CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP75-00149R000500010024-3
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RIPPUB
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K
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1
Document Creation Date: 
December 15, 2016
Document Release Date: 
April 2, 2004
Sequence Number: 
24
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Publication Date: 
June 23, 1967
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OPEN
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Approved For Release 2004/04/08 : Cl S S722 Dodd's weaknesses and leaned over back- ,irds to be fair to him, nevertheless they were airtight in the findings they made. Sen. John Stennis of Mississippi, the Dem- acratlc Chairman, we have reported to be "a courtly philosopher," with such a reputa- tion for fairness that he has been in the presiding officer's chair more than Alben Barkley. No noisy demagogue like his pred- ecessor Bilbo, he says that the wage-hour law was a boon to the South by raising its economic level .. , At a prcyer breakfast where Democrats and Republicans forgot re- agious differences as w911 as political ones, Stennis sounded the keynote by calling for a return to spirituality. This column has sometimes reported critically regarding Sen. Stennis' position bn civil rights, but never regarding his honesty and fairness. n `'.MON TEACHER Sen. Wai:.,. Bennett, Republican co- chairman of the ethics committee, is mar- ried to the daughter of the late Heber Grant, president of the Mormon Church. Bennett for many years taught in the Mormon Sun- day School of the Chevy Chase Chapel and today, though he no longer teaches, is a reg- ular attendant. We have reported that Bennett is the for- mer president of the National Manufacturers Association and follows the conservative policies of that organization. He has been opposed to most of the economic policies of the Truman, Kennedy and Johnson Admin- istrations, but he has been consistent and honest in that opposition. Sen. John Sherman Cooper (R-Ky.) is a former Ambassador to India, where he did an outstanding job, and has held many spe- cial diplomatic posts. We have reported that Sen. Cooper follows a broad bipartisan policy on foreign affairs and frequently has been called in by Demo- cratic Presidents for consultation. He was especially useful in advising Mr. Kennedy how to handle the Berlin problem at the very start of his Administration, though Mr, Kennedy spurned the advice. Sen. Mike Monroney (D-Okla.) has served in Congress longer than any other member of the ethics committee. As a young mem- ber of the House of Representatives, he re- ceived the Collier's Distinguished Service Award for his work in attempting to stream. line legislative procedures. He was coauthor of the congressional reorganization bill with the late Sen. Robert La Follette and more re- cently sponsored a bill for Senate reorgani- zation. As a young Congressman, Monroney had the courage to vote against an oil price in- crease though he comes from a big oil-pro ducing state, and against the farm bloc on subsidies though Oklahoma 'is also an im- portant agricultural state. UP FROM RANKS Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy (P-Minn.) is an- other legislator who came up from the ranks in the House of Representatives. We have described him as "having a spotless family life . . . studied for the priesthood, has the confidence of labor and farmers, is the idol of liberals in both the House and the Sen- ate." Generally he has tried to plug tax loop. holes from his vantage point inside the Sen- ate Finance Committee and has fought a /courageous war against Central. Intelligence Y Agency secrecy. McCarthy is an old personal friend of Sen. Dodd, and at one time proposed secret rather than public Dodd hearings; in the end, he put Senate ethics ahead of personal friend. ship and voted to recommend Dodds cen- sure. ` Sen. James B. Pearson (R-Kan.) is a new- comer to the Senate and the youngest mem- ber of the ethics committee. However, he has, also been one of the most forthright in CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE ' June 23, 1967 cross-examining witnesses and one of the toughest in urging that the Senate maintain a high standard of ethics. Originally a Virginian, Pearson served in Kansas during the war, liked it and returned to live there and engage in Republican poll- tics. He has just been reelected for a full 6-year term. These are the men who spent more than a year conscientiously hearing testimony and carefully scrutinizing the record of their colleague from Connecticut. They are not susceptible to political blackmail, and we resent Sen. Long's'implicatlon that we might resort to such tactics. (From the Washington Post, June 18, 19671 POLIi'CAL HEIRS IN DODO CASE: Huz LONC'S SON AND BILDo's SucCzssoa ARE SENATE OPPONENTS rN ET.AICs TRIAL (By Drew Pearson) The man who probably came closest to be- coming an American dictator during this century was the late Sen. Huey Long of Louisiana. And the man who was his cohort and colleague in dominating the neighbor- ing state of Mississippi was the late Sen. Theodore Bilbo. Today, Russell Long, son of Huey, and Sen. John Stennis, who replaced Bilbo, are battling it out on the Senate floor as the defender and accuser of another Senator charged with a conflict of 'interest-Tom .Dodd of Connecticut. It's one of the most Important debates of this century. When Russell Long first was elected to the Senate one day short of the age of 30, It was said that he took after his mother, a strict disciplinarian, Today, Russell