Fountain, L. H. (Lawrence H.), 1913-2002

Lawrence H. Fountain (1913-2002) of Edgecombe County, N.C., served as a United States representative from 1953-1982 in North Carolina's Second District. During Fountain's tenure, the district straddled the state's northern coastal plain and piedmont and included at one time or another sixteen different counties. For most of Fountain's congressional career, he served on the Government Operations Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee, where he also served as chairman of the Near East Subcommittee during the 1960s. In 1967 he was a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, and participated in the Security Council's deliberations on the Israel-Arab War, 1967. Fountain was also the chairman of the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee of the Government Operations Committee from 1955-1982. On this committee he led investigations of waste, inefficiency, and corruption in various federal agencies, particularly the Food and Drug Administration. In 1959 he assisted in the establishment of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, which investigates and makes policy recommendations on various federal, state, and local government issues. In the mid-1970s he initiated legislation that established inspectors general for each of the executive departments.

From the guide to the L. H. Fountain Papers, 1946-1982, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)

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