Larry McDonald

• 1. Early Life And Medical Career

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  Lawrence Patton McDonald was born on the 1st of April 1935 in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in DeKalb County within the eastern part of that city. General George S. Patton stood as a distant relative to the young boy. McDonald attended several private and parochial schools before entering a non-denominational high school. He spent two years there before graduating in 1951. His academic path led him to Davidson College from 1951 until 1953 where he studied history. He entered Emory University School of Medicine at age 17. Graduation came in 1957 after his medical studies concluded. An internship followed at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. He trained further as a urologist under Reed M. Nesbit at the University of Michigan Hospital. Completion arrived in 1966 when he returned to Atlanta. He began practice alongside his father at the McDonald Urology Clinic. From 1959 to 1961 he served as a flight surgeon stationed at Keflavík naval base in Iceland. He married an Icelandic national named Anna Tryggvadottir during this time. Three children resulted from their union: Tryggvi Paul, Callie Grace, and Mary Elizabeth. While in Iceland he asserted to his commanding officer that the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik was doing things advantageous to communists. He was told he did not understand the big picture.

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• 2. Political Ascension And Ideology

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  McDonald joined the anti-communist John Birch Society in 1966 or 1967. He hosted thousands of people in his living room for Bircher-inspired lectures and documentaries according to his first wife. His preoccupation with politics led to a divorce. He became known as an anti-abortion activist. He made one unsuccessful run for Congress in 1972 before being elected in 1974. In 1975 he married Kathryn Jackson whom he met while giving a speech in California. He served on the Georgia State Medical Education Board and chaired it from 1969 until 1974. McDonald ran for Congress against incumbent John W. Davis in the Democratic primary in 1974. He opposed mandatory federal school integration programs. He criticized Davis for voting in favor of school busing. He attacked Davis for receiving political donations from out-of-state groups which favored busing. McDonald won the primary election in an upset. He was elected in November 1974 to the 94th United States Congress. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district which included most of Atlanta's northwestern suburbs including Marietta. Opposition to school busing was especially high there. During the general election J. Quincy Collins Jr. nearly defeated him despite poor Republican performance nationally that year due to Watergate effects. McDonald considered himself a traditional Democrat cut from the cloth of Jefferson and Jackson. One scoring method published in the American Journal of Political Science named him the second most conservative member of either chamber between 1937 and 2002. Ron Paul stood as his closest confidant in Congress.

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• 3. Legislative Record And Controversies

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  The American Conservative Union gave him a perfect score of 100 every year he served except in 1978 when he scored 95. He also 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. McDonald admired Senator Joseph McCarthy and was a member of the Joseph McCarthy Foundation. He hired former staffers of the House Committee on Un-American Activities to work in his own congressional office. They continued research on left-wing groups shared with law enforcement. He considered communism an international conspiracy. An admirer of Austrian economics and a member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute he advocated tight monetary policy against stagflation. He advocated returning to the gold standard. A portrait of Francisco Franco hung in his office. McDonald called the welfare state a disaster. He favored phasing control of Great Society programs over to the states. He also favored cuts to foreign aid which he said you could take a chainsaw to. He co-sponsored a resolution stating homosexual acts should never receive special consideration under law. He advocated use of the non-approved drug laetrile to treat patients despite medical opinion calling it quackery. He was ordered to pay thousands of dollars in a laetrile malpractice lawsuit in 1976. An investigation by the Atlanta Constitution found a friend asked patients seeking treatment to make checks out to the Larry McDonald for Congress campaign. McDonald opposed establishment of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day saying FBI evidence showed King associated with communists. He reportedly had about 200 guns at his official district residence.

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• 4. The Western Goals Foundation

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  In 1979 John Rees, Major General John K. Singlaub, and McDonald founded the Western Goals Foundation. The Spokesman-Review stated it intended to blunt subversion terrorism and communism. It aimed to fill the gap created by disbanding the House Un-American Activities Committee. McDonald became chairman of the John Birch Society in 1983 succeeding Robert Welch. At time of death Western Goals faced suit from ACLU for obtaining illegal Los Angeles Police Department Intelligence Files from 1975. These files had been ordered destroyed. They were computerized into a database on a $100,000 computer in Long Beach at an attorney's house connected to U.S. intelligence community. Many files concerned individuals from Ronald Reagan's term as Governor of California. Speculation arose that Western Goals used these files to blackmail figures in the Reagan Presidential Administration. McDonald opposed Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area because he did not believe federal government could constitutionally own national parks. He rarely spoke on House floor preferring to insert material into Congressional Record. These insertions typically dealt with foreign policy issues relating to Soviet Union. Domestic issues centered on growth of non-Soviet and Soviet sponsored leftist subversion. A number of his insertions relating to Socialist Workers Party collected into book Trotskyism and Terror published in 1977.

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• 5. Flight And Downing Of KAL 007

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  McDonald was invited to South Korea to attend celebration of 30th anniversary of United States, South Korea Mutual Defense Treaty. Three fellow members joined him: Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, Senator Steve Symms of Idaho, and Representative Carroll Hubbard of Kentucky. Bad weather on Sunday the 28th of August 1983 diverted McDonald's flight from Atlanta to Baltimore. When he arrived at JFK Airport in New York he missed connection to South Korea by two or three minutes. He could have boarded Pan Am Boeing 747 flight to Seoul but preferred lower fares of Korean Air Lines. He chose to wait for next KAL flight two days later. Simultaneously Hubbard and Helms planned meeting to discuss joining McDonald on KAL 007 flight. As delays mounted Hubbard gave up trip last minute canceling reservations. He accepted a Kentucky speaking engagement instead. Helms attempted to join McDonald but also delayed. McDonald occupied aisle seat 02B in first class section when KAL 007 took off on August 31 at 12:24 AM local time. The plane remained on ground hour and half refueled reprovisioned cleaned and serviced. Passengers given option leaving aircraft but McDonald remained catching sleep. Helms managed arrive and invited McDonald move onto his flight KAL 015. McDonald did not wish disturbance. With fresh flight crew KAL 007 took off at 4 AM local time for scheduled non-stop flight over Pacific to Seoul's Kimpo International Airport. It was nearly 6,000 mile trip taking approximately eight hours. On the 1st of September 1983 McDonald and rest passengers killed when Soviet fighters under command Gen Anatoly Kornukov shot down KAL 007 near Moneron Island after entering Soviet airspace.

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• 6. Posthumous Legacy And Tributes

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  McDonald became martyr to supporters who thought he assassinated in communist conspiracy. According to widow President Reagan reluctant take actions against Soviet Union. Special election held fill seat in House after death. Former Governor Lester Maddox stated intention run if McDonald's widow Kathy McDonald did not. Kathy McDonald decided run but lost to George Buddy Darden. There cenotaph placed him at Crest Lawn Cemetery in Atlanta Georgia. On the 18th of March 1998 Georgia House of Representatives named portion Interstate 75 running from Chattahoochee River northward to Tennessee state line in his honor. They called it Larry McDonald Memorial Highway. The legislation aimed preserve memory sacrifice service able outstanding Georgian recognize service people district. His bibliography includes books like We Hold These Truths published 1976 by '76 Press in Seal Beach California. Revised edition released 1992 by Larry McDonald Memorial Foundation Inc. Trotskyism and Terror appeared 1977 with introduction M Stanton Evans foreword Marx Lewis. Articles included Why Does Spotlight Attack Real Anti-Communists? published the 9th of September 1981 Congressional Record. Contributions included Introduction Rockefeller File Gary Allen China Africa Roger Pearson Future United Nations Roundtable Discussion audiobook 1977.

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