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Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program

The Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program is comprised of over 3,000 linear feet of archival collections, along with an extensive number of oral history interviews, that document the unique political culture of the state of Georgia.

Paul Coverdell

Paul Coverdell was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1939. He moved to Atlanta after he got out of the army in the mid-1960s. Coverdell ran for a Georgia senate seat representing north Fulton County in 1970. He served in the state senate for the next eighteen years, becoming the leader of the Senate Republicans. While in the Senate, Coverdell was appointed to the committees on foreign relations, agriculture and small business. In 1989, he was named director of the Peace Corps by President Bush. Coverdell held this position until 1991. From 1992 until 2000, Coverdell was a United States Senator, serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Agriculture Committee, Small Business Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee. Coverdell sponsored several pieces of legislation that enabled many Americans to fund their children's college education.; Speech given by Paul Coverdell on June 6, 1998 at a community forum in Douglasville, Georgia.; This was not an actual interview; Coverdell was speaking at a Community Forum in Douglasville, Ga. Coverdell spoke on several issues resulting from questions that he had been asked by participants of the forum; prayer in schools, drug war and funding for the fight against drugs using education, by expanding laws and budgets to various agencies, the Chinese and the standing of the United States in the world, where the country is going to be in 10-15 years, and veterans benefits.