Question

Have any US Congressmen attended Mercer University?

Answer 1

• Ellis Arnall, CLA 1924; Governor of Georgia, 1943-1946.
• Doug Barnard, CLA 1943, LAW 1948; U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 10th Congressional district, 1977-1993.
• Allen D. Candler, 1859; Governor of Georgia, 1898-1902;U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 9th Congressional district, 1883-1891; namesake of Candler County, Georgia.

• 

  Cathy Cox

  Cathy Cox, LAW 1986, HON 2007; Dean of Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law; former President of Young Harris College; Georgia Secretary of State, 1999-2007, first woman elected to this position.

• Edward E. Cox, LAW 1902; U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 2nd Congressional district, 1925-1952.
• Nathan Deal, CLA 1964, LAW 1966; U.S. Representative, 1992-2010; Georgia’s 82nd Governor, 2011.
• Walter C. Dowling, CLA 1925; U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, 1956-1959; U.S. Ambassador to West Germany, 1959-1963.
• Robert W. Everett, U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 7th Congressional district, 1891-1893.
• Walter F. George, CLA 1900, LAW 1901; U.S. Senator from Georgia, 1922-1957, served as president pro tempore, 1955-1957; namesake of Mercer’s Law School.
• Thomas W. Hardwick, 1892; United States Senator from Georgia, 1915-1919; Governor of Georgia, 1921-1923; as Governor, appointed Rebecca L. Felton as the first female U.S. Senator.
• Richard B. Hubbard, 1851; Governor of Texas, 1876-1879; U.S. Ambassador to Japan, 1885-1889.
• William D. Jelks, 1876; Governor of Alabama, 1901-1907.
• Thomas Goodwin Lawson, 1855, HON 1908; U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 8th Congressional district, 1891-1897.
• Rufus Ezekiel Lester, CLA 1857, AM 1860; U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 1st Congressional district, 1889-1906.
• Henry Dickerson McDaniel, CLA 1856; Governor of Georgia, 1883-1886.
• Charles L. Moses, U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 4th Congressional district, 1891-1897.
• William J. Northen, 1853; Governor of Georgia, 1890-1894; president, Southern Baptist Convention, 1899-1901; served as a Mercer trustee for 44 years, 1869-1913.
• James W. Overstreet, 1888; U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 1st Congressional district, 1906-1907 and 1917-1923.
• John W. Oxendine, CLA 1984, LAW 1987; served four terms as Georgia Insurance Commissioner.
• Homer C. Parker, LAW 1908; U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 1st Congressional district, 1931-1935.
• John Peyton, CLA 1986; Former Mayor of Jacksonville, Fla., 2003-2011; current president of Gate Petroleum.
• Charles “Jack” Pritchard, CLA 1972; U.S. Ambassador and Special Envoy for Negotiations to North Korea, 2001-2003.
• Dwight Laing Rogers, LAW 1910; U.S. Representative, Florida’s 6th Congressional district, 1945-1954.
• William J. Sears, U.S. Representative, Florida’s 4th Congressional district, 1915-1929; U.S. Representative, an at-large Florida district, 1933-1937.
• Chauncey Sparks, CLA 1907, LAW 1910; Governor of Alabama, 1943-1947.
• Malcolm Conner Tarver, LAW 1904; U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 7th Congressional district, 1927-1947.
• Sandra L. Thurman, CAS 1992; director, Office of National AIDS Policy, 1997-2001; the first Presidential Envoy for AIDS Cooperation, 2000-2001; referred to as the nation’s “AIDS czar” in the administration of President Bill Clinton.
• Carl Vinson, LAW 1902; U.S. Representative for more than 50 years, 1914-1965; long-time Chairman, House Armed Services Committee; has been called the “patriarch of the armed services” and the “father of the two-ocean navy;” namesake of the USS Carl Vinson.
• William S. West, AB 1875, LAW 1875; U.S. Senator from Georgia, 1914-1914.
• Mark Wilcox, LAW 1910; U.S. Representative, Florida’s 4th Congressional district, 1933-1939.
• John S. Wood, LAW 1910; U.S. Representative, Georgia’s 9th Congressional district, 1931-1935 and 1945-1953; Chairman, House Un-American Activities Committee, 1949-1953.
• 12 Mercerians have served as governors, for the states of Alabama, Georgia, New Hampshire and Texas and of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.