Notable Alumni

Morris B. Abram

Civil Rights Advocate, Rhodes Scholar
Attended the President Franklin D. Roosevelt Induction Ceremony at Warms Springs, Georgia (1937), Rhodes Scholar (1939, 1945-1947), United States Prosecutorial Staff Member for the Nuremberg Trials (1946), Victorious Attorney in Gray v. Sanders, U.S. Supreme Court’s “One Man, One Vote” Ruling (1963), President of Brandeis University (1968-1970), Chairman of the United Negro College Fund (1970-1979), Author of Autobiography "The Day Is Short" (1982), Vice Chairman of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983-1986), U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva (1989-1993), Founding Chairman of UN Watch (1993-2000)

Augustus O. Bacon

U.S. Senator (Ga.), President Pro Tempore of U.S. Senate, eponym of Bacon County, (Ga.)
Graduate of the UGA School of Law Inaugural Class (1860), Confederate Army Captain (1863-1865), Georgia House Representative (1871-1881, 1892-1893), Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives (1873-1874, 1877-1881), United States Senator (1895-1914), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (1913-1914), President Pro tempore of the U.S. Senate (1911-1913)

Francis S. Bartow

C.S. Congressman (Ga.), Signatory of the Confederate Constitution, Confederate General, Eponym of Bartow County (Ga.)
Georgia House Representative (1841, 1847, 1851-1852), Georgia State Senator (1843-1844), Confederate States Provisional Congressman (1861), Signatory of the Confederate Constitution (1861), Chairman of the Provisional Congressional Military Committee (1861), Selected “Gray” as the Official Color of Confederate Uniforms (1861), Commanded Seizure of Ft. Pulaski (1861), Killed at the First Battle of Manassas (1861), Posthumously Promoted to Brigadier General (1861)

Henry L. Benning

Confederate General, Georgia Supreme Court Justice, Eponym of U.S. Army's Fort Benning
Franklin College First Honor Graduate (1834), Solicitor General of the Chattahoochee Circuit (1837-1839), Georgia Supreme Court Associate Justice (1853-1859), Chairman of Georgia Delegation to National Democratic Convention (1860), Vice-President of the Regular Democratic National Convention (1860), Defender of Burnside’s Bridge at Antietam (1862)

Eugene Black

World Bank President, Chairman of the Brookings Institute
Vice President of Chase National Bank (1933-1947), President of the World Bank (1949-1963), Featured on the Cover of Time Magazine (1956), Chairman of the Brookings Institute (1962-1968), Special Adviser to the President on Southeast Asian Social and Economic Development (1966)

Eugene R. Black

Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Son-in-Law of Brother Henry Grady
President of Atlanta Trust Company (1921-1928), Governor of Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (1928-1934), Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve (1933-1934)

George Busbee

Governor (Ga.)
Georgia House Representative (1957-1974), Floor Leader for Brother Carl Sanders (1965-1967), Majority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives (1967-1974), Governor of Georgia (1975-1983)

Harmon W. Caldwell

Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, UGA President
Emory Law Professor (1924-1926), University of Georgia Law Professor (1929-1932), Dean of UGA Law School (1933-1935), President of UGA (1935-1948), Chancellor of the University System (1948-1964)

Howell Cobb

U.S. Speaker of the House, Governor (Ga.) U.S. Secretary of Treasury, President of the C.S. Provisional Congress, Signatory of the Confederate Constitution, Confederate General, Brother of T.R.R. Cobb
Solicitor General for Western Georgia Judicial Circuit (1837-1843), United States House Representative (1843-1851, 1855-1857), U.S. Speaker of the House (1849-1851), Georgia Governor (1851-1853), U.S. Secretary of Treasury (1857-1860), President of the Confederate States Provisional Congress (1861-1862), Major General CSA (1862-1865)

