Interview with Max Cleland

Permanent Link:: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI14103408/00001

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: United States. Veterans Administration
Veterans' hospitals--Administration
United States. Department of Veterans Affairs

Biographical:: Max Cleland, who was elected and appointed to a variety of government positions between 1971 and 2017, was wounded while serving as an army captain in Vietnam in 1968. Following the amputation of his legs and right arm, he recovered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, then at a veterans’ hospital in Washington, D.C. From 1971 to 1975, Cleland represented his hometown district in the Georgia Senate then went on to serve as a consultant and staffer for the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. He left that post in 1977, when President Jimmy Carter appointed him Administrator of the U.S. Veterans Administration. Following his departure from VA in 1981, he was the Georgia Secretary of State (1982-1996), then served as a Georgia Senator from 1997 to 2003. In 2009, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to be Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, a post he held until January 2017. This interview focuses mainly on Cleland’s experiences with and perceptions of veterans’ policies and health care, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. For more information, contact jadler@fiu.edu.
Citation/Reference:: Max Cleland, Oral History Interview with Jessica L. Adler, April 2017, War and Health Collection, Florida International University Libraries, Florida International University, Miami, FL.
Creation/Production Credits:: Interview transcribed and edited by the FIU Digital Collections Center.