American politician, educator and TV commentator. The Georgia State Representative 1967-1974, he was State Senator 1975-1978. In February 1998 he accepted the chairmanship of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), spearheading a $50 million fund-raising campaign. He hopes to breathe new life into the half-million-member organization which has suffered complaints that it is no longer relevant, especially to the young.
The most charismatic of the younger generation of protest leaders, he had a hard time translating his Quaker idealism into practical, workaday politics. The son of a University president who grew up among the black intellectual elite, he entered Morehouse College in Atlanta, led sit-ins in 1960 aimed toward integration and helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. A talented writer and speaker, Bond became the group’s communications director.
As the movement became more militant, Bond made a lateral move into politics, winning election to the Georgia legislature in 1965. At the 1968 Democratic convention, his name was placed in nomination for the vice-presidency, despite the fact that he was ineligible at the age of 28. Then, surprisingly, his star began to decline.
Though a 1974 Senator, he became known as a radical and was shut out of the good ‘ole boys club, rendering him ineffectual. In 1986 he gave up his Senate seat to run for Congress, losing the election.
Bond married Alice in 1961; five kids. After 25 years of marriage, she filed for divorce, accusing him of adultery and drug abuse. She withdrew the drug charge but they divorced in 1989; he admitted fathering a child with another woman.
Post-politics, Bond taught history and hosted the syndicated TV show “America’s Black Forum.” In 1990 he wed Washington lawyer Pamela Horowitz, 44.
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