Raised in rural east Georgia, Vandiver became mayor of Lavonia in 1946 and came to the attention of Georgia politicians Eugene and Herman Talmadge in part thanks to his father, in part thanks to his relationship to his uncle by marriage, Sen. Richard B. Russell. His early political career saw him as campaign manager for Herman Talmadge's successful 1948 run for governor. In 1954, Vandiver was elected Lt. Governor to Marvin Griffin. He was elected in his own right in 1958.

Faced with a major political crises as he took office (the state was in deficit thanks to the policies of Marvin Griffin and corruption in many of the state's departments), Vandiver worked to clean up the state offices, balance the budget and keep Georgia schools segregated. He had campaigned on the platform "No, not one will enter," a reference to black students entering white schools.

In 1960 he faced the forced desegregation of Atlanta schools. While working to obey the court rulings and state law, Vandiver was hit with a firestorm - a federal judge in Macon ordered the integration of the University of Georgia in Athens. Vandiver ordered funds for the college cut off. The following day the University suspended the students for "their own protection."

Federal judge W. A. Bootle ordered The University of Georgia to immediately reinstate the students and ordered Vandiver to protect them. Faced with mounting federal pressure to integrate schools and little choice other than integrate or shutdown, he addressed the legislature personally and asks that the laws to prohibit integration be repealed. That fall blacks began attending white school, although it would take nearly ten years and three governors before Jimmy Carter completed the job Vandiver started.

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Ernest Vandiver, Governor of Georgia