Passing Ships

On December 6, 1946, just hours before the Winecoff fire, this photo was taken in Georgia's state capitol building as the Youth Assembly Conference was gaveled to order.

The bobby-soxed girl in the center is Sue Broome, 16, a Youth Assembly member from Bainbridge, Georgia. Hours later she and 31 other Youth Assembly participants perished in the Winecoff fire, America's deadliest hotel fire.

The man on the left is Melvin E. Thompson, the Lt. Governor-elect of Georgia. He addressed the Youth Assembly delegates that night. Fifteen days later, upon the death of Georgia's Governor-elect Eugene Talmadge, Thompson was thrust into the state's biggest political controversy ever: Georgia's Three-Governors Controversy, wherein three men claimed to be the rightful governor of Georgia. Thompson eventually prevailed.

If you can help identify the other Youth Assembly members in the photo please contact Winecoff Fire co-author Allen B. Goodwin: allenbgoodwin@yahoo.com