Early Life and Career
Larry McDonald was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, more specifically in the eastern part of the city that is in DeKalb County. As a child, he attended private and parochial schools before attending a non-denominational high school. He spent two years at high school before graduating in 1951. He studied at Davidson College from 1951 until 1953, spending time studying history. He enrolled in the Emory University School of Medicine at the age of 17, graduating in 1957. He trained at Grady Memorial Hospital as a urologist.
From 1959 to 1961, he served as a flight surgeon in the United States Navy stationed at the Keflavík naval base in Iceland. McDonald married an Icelandic national, Anna Tryggvadottir, with whom he would eventually have three children: Tryggvi Paul, Callie Grace, and Mary Elizabeth. It was in Iceland that McDonald first began to take note of communism. He felt the U.S. Embassy was doing things advantageous to the Communists. He went to the commanding officer, but was told he did not understand the big picture.
After his tour of service he practiced medicine at the McDonald Urology Clinic in Atlanta. He took an increasing interest in politics, reading books on political history and foreign policy. He joined the John Birch Society—a conservative, anti-communist organization—in 1966 or 1967. McDonald's passionate preoccupation with politics led to a divorce from his first wife. McDonald made one unsuccessful run for Congress in 1972 before being elected in 1974. In 1975, he married Kathryn Jackson, whom he met while giving a speech in California.
McDonald served as a member on the Georgia State Medical Education Board (as chairman 1969–1974), the National Historical Society and the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce and received numerous civil honors.
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