Benjamin B. Blackburn


Benjamin Bentley Blackburn III was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. A member of the Republican Party, he served as member of the United States House of Representatives for four terms representing Georgia's 4th congressional district from 1967 to 1975. After he left the U.S. House of Representatives, his nomination to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board was rejected by the U.S. Senate. In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, he was the president of Southeastern Legal Foundation.

Early life and career

Born in Atlanta on February 14, 1927 to Benjamin Bentley Blackburn Jr. and Sarah Blackburn, he attended public school there and graduated in 1947 from the University of [North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina] at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and in 1954 from the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta. During World War II, Blackburn served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946 and again during the Korean War from 1950 to 1952. He was retired as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy Reserve. He served in the State attorney general's office from 1955 to 1957. He was admitted to the bar in 1954 and commenced private practice in Atlanta after service with the attorney general.
In 1966, Blackburn was elected to the 90th [United States Congress], having narrowly defeated freshman incumbent James MacKay by 360 votes: 55,249 to 54,889. In that same election fellow Republican Bo Callaway challenged the Democrat Lester Maddox, a strong segregationist from Atlanta, in the Georgia gubernatorial election|1966 gubernatorial race]. Though Callaway led Maddox by some three thousand votes, he did not have the required majority; under the Georgia Constitution, the state legislature broke the impasse by electing Maddox. Blackburn supported Callaway, who as a congressman had sought to curb the high costs of federal social programs. Years later, Blackburn described Maddox as a "far better governor than his critics will ever admit." Then out of office himself, Blackburn noted that no claim of corruption arose against Maddox, whose administration was characterized by economic development and the appointment of African Americans to state executive positions. Blackburn was reelected to Congress in the three succeeding terms but was unsuccessful in a campaign for reelection in 1974 [United States House of Representatives elections#Georgia|1974].
In 1975, President of the United States Gerald Ford nominated him to serve as a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. On November 12, his nomination was rejected by the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in an 8–5 vote. Blackburn served as president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation from 1976 to 1985. In 1982, he ran for Governor of Georgia, but was defeated in the Republican primary by Georgia State Senate member Bob Bell, 36,347 to 25,063. Bell then lost in the general election to the Democrat Joe Frank Harris.

Personal life and death

Blackburn married the former Mary Antonia Pandora, a native of San Pedro, Los Angeles in California, on February 23, 1952 at the chapel of the United States Naval Station in San Diego upon his return from his second tour of duty off the coast of Korea, after they met in 1949 when she was a nurse for the United States Navy at Naval Hospital Bremerton in the town of Bremerton, Washington. Together, they had four children and 11 grandchildren. Mary died on June 10, 2018. Blackburn died on December 3, 2024 in Jasper, Georgia, aged 97.

Electoral history

YearRepublicanVotes%DemocraticVotes%
1966 [United States House of Representatives elections#Georgia|1966]√ Benjamin B. Blackburn55,24950.2%James MacKay54,88949.8%
1968√ Benjamin B. Blackburn78,75357.5%James MacKay58,15442.5%
1970√ Benjamin B. Blackburn85,84865.2%Franklin Shumake45,90834.8%
1972√ Benjamin B. Blackburn103,15575.9%F. Odell Welborn32,73124.1%
1974Benjamin B. Blackburn49,92244.9%√ Elliott H. Levitas61,21155.1%