Larry McDonald

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Lawrence Patton McDonald

Lawrence Patton "Larry" McDonald (April 1, 1935 – September 1, 1983) was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the sixth congressional district of Georgia.

1 Early life and career
2 Member of the Congress of the United States of America
3 Death
4 Conspiracy theory
5 Tribute
6 Quotations about Larry McDonald
7 Quotations by Larry McDonald
8 Books by Larry McDonald
9 External links

[edit] Early life and career

McDonald was born and reared in Atlanta, Georgia, more specifically in the eastern part of the city that is in DeKalb County. He graduated from Davidson College in 1954, Emory University School of Medicine in 1957 and trained at Grady Memorial Hospital as an urologist. From 1959 to 1961 he served as a Flight Surgeon in the US Navy stationed at the Keflavík naval base in Iceland. After his tour of service he practiced medicine at the McDonald Urology Clinic in Atlanta. After an unsuccessful run in 1972, McDonald was elected to Congress in 1974. While in Congress, he became the President of the John Birch Society, a conservative organization, and founded the Western Goals Foundation. McDonald served as a member on the Georgia State Medical Education Board, the National Historical Society and the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce and received numerous civil honors.

[edit] Member of the Congress of the United States of America

Larry McDonald was elected to the House in 1974 as a member of the Democratic Party. McDonald served as Congressman in the sixth district of Georgia, which lies north of Atlanta.

He was known for his conservative views and became a leader in Congress of those taking a more staunch position. His anti-communist fervor was probably second only to Sen. Joseph McCarthy. He took the communist threat seriously and considered it an international conspiracy. Such a view was later echoed in the words of President Ronald Reagan who called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire". In another sense, McDonald may be viewed as a precursor of the Reagan supply-side (market liberalization) revolution that swept through the country in the 1980s. An admirer of Austrian economics, he was an advocate of tight monetary policy in the late 1970s to get the economy out of "stagflation" - a mixture of low growth and high inflation. He was also an impassionate advocate of laissez-faire or market based policies. Although liberal in his economic policies, his staunch conservative views on social issues attracted controversy. For instance, McDonald is noted for using amendments to stop government aid to homosexuals. During his terms in Congress, McDonald founded the Western Goals Foundation which was intended to combat the threat from Communism. He also advocated the use of a non-approved drug Laetrile to treat patients in advanced stages of cancer.

[edit] Death

See Korean Air Flight 007

On September 1, 1983, Larry McDonald died when Korean Air Flight KAL-007 was shot down by Soviet fighters after the plane entered Soviet airspace. After McDonald's death, a special election was held to fill his seat in Congress. McDonald's widow, Kathy, was a candidate, but she lost to George "Buddy" Darden. Much of the congressional district McDonald represented would later be represented by Newt Gingrich.

[edit] Conspiracy theory

Some people, including former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, R-North Carolina, have said they believed that all or most of the passengers and crew of flight KAL 007 survived after their damaged aircraft managed to land safely at an airfield on Sakhalin island, and were then placed inside various Soviet "gulag"-style slave labor camps, prisons, and orphanages, in the case of the many children. This theory was largely discredited when the flight recorders that the Soviets had recovered were released to the public after the Soviet Union fell.

[edit] Tribute

On March 18, 1998, the Georgia House of Representatives, as an expression of gratitude for his able service to his country and defense of the US Constitution, passed a resolution naming the portion of Interstate Highway 75, which runs from the Chattahoochee River northward to the Tennessee state line in his honor, the Larry McDonald Memorial Highway.

[edit] Quotations about Larry McDonald

"There is a real question in my mind that the Soviets may have actually murdered 269 passengers and crew on the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in order to kill Larry McDonald." - Jerry Falwell, 2 September 1983, Washington Post
"McDonald has fine credentials: a good education, a successful career as a urologist. But his views on issues are so far out, and his political skill so limited, that he has little impact." - Michael Barone, 1984 Almanac of American Politics

[edit] Quotations by Larry McDonald

"We have four boxes with which to defend our freedom: the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box." - Jim Poz quote repository.

[edit] Books by Larry McDonald

Lawrence Patton McDonald, 1976, "We Hold These Truths: a reverent review of the U.S. Constitution," '76 Press, Seal Beach, California. ISBN 0-89245-005-3.
Rep. Lawrence Patton McDonald, 1977, "Trotskyism and Terror: The Strategy of Revolution," ACU Education and Research Institute, Washington, DC.