A lifelong champion of universal access to education, Carl Elliott served eight terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1965 and ran for Governor of Alabama in 1966. His Library Services Act of 1956 brought books to countless readers in America’s rural counties, and his National Defense Education Act of 1958 enabled millions of needy students to attend college. Born in Franklin County, he graduated from the University of Alabama, where he was elected president of the Student Government Association for 1935-36, earned his law degree, and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1972. From 1945, Elliott and his family lived in the nearby home, where he compiled the five-volume Annals of North Alabama, co-authored The Cost of Courage: The Journey of an American Congressman, and practiced law. In 1990 he was honored by the first John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.