. 1951). The family needed more income than a beat reporter’s
salary paid. Goodwin left the paper to become the first executive
director of Central Atlanta Improvement Association (1952-54, now
Central Atlanta Progress). Goodwin, by then one of the city’s most
acclaimed and respected journalists, directed the association’s
national media effort to promote Atlanta as a sought-after location
for business and families. It was also here that he began to make his
lasting mark as one of its most effective promoters and civic
leaders, becoming friends with the leading businessmen and civic
leaders of the day while collaborating with them on actions to
improve the city and transform it into a place of national
significance.
One
of Goodwin’s collaborators at the association was James D.
Robinson, chairman of First National Bank of Atlanta. Believing he
could do more good by helping one of Atlanta’s largest financial
institutions invest in Atlanta’s future, Goodwin was hired by the
bank in 1954 as its Vice President of Advertising and Public
Relations. Goodwin finally had the tools he needed to shape Atlanta’s
future: financial power, civic influence and a wise and willing boss
to whom he could deflect the glory. Goodwin served under Robinson
until 1964 during which time Atlanta grew into a leading regional
cultural and economic power and the South’s leading city.
Public
Relations Career, 1964 to 1985
In
1962 Ivan Allen, Jr. took office as mayor. He was determined to
maintain Atlanta’s economic and cultural ascendency. In 1961, his
office published a white paper for revitalizing downtown Atlanta.
Adopted by the Metro Atlanta Chamber, it became known as the “Six
Point Forward Atlanta” plan,
which, in turn, evolved into the second “Forward Atlanta”
campaign
(the first of which was led by Allen’s father, Ivan Allen, Sr.
(1926-1929)). (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Allen, _Jr.)
It
was clear to committee leaders that a sustained national news media
campaign was needed to promote the Forward Atlanta campaign. That
George Goodwin would be the most qualified leader for such an effort
was given, but rather than take a job at the Chamber, Goodwin decided
to make it his first client: he opened the first national public
relations agency south of Washington DC, the Atlanta office of New
York-based Bell & Stanton public relations, later renamed
Manning, Selvage & Lee.
Beginning
in 1964 under George Goodwin’s leadership, the second Forward
Atlanta campaign exceeded even Allen, Jr.’s lofty expectations,
cementing both Goodwin and Allen as perhaps the most effective
marketing team in the history of civic promotion. Said neighbor and
friend Peter White, founder and president of the Southern Center for
International Studies in Atlanta, “I recall George and Opie
Shelton, then Chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, sitting on the
Goodwins’ back porch drafting the Forward Atlanta campaign. When
they finished, they retired to Lake Lanier to hammer out the final
plan with the entire committee. His involvement was not tangential —
he was a co-author of the entire damn program!” Goodwin is also
credited with coining the concept of “Coopetition”
into the plan to encourage Atlanta’s fierce business competitors to
join together to promote Atlanta’s greater economic good.
Forward
Atlanta was a monumental success: during the 60s, Atlanta’s
population grew more than 30 percent, ranking in the top ten in the
nation in downtown construction, with more than 55 new buildings
constructed and 22,000 new jobs created each year. By 1969, Atlanta’s
unemployment rate was among the lowest of any big city in the country
and the Atlanta Airport (now Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport), acquired its first direct international air routes and saw
its ranking change from the tenth-busiest airport in the nation to
the third busiest. (Source: Wikipedia, Ivan Allen, Jr.)
His
reputation as a back stage facilitator of effective business
partnerships and civic collaboration soared, mirroring Atlanta’s
reputation as the city “too busy to hate,” a place where leaders
steered a progressive path through the turbulent waters of
desegregation and towards racial justice. While Goodwin never claimed
Atlanta’s much-heralded success as his own, few business or civic
leaders, then or now, would deny the tremendous role he played in
them.
“The quality of
thought that George represents became a beacon that blessed many
institutions and many people and is one of the reasons why so many
have wanted to move here.”
