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ANDREW YOUNG Andrew Young became Mayor of Atlanta on January 4, 1982. Mayor Young has been involved in public policy issues and social change all of his adult life, as a clergyman, civil rights leader, Congressman, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, private citizen, and now Mayor. In the 1960's, he was a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., participating in the major civil rights movements of the time. Among these were the Birmingham Movement of 1963, which led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the dismantling of segregation in the South; the Selma Movement of 1965, leading directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act that year and to revolutionary political change in the South; the Poor People's Campaign of 1968; the movement against U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam; and numerous campaigns of voter registration, economic development and labor organizing in the North and South. At the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) he directed the Citizenship Education Program, which provided community organizing and leadership training to thousands of people who went on to lead the change which swept the South. Mayor Young has also been a pastor in Alabama and Georgia, the Associate Director of Youth Work for the National Council of Churches, an executive of SCLC, and Chairman of the Atlanta Community Relations Commission. In 1972 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Fifth Congressional District of Georgia, becoming the first black Congressman from Georgia in 101 years. He was elected with the support of a coalition of black and white voters, and was re-elected in 1974 and 1976. In his first term in Congress, Mr. Young was a member of the House Banking and Currency Committee and its subcommittees on International Finance, International Trade, Mass Transportation, and Consumer Affairs. In his second term and until he left Congress to become UN Ambassador, he was a member of the House Rules Committee, which reviews all major legislation before it can be considered on the floor. As a Congressman, Mr. Young was active on a wide range of issues, including foreign policy, civil rights, urban affairs, mass transit and the environment. He was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Democratic Study Group, and the Environmental Study Group. In 1976 he was chairman of the Democratic National Committee's national voter registration campaign. Soon after Jimmy Carter was elected President in 1976, he announced the appointment of Andrew Young as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador Young served in that position from January 30, 1977 to September 23, 1979. During that period he was also a member of the Cabinet and the National Security Council. In addition to being the chief U.S. delegate to the UN, he represented the United States at international conferences and on diplomatic missions throughout the world. After his service as Ambassador, Mr. Young became President of Young Ideas, Inc., a non-profit organization which addresses public policy questions and assists individuals and groups involved in a range of domestic and foreign policy questions. In 1980 and 1981 he wrote a weekly column on current events for the Los Angeles times Syndicate. The column appeared in more than 40 newspapers. On October 27, 1981, Andrew Young was elected Mayor of the City of Atlanta. As Mayor, he is chief executive officer of a government with 8,000 employees and an annual operating budget of approximately $170 million. Mayor Young is a graduate of Howard University and the Hartford Theological Seminary. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the nation's highest civilian honor. Mayor Young is married to the former Jean Childs, and they have three daughters, Andrea, Lisa and Paula, and a son, Andrew III. 458