T.R.R. Cobb

Author and Signatory of the Confederate Constitution, C.S. Congressman (Ga.), Confederate General, Brother of Howell Cobb
Valedictorian of UGA Class (1841), Reporter for the Georgia Supreme Court (1849-1861), Author of An Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery (1858), Founder of the Lucy Cobb Institute for Women (1859), Co-founder of the University of Georgia School of Law (1859), Confederate States Provisional Congressman (1861), Member of the Congressional Committee that Drafted the Confederate Constitution (1861), Signatory of the Confederate Constitution (1861), Promoted to Brigadier General CSA (1862), Killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg (1862)

Erle Cocke

National Commander of the American Legion
Prisoner of War (1944-1945), Escaped but Severely Wounded Fighting Behind Enemy Lines and Survived a Failed Execution (1945), Director of the Georgia Department of Commerce (1947-1948), Chairman of the American Legion National Security Commission (1948-1950), Youngest ever National Commander of the American Legion (1950-1951), United States Delegate to the United Nations (1959), Alternate Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (1961-1964), Promoted Brigadier General of the Georgia National Guard (1975)

B.B. Comer

Governor (Al.), U.S. Senator, Eponym of University of Alabama’s B.B. Comer Hall and Auburn’s Comer Hall
Member of the Barbour County (Al.) Commissioners Court (1874-1880), President of the State Railroad Commission (1905-1907), Governor of Alabama (1907-1911), U.S. Senator (Al.) (1920).

Thomas G. Cousins

Founder of Cousins Properties, Inc.
CEO of Cousins Properties (1957-2002), Developer of the Omni Coliseum (1972), CNN Center (1976), Peachtree Tower (1990), and Bank of America Plaza (1992), Inductee of the Horatio Alger Association (2003)

J.L.M. Curry

U.S. and C.S. Congressman (Al.) Signatory of the Confederate Constitution, U.S. Ambassador
Alabama House Representative (1847-1855), United States House Representative (1857-1861) Confederate Provisional Congressman (Al.) (1861), Signatory of the C.S. Constitution (1861), C.S. House Representative (1861-1865) President of Howard College, Alabama [later renamed Samford College] (1865-1868), U.S. Ambassador to Spain (1885-1888) Ambassador Extraordinary On Special Mission to Spain (1902)

Paul Fitzsimmons Eve

President of the American Medical Association
Field Surgeon of the Polish 15th Infantry Regiment (1830), Awarded Polish Gold Cross of Honor (1831), Dean of the Medical College of Georgia (1836-1844), Editor of the Southern Medical and Surgical Journal (1844-1849), President of the American Medical Association (1857-1858), University of Nashville Chair of Surgery (1851-1862), President of the Tennessee State Medical Society (1871-1872)

Norman Fletcher

Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court
Lafayette City Attorney (1965-1989), Walker County Attorney (1973-1988), Special Assistant Attorney General (1979-1989) Georgia Supreme Court Justice (1989-2005), Chief Justice of Georgia Supreme Court (2001-2005)

Marion B. Folsom

U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury
Assistant to the Chairman of the Kodak Board (1925-1930), Member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Economic Security (1934), Instrumental in the Drafting of the Social Security Act (1935), Treasurer of Kodak (1935-1953), Staff Director on United States House Special Committee on Postwar Economic Policy and Planning (1944-1946), Vice Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Merchant Marine (1947-1948), Under Secretary of U.S. Treasury (1953-1955), Secretary of U.S. Health, Education, and Welfare (1955-1958)

John Forsyth Jr.

U.S. Ambassador, C.S. Diplomat, Newspaper Editor
Editor of the Mobile Register (1837-1877), Alabama House Representative (1859-1861, 1874-1876), United States Ambassador to Mexico (1856-1858), Confederate States Commissioner to the United States (1861), Mayor of Mobile (1861, 1865), Staff Officer of General Braxton Bragg (1862)

Henry W. Grady

Journalist, Editor, Orator for the “New South,” Eponym of Grady County (Ga.) and Grady County (Ok.), Grady School of Journalism (UGA), Grady Memorial Hospital (Atlanta)
Reporter and Co-Owner of the Atlanta Herald (1872-1876), Editor of the Atlanta Constitution (1876-1889), Co-Owner of the Atlanta Constitution (1880-1889), Only Non-Member to Ever Adjourn the Georgia Legislature (1884), Orator for the New South Lecture Tour (1886)

