George Busbee - Definition and Overview

George Dekle Busbee (August 7, 1927–July 16, 2004) was an American politician who served as the governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1975 to 1983.

Busbee was born in Vienna, Georgia. He served nine terms in the Georgia House of Representatives, and was floor leader for Carl Sanders. Busbee won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1974 – Jimmy Carter's final year in office – over Lieutenant Governor Lester Maddox. In 1976 voters approved a wholesale revision of the Georgia Constitution, which included a provision that allowed him to become the state's first governor to serve two consecutive four-year terms. After his service as governor he joined the Atlanta law firm King & Spalding.

Busbee died of a heart attack at the Savannah International Airport in Savannah, Georgia. Busbee Parkway in the Town Center at Cobb area of Cobb County was named after him several years ago.

External links

• New Georgia Encyclopedia profile on George Busbee (http://www.newgeorgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/GovernmentPolitics/Politics/PoliticalFigures&id=h-595/)