Maddox recruited white merchants to fight integration as a matter of self-interest

Evidence

In waging war against the sit-in movement, the segregationists of GUTS urged local businessmen not simply to stay segregated, but to join the fight themselves. In a December 1960 ad, for instance, Maddox directly challenged the city’s merchants. “Atlanta businessmen who believe in our system of free enterprise and freedom of choice,” he wrote, “should speak up and be heard, before Atlanta is falsely recognized as being controlled by ‘so-called’ liberals.” Just as Bill Hartsfield had once implored the city’s businessmen to stand up for the greater interest of the city, Lester Maddox now urged them to stand up for their own self-interest. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 447

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Segregationists recruited businessmen as their moderate alliance cracked — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 440; Desegregation taught working-class whites that self-interest trumps community loyalty — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 191; Racism and self-interest aligned white labor against Black workers across all labor factions — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 949

Broader Connections

• Desegregation taught working-class whites that self-interest trumps community loyalty #corroborates (0.85) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 191
• Racism and self-interest aligned white labor against Black workers across all labor factions #exemplifies (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 949