On This Day In Alabama History: Congressman Andrews Undergoes Surgery
By Alabama NewsCenter Staff
On Dec. 24, 1972, U.S. Rep. George William Andrews Jr., D-Alabama, underwent a second surgery in Birmingham when infection set in following the repair of an aortic artery two weeks earlier. He died on Dec. 25 and was succeeded by his wife, Elizabeth, who became the first woman from Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives. George Andrews had served 14 consecutive terms beginning in 1944. He vehemently opposed civil rights legislation and advocated abolishing Alabama’s public schools system rather than integrating it. He had been working for Navy Intelligence in Pearl Harbor when nominated to fill the seat of Rep. Henry B. Steagall, who died in office in 1944. Andrews then ran unopposed for the Third District of east Alabama, becoming the first serviceman elected during World War II.
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