A couple of folks wrote to ask about the famous incident where Georgia governor Lester Maddox walked off The Dick Cavett Show. Here's what I recall about it: It was a night when the other two guests were author Truman Capote and football player Jim Brown. Cavett asked Maddox a question that suggested that some of the famed segregationist's political support had come from bigots. The conversation veered off and wasn't answered, then Cavett threw to a commercial. When they returned, Maddox demanded an apology for "calling all the people of Georgia bigots" and said, "You've got one minute to apologize or I walk out of here." Cavett responded he'd said no such thing but then said, "If I called anyone a bigot who isn't a bigot, I apologize." (I'm writing this from memory so the exact words may have been a bit different.)
"That's not good enough," Maddox announced and bolted from the stage. The audience gasped and then Capote said, "You know, I went to his restaurant [in Georgia] and the fried chicken wasn't finger-licking good."
Cavett then said, "I'm sorry the governor left before we had a chance to talk about the beauty of the South." Someone in the audience yelled out, "Don't back down" and Cavett responded, "Shut up! I'll tell you when I'm backing down." He then pointed out that Maddox was a canny politician who knew the value of TV air time, choosing to walk off a scant 88 minutes into a 90 minute show.
The show got a huge rating that night, especially in the South, apparently due to Maddox's people alerting the media. A few weeks later, Maddox returned to the show, came out onto the stage and then Cavett walked off. Maddox picked up a hand mike and, as planned, began singing "Georgia on My Mind" or "Stars Fell on Alabama" or some other Southern-themed song. Cavett came back out and joined him for a chorus, and that was the end of the feud.
The whole event felt to me like Maddox decided it would get attention and garner support in Georgia to do what he did, but that he went a bit out of his way to be offended on behalf of the people of his state. A lot of folks though thought he'd "evened the score" for a time not long before when Jerry Lewis was guest-hosting Mr. Carson's show and announced that whenever he flew cross-country, he enjoyed "going to the bathroom over Mississippi." The telethon didn't get a lot of donations from the South that year.