— Beauchamp
Carr, former Chairman of Board of Advisors,
Woodruff Arts Center,
2011 Dan Sweat Awards Tribute
Goodwin
became known as Atlanta’s “Dean of Public Relations,” setting
the highest professional standards for public service, integrity and
honesty in a field often criticized for the notorious few who are
known as mercenaries or spin-masters. The Public Relations Society of
America’s Georgia Chapter named its highest honor the George
Goodwin Award for Volunteer Service. (Source:
http://www.prsageorgia.org)
Said
Clyde Tuggle, Chief Public Affairs for Coca-Cola Service in a film
tribute to Goodwin on the occasion of the 2011 Dan Sweat Award, “You
know we all say, ‘If I could just have a touch of that George
Goodwin wisdom, just a touch of insight and good judgment, boy, I’d
be a lot more effective at what I do.’” (Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeJeESOW59A)
In
the final two decades of his public relations and marketing career,
Goodwin turned much of his attention to serving the needs and
interests of clients, linking their success to Atlanta’s
improvement. He was adept at finding and hiring young men and women
of green talent whom he could mentor and put in place to do the
legwork. To one young man who came to him for a job in 1985, he said,
“Well, it seems we always seem to have too many chiefs around here
and not enough Indians. We’re always looking for a few good Indians
— come in and let’s see what we can do.” He hired the young
man. Today, the many whom he championed are in significant positions
at cultural, commercial, civic and philanthropic enterprises across
Atlanta as public relations executives, civic leaders, cultural
directors, business owners, journalists, and contributors to
Goodwin’s lifelong cause: Atlanta’s good name.
Retirement,
Quiet and Blue Birds, 2005 to 2015
In
1985, Goodwin retired as the head of Manning, Selvage &
Lee/Atlanta, but that didn’t stop him. For the next 20 years, he
came to work nearly every day until the death of his beloved wife
Skippy in late 2005. By then his thirst for public relations and
marketing had ebbed, but his mind remained as sharp as people half
his age and his advice was still sought.
In
the final five years of his life, Goodwin’s door remained open,
relying on friend and caregiver, Jackee, to schedule visits and
attend to his needs. Wearing an Atlanta Press Club baseball cap,
seated in his favorite recliner in his den, Goodwin was surrounded by
higgledy-piggledy stacks of books, haystacks of commendations and
proclamations and the charred 2002 Winter Games Olympic torch he once
carried through Atlanta en route to Salt Lake City. George relaxed
and chatted with friends, with occasional meals at his favorite
restaurant, Canoe, or visits to the Cherokee Club. He took time to
read detective novels and revel in the stupendous love of his
friends, children, grandchildren and, most recently, his first
great-grandchild, Davey. When the weather was mild, he moved to his
screened porch to enjoy the latest news from the 60th
generation of a blue bird family who enjoyed the abundance of his
backyard feeders.
By
the end of his life, George Goodwin had outlived most of his peers,
so while fewer today may know much about the enormity of his
contributions, he remained confident that Atlanta’s new generation
of leaders would deliver their best — and serve Atlanta’s greater
good.
The
Truth Within
What
those closest to George Goodwin will long remember are not lists of
his enormous accomplishments and honors but instead the magnitude of
the generosity and kindness he accorded us as individuals. They will
remember not what
he said,
but
what he asked,
because those questions led them to the truth within. His questions
led them to solutions that arose from their own hearts, making them
more capable, more resilient, more tolerant citizens willing to serve
others.
George
Goodwin greeted every friend with his signature “Whadayaknow?”
And as we talked to him, he’d sit patiently listening to us, saying
few words. But somehow, in some magical way he alone possessed, he
guided us up, out and beyond our fears and self-limitations. That he
was there for you, that he cared for you, that this noble and wise
man had time for you — was enough. He
just made us feel so damn good.
When he later bid us all farewell, he’d lean back in his chair,
lift his eyebrows and looking at us with his bright, beautiful blue
eyes and radiant smile. Then, with encouraging fist stabbing the air,
he implored us forward, speaking to us in his soft, Southern
baritone, “Fight
On!”
 |
| George Goodwin with sons Allen (left) and Clark (center) Photo by Bard Wrisley 2009 |
And so we did — and so we shall. Rest in peace George Goodwin. You’ve earned it. We, on the other hand, have work to do.
