and penal institutions, recruit industry, and reapportion the General Assembly. Already seeking the nomination in the Democratic primary were former governor Marvin Griffin and incumbent Lieutenant Governor Garland T. Byrd. Byrd withdrew from the race after suffering a heart attack in May. Griffin was a staunch supporter of racial segregation. He attacked Sanders as too young for the governorship and not committed enough to defending segregation. Sanders supported segregation but felt it was useless to oppose federal integration orders. He promised to "maintain Georgia's traditional separation" but said he opposed race-baiting politics and that "I tip my hat to the past, but I take off my coat to the future." He also promised to keep public schools open, even if the federal government ordered them to integrate. Griffin held a rally with Alabama governor-elect George Wallace, another staunch segregationist, to demonstrate his support for racial separation. Sanders mocked this strategy at his own rally the same day, describing Griffin as "so weak in his belief in Georgia and her people that he plans to import an outsider to meddle in our affairs. I don't need an Alabama crutch to help me." Griffin pledged to oppose federal court orders to integrate and throughout the campaign vilified the "Negro bloc vote" in Georgia. Following a confrontation between the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan and the Georgia State Patrol at a Klan rally, Griffin offered that he was unsure of how to handle such a situation. Sanders accused the former governor of having prior knowledge of the rally and of bring Klansmen into Georgia. Sanders also accused Griffin of having run a corrupt administration in his previous term. In the primary, he defeated Griffin, receiving 494,978 votes (58.7 percent) to Griffin's 332,746 (39 percent). Most of his support came from urban areas. He then won the general election. He took the oath of office on January 14 and was formally inaugurated as governor the following day. Aged 37 upon his assumption of the office, he was the youngest governor in the country at the time. Executive actions Sanders appointed a Governor's Commission for Efficiency and Improvement in Government, which managed reforms in the penal system, mental healthcare, the civil service, the Highway Department, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Education. He worked with Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. to bring professional sports teams to the capital city, and in 1963 he