Carl Elliott

Carl Elliott

Carl Atwood Elliott (born December 20, 1913 in Vina , Alabama , † January 9, 1999 in Jasper , Alabama) was an American politician and represented the state of Alabama in the US House of Representatives . He carried out this activity between January 1949 and January 1965.

Career

Early years

Carl Atwood Elliott was born on December 20, 1913 in Vina, a small community in the mountains of northwest Alabama. He graduated from high school when he was sixteen. Due to the education policy of the University President George H. Denny during the Great Depression, Elliott was able to attend the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa . Through various jobs around the campus, Elliot was able to pay for his education, and received his diploma in 1933. He then began to study at the University of Alabama School of Law .

While studying law, he ran for the position of Student Government President of the University of Alabama. With the help of the growing number of non-state students, Elliott became the first candidate to ever beat "The Machine", an elite association of religious orders and sororities that dominated the university's campus policy on that day. In 1936 Elliott ended his tenure as SGA president and received his doctorate with his law degree.

He then opened a practice in Russellville , Alabama, near his hometown. But a short time later, he moved to a city where he would spend the rest of his life: Jasper, Alabama . During his career as a lawyer in Jasper, Elliott spent most of his time representing coal miners and their families, a premonition of his long political career fighting for Alabama's poorest, mostly disadvantaged people.

He served in the United States Army between 1942 and 1944 . He was then elected twice as local judge in Jasper before making his way to the US Congress in 1948.

Political career

His "farmhand to congressional" role was very popular among the working class in the county, knocking incumbent Rep. Carter Manasco out of office, to the surprise of many political observers. Elliott then won the election and got his wife an official seat in the Capitol. They lived between Washington, DC and Jasper for the next 16 years .

Elliott represented the old Seventh District in the US Congress. He served on the House Veterans Committee , the Education and Labor Committee, and the Rules Committee . He also set up the Select Committee for government research. In 1956 he wrote the Library Services Act , which brought mobile libraries (bookmobiles) and ongoing library service to millions of rural Americans. Two years later, in 1958, he co-drafted the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which improved science, foreign language and technology education nationwide. Here were z. B. Loans at low interest rates for colleges and universities for students in need. The NDEA was also a response to the success of the USSR in the race to conquer space. Both laws have expanded over time. Today, more than 30,000,000 college students nationwide have received loans under Elliott's NDEA legislature.

Elliott was defeated in 1964 in an extraordinary election campaign to reduce the seats of the Alabama congressional delegation. His defeat was attributed to his struggles with future Governor George C. Wallace over various political avenues, including this election campaign. It also suffered damage from the pro- Goldwater stream that helped some Republicans win Congress this year.

Elliott's 1966 call for governorship in Alabama took place on a catwalk of state support for those in need, for better education and racial tolerance. He lost the election, which was fraught with racist tension and bomb threats, as well as the appearance of the Ku Klux Klan on several of his campaign speeches , to Lurleen Wallace , who stood on behalf of her husband George C. Wallace, who on the basis of the state Statute was not approved. After Elliott's defeat, he slipped into political oblivion and poverty as he spent his congressional pension on the gubernatorial campaign. He resumed his practice as a lawyer, writing books on local history, producing column and book reports for the local newspapers, and publishing books by local authors. Among his books are five volumes of accounts of Northwest Alabama, a history of Red Bay, Alabama, and seven volumes of the history of the coal workers.

Retirement and final years

Elliott received new endorsement in 1990 when he became the first recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award . He received the long-sought justification of old age when he was able to travel to Boston to receive the award from Senator Ted Kennedy . His autobiography, The Cost of Courage: The Journey of An American Congressman , was published in 1992, ultimately reprinted by the University of Alabama Press.

A one-hour television broadcast, Conscience of a Congressman: The Life and Times of Carl Elliott , was produced for The University of Alabama Center for Public Television & Radio as an episode of The Alabama Experience documented series . A week before his death, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis watched "Conscience of a Congressman". She already knew Elliott because he worked with her husband in Congress. Jacqueline Onassis was also the editor of Elliott's memoranda. In a letter to Elliott, she wrote that the driving force behind this show "was about to become what makes it young".

Web links

• The Carl Elliott Museum
• News footage: Carl Elliott accepts the first Profile In Courage Award, 1990 [1]
• The Cost of Courage: Journey of an American Congressman by Carl Elliott and Michael D'Orso [2]
• Study Guide: Conscience of a Congressman - The Life and Times of Carl Elliott [3]
• Peggy Roberson: Remembering George Wallace
• Alabama Academy of Honor [4]
• Carl Elliott biographical information [5]