Phil Gramm

U.S. Senator (Tx.)
Texas A&M Professor of Economics (1967-1968), United States House Representative (Tx.) (1978-1985), U.S. Senator (1985-2002), Vice-chairman of UBS Investment Bank (2002-present)

Thomas Hardwick

U.S. Senator (Ga.), Governor, U.S. Congressman
Prosecutor of Washington County, Ga. (1895-1897), Georgia House Representative (1898-1902) United States House Representative (1903-1914), U.S. Senator, succeeding Brother Augustus Bacon (1915-1919), Governor (1921-1923) Appointed first woman, Rebecca Felton to ever serve in U.S. Senate (1922)

Nathaniel Harris

Governor (Ga.)
Macon City Attorney (1874-1882), Georgia House Representative (1882-1885), Introduced the Bill that Founded Georgia School of Technology (1885), Georgia State Senator (1894-1895), Superior Court Judge of the Macon Circuit (1912-1915) Georgia Governor and last Confederate Veteran to be so (1915-1917), President of the Electoral College of Georgia (1924)

William Arnold Hemphill

Founder of the Atlanta Constitution, Mayor of Atlanta
Co-Founded the Atlanta Constitution (1868), Principle owner of the Atlanta Constitution (1869-1901), Publisher of the Atlanta Constitution (1869-1901), Mayor of Atlanta (1891-1893)

Charles Herty

Chemist, First UGA Varsity Football Coach, Eponym of UGA’s Herty Field and Herty Drive
University of Georgia First Varsity Football Coach (1892), UGA Professor of Chemistry (1894-1901), Invented Cup and Gutter System for Turpentine Collection (1902), President of the American Chemical Society (1915-1916), Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (1917-1921), President of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers' Association (1921-1926) Developed Use of Pine Pulp for Newsprint (1938), Paper Industry International Hall of Fame Inductee (2000)

Clark Howell Jr.

Clark Howell (1863-1936) [1883]
Journalist, Pulitzer Prize Recipient, eponym of UGA’s Clark Howell Hall
Georgia House Representative (1886-1891), Managing Editor of Atlanta Constitution, succeeding Brother Henry Grady (1889-1897), Speaker of Georgia House (1890-1891), Editor-in-Chief of Atlanta Constitution (1897-1936), Georgia State Senator (1900-1906), President of the State Senate (1900-1904), Director of the Associated Press (1900-1936), Principle owner of the Atlanta Constitution (1901-1936), Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Journalism (1931), Recipient of France’s Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (1935)

Herschel V. Johnson

1860 Democratic Party Vice Presidential Nominee, U.S. and C.S. Senator (Ga.), Governor, Eponym of Johnson County (Ga.)
Democratic Presidential Elector (1844, 1852), United States Senator (1848-1849), Superior Court Judge for the Ocmulgee Circuit (1849-1853), Governor (1853-1857) Dem. Party’s Douglas Wing VP nominee (1860), Confederate States Senator (1862-1865), President of Georgia State Constitutional Convention (1865), Elected United States Senator but was refused his seat (1866) Middle Circuit Judge of Georgia (1873-1880)

Lucian Lamar Knight

Historian, Founder of the Georgia Historical Association
Author of Reminiscences of Famous Georgians (1907), Associate Editor of the Atlanta Georgia (1908-1910), Managing Editor of the Library of Southern Literature Series (1908-1910), Compiler of Georgia State Records (1913-1919), Founded the Georgia Historical Association (1917), First President of the G.H.A. (1917-1919), Ordained a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Arts (1919), State Historian (1919-1925)

Joseph Rucker Lamar

U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Georgia Supreme Court Justice
Georgia House Representative (1886-1889), President of Georgia Bar Association (1899-1900), Georgia Supreme Court Associate Justice (1903-1905), United States Supreme Court Justice (1911-1916), U.S. Representative to the ABC Powers Conference (1914)

