 | CARL ELLIOTT |
The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1977.
Carl Elliott was a lawyer and former Member of Congress from the 7th District. He was a native
Alabamian and was born at the Pleasant Ridge Community in Franklin County. Mr. Elliott
received his education in the public schools in Franklin County and graduated from Vina High
School in 1930. He worked his way through the University of Alabama receiving his B.A. degree
in 1933 and his L.L.B. in 1936. While at the university he served as president of the student
body for two years, 1935 and 1936.
During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Infantry as a private and received his
honorable discharge as a First Lieutenant.
Mr. Elliott practiced law after graduation in Russellville and Jasper, Alabama. At the time of his
election to the 81st Congress he was the senior member of the firm of Elliott and Petree,
attorneys, Jasper, Alabama. He retired from the practice of law in order to give full time to the
duties of his office. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives continuously from 1948 to
1964.
While a Congressional Representative he was a member of the House Committees on Rules,
Education, Veterans Affairs, Labor, House Administration, chairman of the sub-committee on
Special Education, and chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate Government Research
Activities. He authored the National Defense Education Act of 1958, and the Rural Library
Services Act. He also sponsored legislation for free insurance for servicemen, direct home loans
for veterans living in rural areas, and automobiles for veterans who lost the use of arms, legs, or
who had been made blind from their service. While in office, he supported legislation to train
teachers for the mentally retarded, to curb juvenile delinquency, to finance Warrior-Tombigbee
River improvements, to provide medical and housing assistance for the aged, to extend and
expand Social Security, to provide for farmers loans, crop insurance, rural electrification,
telephone service and small watershed, and for farm pond programs.
Mr. Elliott was a former president of the Walker County Bar Association, a member of the
American Legion, 40 and 8, AMVETS, and DAV. He was a former president of the Alabama Lions
Club and also zone chairman and deputy district governor of Lions International; a member of
Eastern Star, Masons, 100F, PTA, and Woodmen of the World. He served two terms as a
member of the Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee, 1942-1950. He was a Methodist
where he has served as a district lay leader and Sunday School teacher, and former chairman of
the Board of Stewards of the First Methodist Church of Jasper. Mr. Elliott compiled the four-
volume Annals of Northwest Alabama.
He was married to the former Jane Hamilton of Jasper and they had four children: Carl, Jr.,
Martha Owen, John Hamilton, and Lenora Jane. Carl Elliott died in January 1999.
Updated: March 13, 2007