The Vienna Historical Preservation Society is proud to announce the launching of a brand new website to serve the public! We are excited about upcoming news and projects in the coming year and greatly look forward to celebrating our city's rich history.
Please view our featured article below!

GEORGE, Walter Franklin, a Senator from Georgia; born on a farm near Preston, Webster County, Ga., January 29, 1878; attended the common schools; graduated from Mercer University, Macon, Ga., in 1900 and from its law department in 1901; admitted to the bar in 1901 and commenced practice in Vienna, Ga.; solicitor general of the Cordele judicial circuit 1907-1912 and judge of the superior court 1912-1917; judge of the State court of appeals from January to October 1917, when he resigned; associate justice of the State supreme court 1917-1922, when he resigned; elected on November 7, 1922, as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas E. Watson; reelected in 1926, 1932, 1938, 1944, and again in 1950 and served from November 22, 1922, to January 2, 1957; was not a candidate for renomination in 1956; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Eighty-fourth Congress; chairman, Committee on Privileges and Elections (Seventy-third through Seventy-sixth Congresses), Committee on Foreign Relations (Seventy-sixth, Seventy-seventh, and Eighty-fourth Congresses), Committee on Finance (Seventy-seventh through Seventy-ninth Congresses and Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses), Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation (Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses), Select Committee on Case Influence (Eighty-fourth Congress), Special Committee on Foreign Assistance (Eighty-fourth Congress); President Dwight Eisenhower’s special ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization until his death; died in Vienna, Ga., August 4, 1957; interment in Vienna Cemetery.

Bibliography: Dictionary of American Biography; Mellichamp, Josephine. “Walter George.” In Senators From Georgia. Huntsville, Ala.: Strode Publishers, 1976: 230-39; Zeigler, Luther. “Senator Walter George’s 1938 Campaign.” Georgia Historical Quarterly 43 (December 1959): 333-52; Fleissner, James P. ”August 11, 1938: A Day in the Life of Senator Walter F. George.” Journal of Southern Legal History 9 (2001): 55-101.