seems to be veering more and more toward the character- istics of his delightful and unpredictable father, His father, elected during the height of the Hoover depression, was never happy unless he held the center of the stage. He made a production of everything, from a Senate speech to mixing salad dressing or getting dressed in the morning. He used to call one of his bodyguards, Murray Rodin, to get him the exact color shoes to match his brown tie, as he held press conferences while showering in the morning. He would come to dine at my house in Georgetown, accompanied by three body- guards. He left one in the street, one in the garden and one came inside. When the salad was served, Huey would demand that he mix .the dressing. For 20 minutes he would call for rare pepper and spices, lemons and olive oil, all the time performing the gestures of a high priest at a sacred ritual. Huey, who preached "every man a king," had a tremendous following among the red- necks of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. He was killed by an assassin's bullet in Sep- the afternoon. Russell becomes more and .more loquacious' as he sips more and more bourbon. Sen. Long's protagonist in the Dodd debate is stern, solemn, sedate John Stennis of Mis- sissippi, chairman of the Ethics Committee. Bilbo was forced out of the Senate under circumstances somewhat similar to the facts in the case of Tom Dodd. This column re- vealed on Oct. 26, 1946, that war contractors had built for Sen. Biblo an artificial lake, with an Island in the middle, constructed a dream house on the Island, put furniture in the house, bought the Senator a Cadillac, and contributed $25,000. In return, Bilbo had secured for them $3,527,263.39 in war contracts, chiefly at Key Field and Keesler Field in Mississippi. After the column was published. Bilbo was asked to step aside when the Senate re- convened in January, 1947, and he was never permitted to take his seat. Some Senators are puzzled over why Long has become such an impassioned, uncontrol- lable defender of Dodd. Russell is not a close friend of Dodd's. Their two states have little in common. Yet Russell makes speeches de- fending Dodd on any and every occasion. Speaking before the building trades unions at the Washington Hilton Hotel last week, Russell delivered his usual impassioned plea for Dodd. He called Dodd a victim of perse- cution, unfairly treated, and a man who would stick by his friends. ? "I'm not going to turn my back on Dodd," proclaimed Long. "He's my friend, and he can be your friend. He'll stick by his friends." Long appeared to be insinuating that Dodd might help the building trades unions in their current drive to abolish Section 8B4b of the Taft-Hartley Act, which bans sec- ondary boycotts. This ban has been used indirectly to force the building trades unions to admit Negroes. One notable case took place when the St. Louts Gateway Arch was being rushed to completion; and the Interior Department, in charge of national shrines and monuments, undertook to get Negro plumbers employed in building the visitors' center. The contractor at first said he had tried to hire Negroes but couldn't find any, When the Interior Department insisted, he finally employed Elijah Smith, a small Negro con., tractor. Whereupon all the building trades. unions walked off the job, shutting down the entire project. Elijah Smith's plumbers, belonged to the "Congress of Independent Unions," not to the building trades unions. The Interior Department immediately in- voked section 8B4b before the National Labor' Relations Board, which found that the build- ing trades stoppages was a secondary boy- cott. It ordered the unions back to work. They complied. But since then the build.., ,ing trades unions have been trying harder than ever to abolish section 8B4b Taft- Hartley. Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, does that complete action on the resolution? Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I think the Senate is entitled to hear from me, if the majority leader will yield to me. Mr. MANSFIELD. Yes, I yield. ? tember, 11935, just as he reached for more power. Today, his son, the junior Senator from Louisiana, has developed his father's rotund stomach, his manner of flailing the air with Jlis arms when he talks, and his habit of walking all over the Senate floor. During the Dodd debate, Russell sat beside Albert Deutsch, the New Orleans attorney appointed to defend Dodd, then got up to go sit with ,the Republicans, then interrupted the Speaker with a question. Finally, lie walked out of the room comically shaking his head. Up to a point, Russell has followed his father's Robin Hood strategy of soaking the rich and helping the poor. But when it comes to oil and its tremendous tax concessions.' Russell votes right down the line for oil. He is a stockholder In the prosperous "Win- or-Lose Oil Company," with valuable off- shore oil concessions. Russell has his father's sense of humor, his twinkling eyes, his restless energy. But be has not -inherited his father's ability to bold pie liquor. As senate sessions wear ,into Mr. DODD. I shall not delay the Sen ate. I have never tried to do so. I am grateful to those who have expressed some confidence in my character, in any event. I said this morning, I believe now, I shall continue to believe, that history will justify my conduct and my char- acter. I want to repeat what I said this morning. I am not bitter toward anyone they all did what they thought was right within, their -lights. I want' them. to go Approved For Release 2004/04/08 : C14 TAT T .fo fc ?h, I lc 2n tc STAT