Talmadge reacts to his reputation for having built political coalitions between diverse types of people. Overall, Talmadge concurs with this assessment of his leadership style. He explains how he inherited his father's followers in 1947 (described earlier as roughly one third of Georgia's population), which he steadily built into a solid majority by the 1950s when he chose to run for the Senate. Talmadge takes great pride in his ability to turn former political enemies into allies and boasts about his high approval rating amongst Georgia's populace.