James G. Woodward (January 14, 1845 – August 29, 1923)[1] was an American newspaperman and politician, having served as the 36th, 39th and 43rd Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.
Woodward made his living as printer through the newsrooms of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution over the years.
Following the Atlanta race riot of 1906, he won the 1908 Democratic primary (in a virtually one party state) but was arrested for public intoxication less than a month before the December general election and was defeated by Robert Maddox.
Trying for a fifth term as Atlanta mayor, he ran (and lost) in September 1922, a year before his death.
The Atlanta race riot of 1906 was a defining moment of Woodward's political career, to which occasion he did not rise.