There have been two United States attorneys general from the state of Georgia—John Macpherson Berrien and Griffin Bell—and GHS holds the papers of both. Born in Sumter County in 1918, Bell went to law school at Mercer University and in 1958 became Governor Ernest Vandiver’s Chief of Staff. Bell moderated Georgia’s response to the Civil Rights movement and facilitated desegregation. President Kennedy appointed Bell to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where he continued to act as a voice of moderation while implementing desegregation across the South. Bell was already a legal legend when he agreed to serve as Jimmy Carter’s attorney general in 1977 (a sampling of transition team papers are shown here). As Attorney General, Bell restored public confidence in the Department of Justice after Watergate. He died as the dean of Georgia lawyers and one of the most respected legal minds in the country.