C.W. BILL YOUNG OF ST. PETERSBURG - ELECTED 1970

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00527R000100130016-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Content Type: BIO

Approved For Release 2010/03/24: CIA-RDP88B00527R000100130016-0
8 C W. Bill Young (R)
Of St. Petersburg - Elected 1970
Born: Dec. 16, 1930, Harmarville, Pa.
Education: Attended Pa. public schools.
Military Career. National Guard, 1948-57.
Occupation: Insurance executive.
Family: Wife, Marian Ford; three children.
Religion: Methodist.
Political Career. Fla. Senate, 1961-71, minority leader,
1967-71.
Capitol Office: 2266 Rayburn Bldg. 20515; 225-5961.
In Washington: Young's slick pompadour
hair style sometimes makes him look like a
middle-aged refugee from a 1950s' rock movie,
but he is in reality one of the more serious and
.effective conservatives in the House.
Congress has become increasingly auspi-
cious of multilateral foreign aid in recent years,
and Young is the man who has done most to
seize on the mood and intensify it. He left the
Appropriations subcommittee handling foreign
aid in 1981, saying he wanted to work on other
things, but he has never quite let go of the
issue. As a member of the Defense Appropria-
tions Subcommittee, he still argues for the need
to switch American aid priorities from eco-
nomic to military.
Young does not oppose U.S. participation
in institutions like the World Bank and Inter-
national Monetary Fund, but he has insisted
the United States should have more say in how
its money is spent. He has bitterly opposed
attempts to lend money to communist coun-
tries.
Young began to develop his reputation as a
scourge of foreign aid in 1977, when he shocked
the House with his successful amendment to
ban indirect U.S. aid to Cambodia, Laos, Viet-
nam or Uganda. The vote caused a dispute
between the House and Senate, which did not
go along with the ban. It ended only when
President Carter agreed to a compromise in-
structing U.S. officials of the programs to vote
against loans to those nations.
The following year, Young tried to attach
the same amendment to the foreign aid appro-
priations bill. Democratic leaders conducted a
massive lobbying campaign, one in which
church groups and even the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce applied pressure from the outside.
Young lost, 203-198.
But the trend was clearly the other way
and since then, backers of multilateral aid have
been in retreat. In 1979, World Bank President
Robert McNamara agreed there would be no
new loans to Vietnam in fiscal 1980. In 1980
Young's threat of numerous amendments killed
a bill authorizing a $3.24 billion contribution to
the International Development Agency, the
"soft loan" arm of the World Bank.
The Reagan administration has been sym-
pathetic to Young's views on foreign aid, caus-
ing him to play a slightly different role. When
his subcommittee reported a foreign aid appro-
priation in 1981, Young praised it as a "step in
the right direction" because the military assis-
tance levels were relatively high. On the floor,
though, he still refused to vote for it.
Earlier in the year he had backed off his
opposition to a massive budget reconciliation
bill after President Reagan personally tele-
phoned to urge him to support it despite the
inclusion of some World Bank money.
In 1982 the administration issued a report
calling for reductions in U.S. funding for the
World Bank, coupled with tighter controls on
use of the money in Third World nations.
Young admitted he was pleased. Even so, he
said, "it would be too much to ask me" to vote
for future World Bank funding.
On Defense Appropriations in the 97th
Congress, Young was one of the more militant
backers of the B-1 bomber against its numerous
critics. When opponents argued on the House
floor that the B-1 would soon be made obsolete
by advanced Stealth aircraft technology, Young
held up a paper airplane and said, "This plane
in my hand is really the only Stealth bomber
we have now or will have in the near future."
Young also used the Defense Subcommit-
tee to fight for a proposed headquarters of the
U.S. Rapid Deployment Force at MacDill Air
Force Base in Tampa, near his district. The
Appropriations Committee reduced the fund-
ing for the headquarters in 1981 by $9 million,
largely because the Air Force no longer wanted
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C. W. lull Young, R-F1..
Florida 8
In 1954, the influence of the conserva-
tive retirement community in St. Peters-
burg helped to elect Florida's first 20th-
century Republican House member,
William C. Cramer. In the years since then,
two-party competition has just about
ceased. The retirees who have settled in St.
Pete - many of them storekeepers, office
workers and civil servants from the small-
town Midwest - have brought their Repub-
lican preferences to Florida with them.
St. Petersburg, or St. Pete, as it is
known, has become more than just a haven
for retirees in recent years, but the city -
like the district as a whole - remains
constant in its affection for the GOP. Not
too long ago, the St. Pete economy was
mostly service oriented, geared to the needs
of tourists and elderly residents. The morn-
ing rush hour saw many younger workers
from St. Pete driving to jobs in Tampa,
which provided employment in a greater
variety of fields.
But during the last decade, St. Peters-
burg sought to broaden its economic base by
stressing that it offers a good climate for
West
St. Petersburg
business investment. That promotional ef-
fort has been quite successful. Some exist-
ing manufacturers expanded, and new ones
moved in. Now, St. Pete and Pinellas
County firms such as I.B.M., E-Systems,
Sperry and Honeywell are busy with re-
search, development, production and mar-
keting of a broad range of computers, com.
munications equipment and other high-
technology items.
