- Collection:
- Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Bill Heath, 2004 December 8
- Creator:
- Heath, Bill, 1959-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Steely, Mel
University of West Georgia. Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program - Publisher:
- Carrollton, Ga. : University of West Georgia Special Collections in association with the Digital Library of Georgia
- Date of Original:
- 2004-12-08
- Subject:
- Georgia--Politics and government--1865-1950
Georgia--Politics and government--1951-
Legislators--Georgia--Interviews
4-H Youth Development Program (U.S.)
Boy Scouts of America
Southern Polytechnic State University--Alumni and alumnae
West Georgia College
Water rights--Georgia
Taxation--Georgia
War on Terrorism, 2001-2009
Bartow County (Ga.)
Bremen (Ga.)
Clem (Ga.)
Haralson County (Ga.)
LaGrange (Ga.)
Marietta (Ga.)
Muscogee County (Ga.)
Paulding County (Ga.)
Polk County (Ga.)
Waco (Ga.)
Heath, Bill, 1959---Interviews - People:
- Heath, Bill, 1959-
Clinton, Bill, 1946-
Deal, Nathan
Garner, James
Gingrich, Newt
Lewis, John, 1940-2020
Linder, John
Murphy, Thomas Bailey, 1924-2007
Perdue, Sonny, 1946-
Purcell, Ann
Schwarzenegger, Arnold
Taylor, Mark, 1957-
Walker, Larry, 1942-
Westmoreland, Lynn, 1950- - Location:
- United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
- Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
moving images - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- Bill Heath was born in 1959 in Columbus, Georgia. The Republican unseated the legendary House Speaker Tom Murphy in 2002. In 2005, Heath was elected to represent the 31st Senate District where he serves on the Agriculture and Appropriations Committee. Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Heath floor leader in 2006.; Interviewed by Dr. Mel Steely on December 8, 2004 at an unknown location.; Heath begins talking about is early life growing up in west Georgia. He talks about his involvement in school and extracurricular activities. After high school, Heath decided to pursue school at Southern Polytech in engineering, began his own business and married. As he became active in politics, through his support of other politicians, he concluded that he wanted a politician that he felt better represented west Georgia than he believed Speaker Murphy had been. After trying to find a politician who could usurp Murphy, he decided to run for the House seat himself on the Republican ticket. Heath goes into depth about the two different campaigns he ran against Murphy, the second of which was successful. He talks about their differing ideologies, his own conservatism and his Christian faith. He speaks of some of the issues that arose while he was in office, including tax increases, water rights and a particular instance in which he debated an agriculture bill with Representative Ann Purcell. Heath then speaks about his decision to run for Congress after having served his term in the House of Representatives. He speaks of his campaign, the primary race, and the run-off between he and several other Republicans. Heath ends by discussing his time serving as Congressman and discussing such issues as Georgia's struggle for water with Alabama.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:uwg_phc_heath20041208
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/uwg/phc/do:heath20041208
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: [interview title], Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program oral history interviews. Annie Belle Weaver Special Collections, Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library, University of West Georgia
- Extent:
- 1 interview (circa 110 mins.)
- Original Collection:
- Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program oral history interviews. Annie Belle Weaver Special Collections, Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library, State University of West Georgia
- Holding Institution:
- University of West Georgia. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
