Dump the Georgia Mafia

Purple text and a small, purple bird on a cream colored background

Jimmy Carter was the 39th president of the United States, serving one term from 1977 to 1981. The ‘Georgia Mafia’ was a term associated with Carter’s closest advisors during his presidency. Originally applied in a somewhat lighthearted way by Carter’s own supporters, including the Peanut Brigade (a group of Carter’s campaign volunteers hailing from Georgia), the term eventually became used as an insult thrown at the Carter administration in regard to his close-knit group of aides who some saw as inexperienced and who others saw as secretive or even corrupt. 

The so-called Georgia Mafia was made up of many of Carter’s allies from his gubernatorial administration, including Hamilton Jordan as the White House Chief of Staff and Bert Lance as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, among others, and as a group were widely critiqued by establishment Democrats for their grassroots backgrounds and what some saw as a lack of political experience. The term also became one of disparagement utilized by conservative groups and others, such as the American Agriculture Movement, to point to corruption surrounding the Carter administration and their involvement with Lancegate (President Carter’s presence at the office of Lew. Jenkins in 1975 where aide, Bert Lance, was being approved for a substantial personal loan, considered suspicious and a conflict of interest by Carter’s opponents) as well as gaining traction in response to the 1977 Farm Bill and the American Agriculture Movement’s 1977 protest, “Tractorcade,” that descended on President Carter’s hometown in Georgia. 

The phrase ‘Dump the Georgia Mafia’ was popularized in the late 1970s by critics and opponents of Jimmy Carter, with myriad merchandise of the same sentiment being created by organizations such as the American Agriculture Movement, who released several bumper stickers and pinback buttons addressing the Carter administration throughout the height of their activity. The phrase is thought to have originated as an echo of prior political condemnations against the Nixon administration’s ‘Southern Mafia’ but with a conservative anti-Carter sentiment. Perhaps hailing from the GOP or other conservative groups, similar merchandise can be found from the same era calling to ‘Impeach’ or “Dump Carter,” along with various other slogans and criticisms.