Joseph LeConte

Co-Founder of the Sierra Club, Geologist, Brother of John LeConte, Eponym of UGA’s and Berkley’s LeConte Halls, University of South Carolina's LeConte College, and Yosemite National Park’s LeConte Memorial Lodge
Oglethorpe University (Ga.) Professor of Natural Science (1851-1852), UGA Professor of Natural History and Geology (1852-1856), University of South Carolina Professor of Chemistry and Geology (1857-1869), Chemist for the Columbia (S.C.) Confederate Niter Works (1864-1865), University of California Professor of Geology and Natural History (1869-1901), Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1874), President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1892), Co-Founded the Sierra Club (1892), Director of the Sierra Club (1892-1898), President of the Geological Society of America (1896)

Sam Massell

Businessman, Atlanta Mayor
Vice Mayor of Atlanta (1962-1970), First Jewish Mayor of Atlanta (1970-1974), Developed Omni to Host the Atlanta Hawks (1972), President of the Buckhead Coalition (1988-present)

Robert D. McTeer

Chancellor of Texas A&M University System, President of Dallas Federal Reserve Bank
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President (1991-2004), Federal Open Market Committee Member (1993, 1996, 1999. 2002), Texas A&M University System Chancellor (2004-2006)

Bob McWhorter

College Football Hall of Fame and Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Member
Halfback for the University of Georgia Football Team, Scoring Overall 61 Touchdowns (1910-1913), UGA’s First Ever All-American (1913), UGA Law Professor (1923-1958), Mayor of Athens, Ga. (1940-1947), College Football Hall of Fame Inductee (1954), Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Inductee (1964)

T.W. Reed

Historian, Registrar and Treasurer of the University of Georgia, Eponym of UGA’s Reed Hall
Athens Banner Editor (1892-1909), Treasurer of the University of Georgia (1909-1933), Registrar of the University (1909-1945). Attending Member of the President Franklin D. Roosevelt Induction Ceremony at Warms Springs, Georgia (1937)*, Author of the Unpublished History of the University of Georgia (1949)

Richard B. Russell Jr.

U.S. Senator (Ga.), Governor, U.S. Senate President Pro Tempore, Eponym of UGA’s Russell Library and Russell Hall
Georgia House Representative (1921-1931), Speaker of Georgia House (1927-1931), Governor (1931-1933) United States Senator (1933-1971), Chairman of Senate Committee on Armed Services (1951-1952; 1955-1968), Senate President Pro Tempore (1969-1971), Chairman of Senate Appropriations Committee (1969-1970)

Alexander H. Stephens

Vice President of the CSA, C.S. Congressman, Signatory of the Confederate Constitution, Governor (Ga.), U.S. Congressman, Eponym of Stephens County (Ga.) and Stephens County (Tx.)
Georgia House Representative (1836-1841), Georgia State Senator (1842), United States House Representative (1843-1859; 1873-1882), Chairman of U.S. House Committee on Territories (1857-1858), Ga. Secession Convention Member (1861), Confederate States Provisional Congressman (1861), Confederate States of America Vice President (1861-1865), Elected to U.S. Senate but was refused his seat (1866), Governor of Georgia (1882-1883)

Eugene Talmadge

Governor (Ga.)
Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture (1927-1933), Governor (Ga.) (1933-1937; 1941-1943), Died before entering fourth term in office (1946)

Dean William Tate

UGA Dean of Men, Eponym of UGA’s Tate Student Center
Head of the English Department and Track Coach of the McCallie School (Tn.) (1929-1936), University of Georgia Dean of Freshmen (1936-1946), UGA Dean of Men and Assistant to the President (1946-1971)

S. Ernest Vandiver

U.S. Army Bomber Pilot (1942-1945), Mayor of Lavonia, Ga. (1946-1947), Georgia State Adjutant General (1948-1952), Lieutenant Governor (Ga.) (1955-1959), Governor (Ga.) (1959-1963)

John Newton Waddel

Chancellor of the University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi Professor of Ancient Languages (1848-1857), President of LeGrange College (Tn.) (1860-1862), U. of Miss. Chancellor (1865-1874), Secretary of Education for the Presbyterian Church of the United States (1874-1879), Chancellor of the Southwestern Presbyterian University (Tn.) (1888-1892)