Great Moments in the Ninety-First Congress, Part I
Plunkitt, George Washington
GREAT MOMENTS IN THE NINETY-FIRST CONGRESS Part I "Tributes to Spessard L. Holland" as compiled by George Washington Plunkitt In this issue's first editorial, Dr. George Nathan has cogently...
...And after the press came the storm, as the solons commenced to roar...
...AIKEN...
...13, 1969 SPESSARD HOLLAND: A QUIET MAN IN POLITICS Maybe Spessard L. (Lindsey) Holland, when he retires from the U. S. Senate in January 1971, will devote more time to bird watching...
...JORDAN of North Carolina...
...And just maybe he won in the May primary because of a black tie...
...George Nathan has cogently discoursed upon the Windy Ninety-First Congress-a congress that consumed more than 85,000 pages of the Congressional Record, depriving America of several small forests and much peace of mind...
...But the senator deserves a rest, for he has worked hard and effectively for Florida...
...As I view the closing days of the 91st Congress, I have two great regrets in respect to the approaching retirement from the Senate of our great friend, Spessard L. Holland...
...BYRD of Virginia...
...Some persons, of course, have insisted his legislative record leans too much to the conservative side...
...RANDOLPH...
...13, 1969 A BIG PAIR OF SHOES TO FILL Yesterday, Holland announced the end of an era...
...In this connection, Senator Holland, during his press conference, offered Florida Democrats some excellent advice...
...Florida's voters are being left with a big pair of shoes to fill...
...Florida will love a faithful servant when he retires next year...
...14, 1969 SENATOR SPESSARD HOLLAND HAS EARNED THE GRATITUDE OF EVERY FLORIDIAN Thrift was and is a part of Sen...
...From the Tallahassee (Fla...
...Holland is a completely scrupulous man...
...President, for 24 of the 25 years I have served in the Senate it has been my pleasure to be...
...On 13 November 1969, the Hon...
...14, 1969 SENATOR HOLLAND'S RETIREMENT MARKS END OF AN ERA His retirement will end an era in Florida politics, an era of the southern gentleman of the old school serving his constituents diligently dignifiedly, in the stately chambers of the Capitol...
...In college, he earned membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society and qualified for a Rhodes scholarship, which he was unable to accept because of the outbreak of World War I. (Ahem, eds...
...STENNIS...
...If anyone should ask me what it takes to make the whole man, I would readily say without hesitating, "Look at Spessard Holland...
...For a while I got him to take a nap every afternoon, but he wouldn't keep it up...
...It was his foresight...
...Senator Holland comes from a farming family and is basically a man of the soil...
...17, 1969 FLORIDA TO LOSE ABLE SENATOR IN THE RETIREMENT OF HOLLAND Florida's senior senator is one of the outstanding members of the Senate and is the natural leader of the Southern bloc...
...Holland, who can still shoot a turkey on a hunting trip, stepped out of politics...
...17, 1969 SEN...
...From the Lakeland (Fla...
...He is 77 years old...
...Angina attacks result from fatty deposits in the arteries leading to the heart...
...He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Holland, a native of Georgia and a confederate veteran who came to Florida in 1881, and Fannie Virginia Spessard Holland...
...Martin Andersen, publisher of The Sentinel at the time, recalls Holland's first trip to Washington in 1946: "He came through Orlando in an old beat-up Ford filled with his charming wife (a very large woman, eds), his children, household pets and some of his worldly goods...
...17, 1969 A LIFETIME OF SERVICE "The Lord doesn't make many men like him...
...President...
...Discomfort usually occurs when exercise, emotion or even a heavy meal causes the heart to speed up, forcing an increased amount of blood through the partly plugged arteries...
...Sun, Nov...
...I wouldn't want to give the people of Florida a damaged article for the next six years," he said...
...McGOVERN...
...14, 1969 SENATOR SPESSARD HOLLAND Although this newspaper has not always agreed with the ideas and approaches of Sen...
...From Today, Nov...
