FLORENCE-September 2, 2018 will be the 60th anniversary of President Eisenhower signing into law the National Defense Education Act.
National Defense Education Act (NDEA), U.S. federal legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 2, 1958, that provided funding to improve American schools and to promote postsecondary education. The goal of the legislation was to enable the country’s educational system to meet the demands posed by national security needs. Of particular concern was bolstering the United States’ ability to compete with the Soviet Union in the areas of science and technology.
The NDEA stands as a major act of reform. It marked the beginning of large-scale involvement of the U.S. federal government in education.
This was Carl Elliott’s legislation and today over twenty million Americans have attended college under this legislation. Carl Atwood Elliott was an attorney and a seven-term congressman who lived most of his life in Jasper, Walker County. Much of his work in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 1950s and early 1960s was in support of education and social programs to benefit his district, the state of Alabama, and the nation. Elliott was born in Vina, Franklin County, on December 20, 1913, to tenant farmers Will and Nora Elliott; he was the eldest of nine children. Unlike his parents, he graduated from high school, serving as Vina High School’s valedictorian in 1930. Elliott worked a variety of odd jobs to pay his way through the University of Alabama (UA)
On August 20, 2018 UNA will host a program celebrating this event. Moderator for this event will Representative Johnny Mack Morrow.
Rep. Morrow remembers Elliott from his childhood, “My remembrance of Carl Elliott goes back to 1948. He would pull up to our home in Phil Campbell, in his big black automobile, while running for Congress. I would then hide in the back seat and quietly listen while he and my dad discussed his campaign. My Dad had been a friend of Carl’s since childhood. I want to encourage everyone to attend this celebration of Carl Elliott’s life!”
