Lawrence Patton McDonald was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 until he was killed while a passenger on board Korean Air Lines Flight 007 when it was shot down by Soviet interceptors.
40 Facts About Larry McDonald
2.
Larry McDonald maintained one of the most conservative voting records in Congress and crusaded against communism.
3.
Larry McDonald became chairman of the John Birch Society in 1983, months before his death.
4.
Larry McDonald was remembered as a martyr by American conservatives.
5.
Larry McDonald was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, in the eastern part of the city that is in DeKalb County.
6.
Larry McDonald spent two years at high school before graduating in 1951.
7.
Larry McDonald studied at Davidson College from 1951 to 1953, studying history.
8.
Larry McDonald entered the Emory University School of Medicine at the age of 17, graduating in 1957.
9.
Larry McDonald trained as a urologist at the University of Michigan Hospital under Reed M Nesbit.
10.
From 1959 to 1961, Larry McDonald served as a flight surgeon in the United States Navy stationed at the Keflavik naval base in Iceland.
11.
Larry McDonald married an Icelandic national, Anna Tryggvadottir, with whom he eventually had three children: Tryggvi Paul, Callie Grace, and Mary Elizabeth.
12.
In Iceland, Larry McDonald asserted to his commanding officer that the US Embassy in Reykjavik was doing things advantageous to communists, but was told he did not understand the big picture.
13.
Larry McDonald joined the anti-communist John Birch Society in 1966 or 1967.
14.
Larry McDonald hosted thousands of people in his living room for Bircher-inspired lectures and documentaries, according to his first wife.
15.
Larry McDonald made one unsuccessful run for Congress in 1972 before being elected in 1974.
16.
Larry McDonald served as a member on the Georgia State Medical Education Board and as chairman from 1969 to 1974.
17.
In 1974, McDonald ran for Congress against incumbent John W Davis in the Democratic primary.
18.
Larry McDonald opposed mandatory federal school integration programs, and criticized Davis for being one of two Georgia congressmen to vote in favor of school busing.
19.
Larry McDonald attacked Davis for receiving political donations from out-of-state groups which he said favored busing.
20.
Larry McDonald won the primary election in a surprise upset and was elected in November 1974 to the 94th United States Congress, serving Georgia's 7th congressional district, which included most of Atlanta's northwestern suburbs, where opposition to school busing was especially high.
21.
Larry McDonald, who considered himself a traditional Democrat "cut from the cloth of Jefferson and Jackson", was known for his conservative views, even by Southern Democratic standards of the time.
22.
Larry McDonald scored "perfect or near perfect ratings" on the congressional scorecards of the National Right to Life Committee, Gun Owners of America, and the American Security Council.
23.
Larry McDonald admired Senator Joseph McCarthy and was a member of the Joseph McCarthy Foundation.
24.
Larry McDonald hired former staffers of the House Committee on Un-American Activities to work in his own congressional office to continue their research on left-wing groups, which was shared with law enforcement.
25.
Larry McDonald displayed a portrait of Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator, in his office.
26.
Larry McDonald called the welfare state a "disaster" and favored phasing control of the Great Society programs over to the states.
27.
Larry McDonald favored cuts to foreign aid, which he said "you could take a chainsaw to".
28.
Larry McDonald co-sponsored a resolution "expressing the sense of the Congress that homosexual acts and the class of individuals who advocate such conduct shall never receive special consideration or a protected status under law".
29.
Larry McDonald advocated the use of the non-approved drug laetrile to treat patients in advanced stages of cancer despite medical opinion that such use was quackery.
30.
Larry McDonald was ordered to pay thousands of dollars in a laetrile malpractice lawsuit in 1976.
31.
Larry McDonald opposed the establishment of a Martin Luther King, Jr.
32.
In 1979, with John Rees and Major General John K Singlaub, McDonald founded the Western Goals Foundation.
33.
Larry McDonald became the chairman of the John Birch Society in 1983, succeeding Robert Welch.
34.
Larry McDonald opposed the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in his own district because he did not believe the federal government could constitutionally own national parks.
35.
Larry McDonald rarely spoke on the House floor, preferring to insert material into the Congressional Record.
36.
Larry McDonald could have boarded a Pan Am Boeing 747 flight to Seoul, but he preferred the lower fares of Korean Air Lines and chose to wait for the next KAL flight two days later.
37.
Simultaneously, Hubbard and Helms planned to meet with Larry McDonald to discuss how to join Larry McDonald on the KAL 007 flight.
38.
The passengers were given the option of leaving the aircraft but Larry McDonald remained on the plane, catching up on his sleep.
39.
Helms meanwhile had managed to arrive and invited Larry McDonald to move onto his flight, KAL 015, but Larry McDonald did not wish to be disturbed.
40.
Kathy Larry McDonald did decide to run, but lost to George "Buddy" Darden.