...Testimonials from thirty-eight Senators and vaseline from twenty-four editorial pages (all in Florida) were spread across page after page of the lively Congressional Record-- Washington's equivalent of Mad magazine...
...Spessard Holland, it is genuinely saddened by his planned departure...
...If he had chosen to go that route, he would doubtless be in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown...
...Holland has more than earned his retirement...
...Ahem, eds...
...I shall miss Senator Holland and his lovely wife Mary...
...ERVIN, Mr...
...He's the sort of man you can't slow down," Mrs...
...AMEN Mr...
...President, I am grateful for this opportunity to express a few words...
...From the Palm Beach (Fla...
...One of these regrets is personal in nature...
...Spessard L. (Lindsey) Holland, senior senator from the great state of Florida, had announced that he would be retiring from the Cave of the Winds at the end of the then current session...
...Senator Spessard Holland that he will retire at the end of his present term is bad news for some and good news for others...
...Ledger, Nov...
...Democrat, Nov...
...Another six-year term beginning in 1971 would carry him well into his 80's...
...FULBRIGHT...
...President, it is a distinct pleasure for me to join the encomiums expressing respect and affection for our beloved colleague, the senior Senator from Florida...
...He is one of the few members of Congress whose personal fortune has decreased as a result of his service in the Senate...
...I would not want anybody to think that I am other than humble and other than understanding of the courtesy of the Senate and that I realize that many, many of these statements have been overgenerous...
...The senator's physicians say he may live to be 100 if he takes things a bit easier...
...From the Miami (Fla...
...True, he has not followed the path of the knee-jerk liberals...
...His retirement also marks the wane of an era in the Senate, the slow erosion of the conservative coalition that from time to time in the course of the nation's affairs turned back unwise or misguided plans of the liberal bloc in the Congress...
...Holland's creed...
...From the Sarasota (Fla...
...He has been a senator whose accomplishments for his state and nation have spoken more loudly than his words...
...With the accuracy that you have come to expect from The Alternative, we reprint below excerpts from that gassy potlatch: TRIBUTES TO THE HONORABLE SPESSARD L. HOLLAND, THE SENATOR FROM FLORIDA By Senator Gurney We are today Honoring one of the most distinugished members as his retirement-approaches - the distinguished senior Senator from Florida, the Honorable Spessard L. Holland...
...RUSSELL...
...Holland did his undergraduate work at Emory...
...This because time has changed, conditions have changed...
...15, 1969 FAITHFUL SERVANT Senator Spessard Holland has made a wise choice in stepping down next year, while he is still in command of his mental faculties...
...14, 1969 SENATOR HOLLAND'S DECISION ....a man of 77 who has been working for the same boss-the people-for 50 years has a right to call it quits and a claim on the gratitude of his employer...
...HOLLAND...
...Holland served eight years in the Florida Senate before he ran for Governor in 1940...
...I first heard about Spessard Holland when he was Governor of Florida, 25 years ago...
...Desiring to bring to our readers as much of the flavor of that historic flux de bibble-babble, the editorial board of this great journal has decided to publish specimens of how our statesmen disport themselves on the banks of the Potomac-at the taxpayers' expense...
...From the Lakeland (Fla...
...In the ensuing years, he was not a headline grabber, although he rose to ninth in seniority in the Senate....he was particularly effective in promoting the state's agricultural interests, the industry that ranks second to tourism...
...And as governor, he was instrumental in pledging gasoline tax revenues for highways...
...Saturday, 19 December was a typical day in the history of the Windy Ninety-First...
...Mr...
...From the Miami Beach (Fla...
...As far as I am concerned, I would like him to remain as a member of the Senate for the next 100 years...
...All the people of Florida join in the fervent hope that his angina attacks will not hamper him in serving out his 24th year in the Senate...
...Ledger, Nov...
...Sentinel, Nov...
...From the Florida Times-Union, Nov...
...He was an early holdout aganst civil rights legislation but mellowed...
...The words are those of a Polk County political figure of considerably less political stature than the man to whom he was referring, United States Senator Spessard Holland...
