Atlanta, he told the crowd, was “a city too busy to hate.” To his delight, the nickname stuck. A few years later, Hartsfield explained what he meant. “We strive to undo the damage the Southern demagogue does to the South. We strive to make an opposite impression from that created by the loud-mouthed clowns. Our aim in life,” he concluded, “is to make no business, no industry, no educational or social organization ashamed of the dateline ‘Atlanta.’ ”43
