Representative Elijah Lewis Forrester

Elijah Lewis “Tic” Forrester (August 16, 1896 – March 19, 1970) was an American politician who served as a Democratic Representative from Georgia in the United States House of Representatives from 1951 to 1965. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Georgia’s 3rd congressional district for seven consecutive terms, contributing to the legislative process during a significant period in mid-twentieth-century American history.

Forrester was born on a farm near Leesburg, Lee County, Georgia, on August 16, 1896. He attended the public schools in Leesburg, receiving his early education in the local school system. Raised in a rural agricultural setting, he grew up in the social and economic environment of southwest Georgia at the turn of the century, an experience that would later inform his understanding of the concerns of his largely rural constituency.

After completing his public schooling, Forrester undertook the study of law. He read law and, at the age of 21, passed the Georgia state bar examination in 1917. His legal training was interrupted by the entry of the United States into the First World War. During World War I, Forrester enlisted in the United States Army and served as a private. Following his discharge from military service, he returned to Leesburg, where in 1919 he established a law practice and opened his own office, beginning a long career in both law and public service.

Forrester quickly became active in local government and the regional legal system. From 1920 to 1933 he served as solicitor of the Leesburg City Court, prosecuting cases and gaining experience in the administration of justice. In 1922 he was elected mayor of Leesburg, a position he held until 1931, overseeing municipal affairs during a period that included the later years of the 1920s and the onset of the Great Depression. While still serving as solicitor and mayor, he also acted as county attorney for Lee County from 1928 to 1937, providing legal counsel to the county government. In 1937 he assumed the office of Solicitor General for the Southwestern Judicial Circuit of Georgia, a post he held until 1950. His prominence in state and party affairs was reflected in his selection as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1948 and 1952.

Forrester was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-second Congress and to the six succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1951, to January 3, 1965. As a member of the House of Representatives during a transformative era in American politics, he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents in Georgia’s 3rd district. His congressional service spanned the administrations of Presidents Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, encompassing the Korean War, the early Cold War, and the rise of the modern civil rights movement. A staunch segregationist, Forrester was among the Southern lawmakers who opposed federal civil rights initiatives; in 1956 he signed the “Southern Manifesto,” a document that condemned the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education and pledged resistance to school desegregation.

After seven terms in the House, Forrester chose not to be a candidate for renomination in 1964 to the Eighty-ninth Congress. Concluding his congressional career on January 3, 1965, he returned to Leesburg, Georgia, where he resumed the private practice of law. He continued to live in southwest Georgia, remaining a figure identified with the region’s legal and political life.

Elijah Lewis “Tic” Forrester died in Albany, Georgia, on March 19, 1970. He was interred in Leesburg Cemetery in Leesburg, Georgia, close to the community where he had been born, practiced law, and launched his long career in public office.