...He is a gentleman in all seasons...
...He was, in fact, offered a contract in 1916 by Connie Mack to play professional baseball with the Philadelphia Athletes...
...Herald-Tribune, Nov...
...The wisdom of his decision cannot be disputed...
...Senator Holland is, as we know, the father of our uniquely beautiful Everglades National Park...
...Herald, Nov...
...His retirement is hard-earned and well-deserved...
...Those of us who know him don't believe advanced age would be a handicap to a Spessard Holland...
...Thus, on this December morning, in the last gasping days of this magnificent session, Senators ' and Congressmen alike put aside their pressing business, pet boondoggles and fans, to pay tribute to the retiring Senator Holland...
...HOLLAND'S CAREER SPANS HALF A CENTURY Last Wednesday afternoon, Sen...
...Thousands of his fellow Floridians wish him many more years...
...SPARKMAN...
...From the Tampa (Fla...
...I've seen some people-good friends of mine-stay here (in the Senate) too long...
...From the Sun Sentinel, Nov...
...It was a recent attack of angina that made the senator bow out...
...I knew I could trust him all the way...
...Times, Nov...
...13, 1969 POOR HEALTH TO FORCE HOLLAND OUT OF SENATE Then he read a prepared statement, keeping control of his voice all the way through...
...He has exemplified what a public servant should be, one of whom we can say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant...
...President, all of us in public life must accept the march of time and anticipate the day...
...At the door and in the reception room outside, the women on his staff were crying quietly...
...From the Orlando (Fla...
...I was a welder in the shipyards, living in Tampa...
...He said he will not seek reelection in 1970 although he will serve out his present term...
...Ruth Fisher, Holland's personal secretary, said...
...But World War I in-terevened...
...PASTORE...
...AMEN N...
...President, I wish to join with my colleagues in the Senate in paying tribute to Spessard Holland who is voluntarily retiring from the Senate...
...He said they must "work together...
...His true friends and loyal supporters would not insist that he stay and die there, perhaps prematurely...
...Session said Holland should wear a black tie on election day, because it would bring him good luck...
...I have had the rare privilege of sitting just behind Spessard in the Senate Chamber for a number of years...
...He also called attention to the fact that he moved his announcement timetable ahead because Florida Democrats are planning a dinner...
...Sen...
...It would be a fitting gesture for all his constituents to thank him for a-job well done and to wish him health and happiness in the golden years ahead...
...The senator kept his constitutents informed of his activities in a homey newsletter, in which he frequently noted that "Mary and I" enjoyed meeting...
...Holland is the second-ranking Democrat on the Agriculture and Forestry Committee...
...14, 1969 BAD, GOOD NEWS The announcement by Florida's senior U.S...
...When the question came up a few years ago, Holland was one Senator who didn't hesitate to make a voluntary disclosure of his personal assets...
...I suggest that the fact our country has produced a man like Spessard Holland is cause for optimism...
...From the Evening Star Editorial, Nov...
...President, I am grateful for this opportunity to express a few words...
...I express my best wishes also to his wonderful wife, Miss Mary, as I call her...
...While governor of Florida, Holland lists the following as the greatest accomplishments during his administration: Lowering the intangible tax from five to two mills...
...Senator Holland was born in Bartow, Fla., on July 10, 1892...
...The canal, now about one fourth finished and which to date has cost $40 million, has been challenged in federal court...
...13, 1969 HOLLAND HAS SET PATTERN FOR SUCCESS IN SENATE However, Sen...
...Post, Nov...
...I shall miss Senator Holland and his lovely wife Mary...
...On election day, Tom Session, a 70-year-old Negro handyman at an Emory University fraternity house sent Holland a telegram...
...He has taken credit for rescuing the Cross-Florida Barge Canal project when it had been scuttled by the House Appropriations Committee in 1963...
...Holland has not been a flashy figure on the national scene...
...He thinks he has to be busy all the time...
...I rise on an occasion like this not to say good-bye but to say so long for a short period of time...
Vol. 4 • February 1971 • No. 4
