Biography of former U.S. Sen. Wyche Fowler offers lessons for today

One could spend all day listening to Wyche Fowler recount tales of his colorful life in and out of Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Saudi Arabia. 

Fowler’s political and diplomatic career has spanned decades, starting with the civil rights era in Atlanta and the nation’s capital.

Now, there’s a biography that chronicles his life, focusing primarily on his 16-year career in Congress.

The book, “Wyche Fowler: A Political Life in Georgia, Congress, and Abroad,” was written by R. William Johnstone, who served as Fowler’s key aide for those 16 years. It was published by Mercer University Press.

Fowler and Johnstone will be at the Atlanta History Center on the evening of Sept. 30 to talk about the book and share stories with moderator Joe Crespino, an Emory University faculty member.

Fowler spoke to me about the book during a lengthy visit to his Atlanta residence on Sept. 2 — making sure to undersell and not overhype the book. 

“In my humble opinion, the book is valuable to a niche of Congressional historians,” Fowler said. “It covers 16 years of my time in the Congress at a time when legislators wanted to legislate and wanted to improve public policy.”

The book actually does much more, especially for people fascinated by the time when Georgia emerged as a major player on the nation’s political scene, culminating with the presidential election of former Gov. Jimmy Carter.

“The first three chapters are good and funny. It is a proper biography about my history,” Fowler said. “After the first three chapters, it goes into serious public policy of my time in Congress. It’s ancient history now.” Johnstone, who had taken “copious notes” the whole time, had asked Fowler to co-write the book. “No,” Fowler answered. “I will be the color commentator.”

Fowler served as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Charles Weltner (D-Georgia) from 1965 to 1966. He was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1969 and was elected City Council president in 1974, serving for two years. Then in 1977, he ran for the U.S. Congress, Fifth District, to succeed Andrew Young, who stepped down to serve as President Jimmy Carter’s U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Fowler won the run-off against John Lewis, a civil rights legend.

“I’m the only man to ever beat John Lewis,” Fowler said somewhat sheepishly about when he was first elected to Congress in 1977. 

But eventually, he made it up to Lewis. 

“When I decided to run for the U.S. Senate, I called John a year in advance,” Fowler said, asking Lewis to keep the decision under wraps. “You can’t tell anybody because I need to sneak up on [U.S. Sen. Mack] Mattingly.”

And sneak up he did. Fowler ended up beating Mattingly by 22,466 votes — less than 1 percent of all votes cast.

Reading the book and listening to Fowler reflect over the last 50-plus years brings up feelings of nostalgia. Although it was not necessarily a simpler time, it was a period in Atlanta and national history when people did strive to resolve their differences in more civil ways.

“There was cooperation. There was bipartisanship,” Fowler said. “We were prescient in many areas – alternative energy, foreign intelligence reform and historic preservation. We rewrote the historic preservation codes.”

One of my favorite Fowler stories was how he ended up becoming Atlanta’s “night mayor,” a title given to him by a reporter.

When Weltner decided to step down from Congress in 1966, Fowler entered Emory Law School. Because of his political ties, Fowler was asked by his law school colleagues if he could invite then-Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. to speak at Emory’s Law Day.

Fowler called City Hall after 5 p.m., but no one answered the phone.  When he finally reached Mayor Allen, Fowler told him: “You can’t close City Hall,” expressing concern for people who worked all day. Fowler suggested that the city appoint a duty officer to answer the phones after hours. Remember, this was pre-internet, voicemail, cell phones and email.

“That’s a fantastic idea,” Mayor Allen told Fowler. “What fool can I get to do that?”

“C’est moi,” Fowler volunteered. 

Someone wrote a story about Fowler answering the phones at City Hall, calling him the “night mayor” in the headline, which did not please the mayor.

One night, the phone rang at 10:30 p.m.

“There’s a dead dog here,” the caller said. 

“Where do you live?” Fowler asked.

“I live on Willacoochee Avenue,” was the response. 

“How do you spell it? Fowler asked. “I can’t come get the dog until I know the address.” 

“Wait, I’ll call you right back.”

A few minutes later, the man called back. 

“The dog is now on Lee Street. That’s L E E,” the caller said. 

“He had dragged that dog around the corner,” Fowler said with a twinkle in his eye.

The well-worn tale had delighted our friends — Bill Shipp, George Berry, Tom Watson Brown and me — over drinks numerous evenings after work. In writing this column, I did try to find Willacoochee Avenue in Atlanta to no avail.

But one of my favorite lines in life is: “Don’t let facts get in the way of a good story.” That’s the way it’s supposed to be when Fowler is in his storytelling mode. 

On a more serious note, Fowler said his finest legislative achievement was when he was City Council President. Council was tied 8-8 on where to locate the Airport MARTA Station, with half of the council voting to put it more than a mile away at some property owned by a well-connected developer.

“I cast the deciding vote to have the airport MARTA Station — in the airport,” Fowler said. 

Another insight Fowler shared was how much he loved being the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

“That was the best five years of my life,” Fowler said. “I had policy authority and executive authority. At the time, it was the largest U.S. embassy in the world. I just got along with the Saudis.”

During the interview, Fowler also felt pangs of nostalgia for how the government and the legislative process used to work. Fowler remembered longtime Democratic U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill telling him to always have prominent Republicans co-sign his legislation if he wanted to get it passed.

“You did have people there who loved public policy and wanted to improve things,” Fowler reminisced. “You don’t have that now. There’s no such thing as a Republican Party. There’s the Trump Party.”

Then Fowler said he believes history is cyclical and that this, too, shall pass.

“I have to have hope,” said Fowler, who will turn 85 on Oct. 6. “Otherwise, I would be a journalist.”

Touché.