[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 16136]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING CARL SANDERS

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, on Sunday night a great Georgian and a 
personal friend of mine passed away from this life. At the age of 89, 
former Governor Carl Sanders died in Atlanta, GA, at Piedmont Hospital.
  Governor Sanders was Governor of Georgia from 1963 to 1967. I was at 
the University of Georgia as a student from 1962 to 1966, so my college 
years paralleled his gubernatorial years, where he made a remarkable 
change in the politics and lives of the people of Georgia.
  Everyone remembers what the 1960s were like in the South in terms of 
segregation. Most of the Governors in the South--like Governor Wallace 
from Alabama--were segregationists. But Carl Sanders came forward as a 
Governor who wanted to help bring people together, who wanted to help 
bring Georgia and the South through a turbulent time, to see to it that 
African Americans rose to equality not just in the way they were 
recognized but in the ways the laws were created. In fact, it was Carl 
Sanders who came to Washington in 1964 to meet with Lyndon Johnson and 
help form the foundation for the civil rights laws that passed later in 
the 1960s.
  Carl Sanders was born in Augusta, GA. He went to the University of 
Georgia on a scholarship and played football, and he left the 
university to go fight in World War II and was a fighter pilot. He came 
back from World War II, graduated from the University of Georgia, and 
then graduated from Georgia Law School. He practiced law and was 
elected to the State legislature and then to the State senate and then 
Governor of the State of Georgia. He was Governor from 1963 to 1967.
  Back then, Georgia Governors could not succeed one another, so he had 
to wait 4 years to run for a second term. He did wait 4 years and he 
ran for a second term, and he lost ultimately to the President of the 
United States, Jimmy Carter. But he was never a loser; he was a winner. 
And in everything he did, whether it was government or business or 
family life, whatever it might be, Carl Sanders excelled.
  He was such a wonderful man to share his wisdom and knowledge. About 
once every 6 or 8 months he would have three or four of us over to his 
office, at the age of 89, treating us to lunch and talking about the 
good old days but also talking about the future. Carl Sanders was not 
about the past, except for memories; he was about the future for its 
hope and its prosperity for people.
  Carl Sanders will be remembered for a lot of things, but in Georgia, 
most importantly, he will be remembered for what became at first a 
junior college system but is now a 4-year college system which has 
every Georgia citizen within a 45-minute drive of a State university 
system facility. His passion as Governor was education. His legacy in 
Georgia will be education. He contributed greatly to our State and 
greatly to the future and the prosperity of the people of the State of 
Georgia.
  It is with a great sense of sadness but a great sense of pride that I 
pay tribute today on the floor of the Senate to a great Governor of 
Georgia, a great citizen of our country, and a great American--the 
Honorable Carl Sanders, former Governor of the State of Georgia.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate is in morning business.

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