The median age of the Pinellas County
population dropped during the decade be-
cause so many young people attracted to
well-paying jobs moved into the area. A
number of the major employers and subcon-
tractors are engaged in defense-related
work, and their employees have been enthu-
siastic about President Reagan and the
GOP.
Population: 512,909. White 463,124
(90%), Black 44,983 (9%), Asian and Pa-
cific Islander 2,418 (1%). Spanish origin
7,616 (2%). 18 and over 413,853 (81%). 65
and over 141,405 (28%). Median age: 45.
to build it there, but Young added it again on
the House floor.
Young has made useful committee alli-
ances across ideological lines. When some
Appropriations conservatives wanted to block
liberal Silvio O. Conte of Massachusetts from
becoming the panel's ranking Republican,
Young put ideology aside and helped round up
votes for Conte. Later Conte supported Young
over others for the Defense vacancy.
Young is equally willing to play down
ideology when it comes to money for his dis-
trict. On the Appropriations subcommittee
dealing with housing matters, he regularly tries
to increase housing funds for the elderly, a
prime concern in his St. Petersburg constitu-
ency. In 1978 Young tried to add $100 million
for housing for the elderly on the House floor,
but was defeated. In 1980, after a ship ran into
the Sunshine Skyway bridge near St. Peters-
burg, Young managed to wrest $50 million for
repairs from the highway trust fund.
Young has been careful to separate himself
from efforts in the Reagan administration to
cut back on Social Security benefits. In 1981 he
led a group of several House Republicans in
demanding a meeting with Reagan to discuss
the issue. Later, when the president seemed to
change his mind about Social Security, Young
boasted that "I led the charge on him to back
off."
At Home: A high school dropout from a
Pennsylvania mining town, Young worked his
way to success in the insurance business before
going into politics in 1960. Ten years later, he
inherited Florida's most dependable Republi-
can seat from Rep. William C. Cramer, who left
it to him when he ran for the U.S. Senate in
1970.
Young had known Cramer a long time. He
had met the congressman at a Rotary Club
barbecue in 1955, worked in his 1956 campaign
and was hired as Cramer's district aide in 1957.
In 1960 the Pinellas County GOP organization
urged Young to challenge a veteran Democratic
state senator. He won, and took office as the
only Republican in the state Senate. By 1967,
he had more than 20 others as company, and
was minority leader.
When Cramer announced for the Senate in
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1970, there was little question who would re-
place him. Young won 76 percent of the pri-
mary vote and 67 percent in the general elec-
tion. Since then it has been even easier. In 1980
and 1982, Young was unopposed in both the
primary and general election.
In 1981 a number of prominent Republi-
cans were looking for established politicians to
challenge Gov. Robert Graham and U.S. Sen.
Committees
Appropriations (8th of 21 Republicans)
Defense; labor-Health and Human Services-Education.
Beset 0 , m Iigettea (3rd of 5 Republicans)
Oversight and Evaluation, ranking; Program and Budget Au-
tho(W lore.
1192 0e era
C. W. Bill Young (R)
Elections
1999 funeral
C. W. Bin Young (R) Unopposed
Previous Winning parantagee 197$ (79%) 1979 (65%)
1174 (76%) 1972 (76%) 1979 (67%)
District rob For president
1910 1979
D 97,234 (41%) D 98,426 (49%)
R 124,802 (53%) a 100.586 (50%)
I 12,290 ( 5%)
Campaign Finance
Expend-
III aaipta from PACs litures
1912
Young (R) $131,192 $35,650 (27%) $50,020
1919
Young (R) $61,029 $8,050 (13%) $61,313
Voting Studies
Support Udty CosiNes
Year $ 0 a 0 9 0
1992 74 16 74 17t 84 5
1991 72 24 83 12 88 7
Florida - 8th Disfrkt
Lawton Chiles, both Democrats. These GOP
leaders intensively courted Young and Republi-
can Rep. L. A. "Skip" Bafalis to run for higher
office in 1982. Young pondered a statewide
race, then ruled it out, a decision that seemed
wise in retrospect. Bafalis took a chance on the
gubernatorial contest and was able to win only
a dismal 35 percent of the vote against the
popular Graham.
1979 30 68 89 9 96 3
197$ 31 68 83 14 92 7
1979 69 29 84 16 88 10
1975 55 40 82 11 87 10
1973 63 31 79 16 78 15
1972 65 32 76 20 76 17
1971 81 16 86 8 89 6
S - Support 0 - Opposition
t Not alipib a for all recorded votes.
Key Votes
Reagan budget proposal (1981) Y
Legal services reauthorization (1981) N
Distipprove sale of Index ~ taxes (1981) planes to Saudi Arabia (1981) Y
Subsidize home mortgage rates (1982) Y
Amend Constitution to require balanced budget (1982) Y
Delete MX funding (1982) N
Retain Adopt nuclear freeze (1993) esaionsi salaries (1982) N
Interest Group Ratings
ADA ACA AFL-00 CCU$
10 73 5 80
5 83 7 94
11 88 11 76
11 92 26 88
10 93 15 78
10 83 17 94
5 89 30 69
16 93 13 82
4 86 0 70
16 92 27 82
13 87 19 90
5 97 8 -
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