On Tuesday, former Georgia Democrat Senator Max Cleland passed away. The 79-year-old lost three limbs while serving in the Vietnam War.
Fox News reports:
Cleland died at his home in Atlanta from congestive heart failure, his personal assistant Linda Dean told The Associated Press.
Cleland, a Democrat, served one term in the U.S. Senate, losing a 2002 reelection bid to Republican Saxby Chambliss. He also served as as administrator of the U.S. Veterans Administration, as Georgia secretary of state and as a Georgia state senator.
Cleland was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam when he lost an arm and two legs while picking up a fallen grenade in 1968. For years, Cleland blamed himself for dropping the grenade, but he learned in 1999 that another soldier had dropped it.
Cleland’s loss in the Senate generated enduring controversy after the Chambliss campaign aired a commercial that displayed images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and questioned Cleland’s commitment to defense and Homeland Security. Sen. John McClain was among those who condemned the move by his fellow Republican.
