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Military Service: Army

War(s) Served:  World War II

CARL EDWARD SANDERS was born in Augusta, Georgia on May 15, 1925. He received a LL.B. from the University of Georgia in 1947. Sanders served as a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1954 to 1956; and in the Georgia Senate fron 1956 to 1962. He was elected governor in 1962 and served until 1967. During his tenure, Governor Sanders reorganized the department of education, added 10,000 new public school teachers, raised university salaries 32 percent, built more university projects than all previous governors, established additional junior colleges and vocational schools, and created the Governor's Honors Program. He also appointed study commissions and used the findings to streamline and reform state agencies. Governor Sanders secured a difficult consensus on reapportionment of congressional districts and he appointed the first African-Americans to the Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia National Guard. He effectively defused a number of local racial disturbances and in general steered Georgia away from the racial violence which scarred other Southern states. Governor Sanders was a member of the National Governors' Conference Executive Committee (1964-65), Vice Chairman of Southern Governors' Conference (1965-66), and Chairman of Southern Regional Education Board (1965-66).

Sources:

Governors of the American States, Commonwealths and Territories, National Governors' Conference, 1966.

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