Max Cleland
Senator Max Cleland is a native of Georgia. After graduating from Lithonia High School, he attended Stetson University where he earned his BA Degree and took a second lieutenant's commission in the U.S. Army through its ROTC program. He has also earned a Masters Degree in American History from Emory University.
In 1967, Cleland volunteered for duty in Vietnam and was promoted to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army. After being seriously wounded in a grenade explosion where he lost both legs and his right arm on April 8, 1968, Cleland returned to the United States just one month prior to the end of his tour of duty. He has since been awarded the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service and the Silver Star for Gallantry in Action.
After returning home from Vietnam, Cleland was elected to the Georgia State Senate in 1970, at the age of twenty-eight. In 1977, he was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to head the U.S. Veterans Administration. Georgia voters elected him Secretary of State in 1982, the youngest to hold the post in Georgia's history.
In 1996, Cleland was elected to the United States Senate, where he served on the Senate Armed Services Committee; the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; the Small Business Committee; and the Governmental Affairs Committee.
Senator Cleland turned to public service because he believes that the main goal of politics is to generate hope in people. Throughout his life and political career, chronicled in his autobiography Strong at the Broken Places: A Personal Story, Cleland has demonstrated his ability to overcome hardship and to offer hope.
