Max Cleland, Who Went From Wounded Warrior to US Senate, Dies

November 9, 2021 by Dan McCue
Max Cleland, Who Went From Wounded Warrior to US Senate, Dies
Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., foreground, raises his hand to the crowd at a campaign rally in downtown Atlanta, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002. He was 79. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, file)

ATLANTA — Max Cleland, who lost three limbs to a Vietnam War hand grenade blast and later served as a U.S. senator from Georgia, died on Tuesday. 

Cleland, who was 79, died at his home in Atlanta. The cause was congestive heart failure.

During his career in public service, he also served as administrator of the U.S. Veterans Administration, as Georgia secretary of state and as a Georgia state senator.

President Joe Biden described Cleland Tuesday as “an American hero whose fearless service to our nation, and to the people of his beloved home state of Georgia, never wavered.”

“As a 25-year-old serving in the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, Max lost both of his legs and his right arm in a grenade explosion at Khe Sanh,” Binden said. “After grueling months in the hospital, enduring multiple surgeries and a long road back to recovery, Max turned his pain into purpose.  He continued his distinguished public service, becoming a lifelong champion of the dignity and rights of working people and America’s wounded veterans.  

“His leadership was the essential driving force behind the creation of the modern VA health system, where so many of his fellow heroes have found lifesaving support and renewed purpose of their own thanks in no small part to Max’s lasting impact,” the president continued.

“I had the distinct honor of knowing Max as both a colleague and a friend during our six years together in the United States Senate.  He was a man of unflinching patriotism, boundless courage, and rare character.  I was proud to have Max by my side.  He will be remembered as one of Georgia’s and America’s great leaders,” Biden said.

“Max Cleland was the bold warrior with a big heart and loved by all in the Senate,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a written statement.

“Throughout his life, Max was dedicated to serving our country as a soldier in Vietnam, helping his fellow veterans as VA administrator, and as a United States senator. My thoughts are with Max Cleland’s family and all his friends who loved him. We all will miss him dearly,” Schumer said.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, the first Democrat to hold the seat since Cleland’s defeat by Republican Saxby Chambliss in 2002, called him “a hero, a patriot, a public servant, and a friend.”

Cleland was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam when he lost an arm and two legs while picking up a dropped grenade near Khe Sanh in April 1968. 

“When my eyes cleared I looked at my right hand. It was gone,” Cleland wrote in his 1980 memoir, “Strong at the Broken Places.”

For years, Cleland blamed himself for dropping it, but he learned from a former Army medic  in 1999 that another soldier had dropped it.

Depressed after his grave injuries, Cleland became increasingly interested in politics.

President Jimmy Carter asked Cleland to lead the United States Veterans Administration in 1977, and he stayed on until 1981. Cleland served in the Georgia Senate from 1971-1975. 

After a failed 1974 campaign for lieutenant governor and his stint heading the VA, Cleland was elected as Georgia’s secretary of state in 1982, an office he held until 1996.

A dozen years later, he opted to seek the seat of retiring Sen. Sam Nunn, but served only one term after Chambliss ran negative campaign ads against him.

Since then, Cleland served as a director of the Export-Import Bank and was appointed by former President Barack Obama to be secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.

The Associated Press contributed this report.

A+
a-
  • Max Cleland
  • obituary
  • U.S. Senate
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    U.S. Senate

    Senate Passes $1.2T Funding Package in Early Morning Vote

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills in the early morning hours Saturday, a long overdue... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills in the early morning hours Saturday, a long overdue action nearly six months into the budget year that will push any threats of a government shutdown to the fall. The bill now goes to President... Read More

    March 15, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Senate Told Growing Wildfire Threat Needs New Strategies

    WASHINGTON — The number of wildfires driven by climate change has grown but the U.S. effort to control them has... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The number of wildfires driven by climate change has grown but the U.S. effort to control them has not, according to emergency response officials at a Senate hearing Thursday. At least not fast enough to prevent disasters like the fire that ravaged Maui in... Read More

    March 14, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Schumer Calls for New Elections in Israel

    WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, strongly criticizing Prime... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, strongly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for becoming an obstacle to peace in the region. Speaking for roughly 40 minutes on the Senate floor, Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official... Read More

    March 12, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Defense Analysts Say Threats to US Have Risen to Dangerous Levels

    WASHINGTON — Defense analysts repeated warnings Tuesday about a dangerous world the United States cannot afford to ignore in a... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Defense analysts repeated warnings Tuesday about a dangerous world the United States cannot afford to ignore in a second Senate hearing this week leading to a vote on an annual military budget. Russia is trying to expand its borders through war with Ukraine, China... Read More

    Senate Passes Bill to Compensate Americans Exposed to Radiation by the Government

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation Thursday that would compensate Americans exposed to radiation by the government by renewing a law... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation Thursday that would compensate Americans exposed to radiation by the government by renewing a law initially passed more than three decades ago. The bill by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., would expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act... Read More

    March 5, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Kyrsten Sinema Won’t Seek Reelection in Arizona

    WASHINGTON — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., said Tuesday that she will not seek reelection this year, clearing the way for... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., said Tuesday that she will not seek reelection this year, clearing the way for a likely matchup between Republican and Trump acolyte Kari Lake and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego. "The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic —... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top