More Statesmen and Mischief Makers: Members of Congress and Their Contributions to History from Kennedy Through Reagan

By Scott Crass

Accomplishments, associations and anecdotes - that is what this book encompasses. Previous volumes of Statesmen and Mischief Makers have portrayed members of Congress from the eras of John F. Kennedy through Ronald Reagan whose stories were the subject of fantastic tidbits. This volume is no exception but the emphasis is on the unknown men - and a few women – who were either at the center of now famous laws or had high-profile roles in historic events. It depicts those with close proximity to those who appeared on a national ticket, either as Congressional friends or opponents. These individuals never achieved the fame or only had a mere 15 minutes of it, which suited them fine. Yet their stories should be adequately told. The many obscure members of the House Judiciary Committee who negotiated the endgame of Watergate, for example, should stand out. Those who helped forge indelible advancement on civil/gender rights, education and wilderness protection, to name a few, should be household names. Ditto for those who labored long and hard for government efficiency and consumer protection, taking on the high and mighty to do so. Finally, there are humble, revered people who never sought recognition beyond their home turf or public policy initiatives they were promoting. That’s what makes these individuals special – and worthy of remembrance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669868583

Scott Crass

The author’s first word could easily have been “politics.” Scott Crass’s passion for politics may have been fueled by his first book on U.S. presidents, given to him by his mother, Madeline, at the ripe young age of 5. He quickly wore out the pages, prompting his mother to buy a replacement. Scott has been a devoted student of Presidential and Congressional politics ever since. Scott obtained his B.A. in Political Science and Communications from Monmouth University in Long Branch, N.J., and achieved his M.A. in Counseling at the same institution. A New Jersey native, Scott has always been drawn to his beloved Jersey Shore, where he enjoys spending much of his free time. Besides politics and the Shore, Scott is a fan of music of all kinds, including oldies, swing, Strauss waltzes and the sounds of another Jersey treasure, Frank Sinatra. He lives in South Brunswick, N.J and thrives by a personal motto, “Failure is only our enemy if it does not serve as our guide.”

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Copyright © 2023 by Scott Crass.

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Rev. date: 04/06/2023

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CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1:     Pike Didn’t Take Himself Seriously – But Took Responsibilities Darned Seriously

Chapter 2:     New York’s Rosenthal, A Congressman with a Fair Amount of Chutzpah A Crusader Of Many Liberal Causes

Chapter 3:     Judd Last Person with 19th Century Birthdate to Have Name Placed in Nomination for President; Authored Landmark Pro-Immigration Legislation

Chapter 4:     Ohio’s McCulloch an Obscure Giant of the Civil Rights Movement

Chapter 5:     Litton: A Real-Life Rural Folk Hero Whose Future in Presidential Politics was Snuffed Out by a Plane Crash

Chapter 6:     Bartlett Played Most Pivotal Role of Any Alaskan in Securing Statehood

Chapter 7:     Saxbe, Respected Ohio Senator and Nixon’s Attorney General, as Independent as A Hog on Ice

Chapter 8:     Tydings Instrumental in JFK’s Advancement in Maryland in 1960 and had Many Indelible Accomplishments for America

Chapter 9:     Was Phil Burton Capitol Hills Genius Or Madman? Probably Both

Chapter 10:   A Kentucky Woman and a Gentleman: A 1968 Senate Campaign of Model Standards

Chapter 11:   Jennings Randolph: The Last New Dealer in Congress and Father of Giving 18 Year Olds Right to Vote

Chapter 12:   Monroney was the Senate’s Mr. Aviation

Chapter 13:   Anderson New Mexico’s Most Important Senator, the Father of Wilderness

Chapter 14:   Nevada Senator the Bible for National Parks and the Kennedy Silver Dollar

Chapter 15:   Howard Cannon - The 48-Vote Man: No Vegas Pizzazz but a Boy Who Loved Life: Led Airline and Trucking Deregulations

Chapter 16:   Oregon’s Neuberger the Senator Behind the Warning Labels for Cigarettes

Chapter 17:   The Perkins Grants Named for Kentucky Congressman Whose Impact Enormous

Chapter 18:   Martha Griffiths: Mother of ERA and Title VII

Chapter 19:   Edith Green: Mother of Title IX and Abundance of Higher Ed Firsts

Chapter 20:   Sullivan Only Female to Oppose ERA but Pushed Through Food Stamps and Truth-In Lending

Chapter 21:   Hathaway of Maine had Compelling War Story – And Paved Way for Women to Enter Military Academies

Chapter 22:   Moss Pushed through Freedom of Information Act and Countless Consumer Measures

Chapter 23:   Daniels Made Enactment of OSHA a Reality

Chapter 24:   Dent a Champion of the Working Class – And Founding Father of ERISA

Chapter 25:   Moorhead at Forefront of the National Endowment of Arts, Consumer Affairs and Privacy Legislation

Chapter 26:   Mr. Public Health Fogarty Sent the NIH Budget Soaring: Championed Endless Laws for the Blind, Deaf and Retarded

Chapter 27:   Mel Price Southern Illinois Most Dominant Figure for 40 Years and a Leader on Atomic Energy

Chapter 28:   Charles Vanik, Other Half of Jackson/Vanik Deserves Accolades

Chapter 29:   Ex-Iowa Congressman Greigg’s Signature on Watergate Break-in Complaint Gave History Changing Event Legs

Chapter 30:   Railsback, Leader of the Fragile Coalition Negotiated for Nixon Impeachment

Chapter 31:   Usually Content to Work Behind the Scenes, McClory Authored Article III of Impeachment and Brokered Deal That Led to Nixon Resignation

Chapter 32:   The Gentleman from Roanoke: Butler Asked Fragile Coalition for Consensus on Impeachment

Chapter 33:   Flowers’ Watergate Service Completed Trip from Wallace Confidante to Statesman

Chapter 34:   Bill Hungate Perhaps Most Underrated Judiciary Member During Watergate

Chapter 35:   Danielson Served on the House Judiciary Committee with Distinction

Chapter 36:   Nixon Defender Wiggins Urged Him To Resign After Reading Tape Transcripts

Chapter 37:   Mann, a South Carolinian to the Core, An Integral Part of the Fragile Coalition

Chapter 38:   Maryland’s Hogan First Judiciary Republican to Back Impeachment – and Only Republican to Back All Three Counts

Chapter 39:   Watergate Catastrophic for House Republicans in 1974, Particularly Nixon Defenders Until the End

Chapter 40:   MacGregor Headed Committee to Re-elect the President but It’s Not What You Think

Chapter 41:   Wolverine Brown Quashed Watergate Investigation Before ’72 Election

Chapter 42:   Smith Appointed to JFK’s Senate Seat in 1961

Chapter 43:   Stratton Aimed to Stop Bobby Kennedy from Capturing Democratic Senate Nomination in New York

Chapter 44:   South Dakota’s Mundt, Sponsored Early Anti-Communism Bill with Nixon; Senate Seat Unattended for Three Years Following Stroke

Chapter 45:   The Morton Brothers –Thruston and Rogers Enjoyed Capitol Hill Respect: Realistic and Able Pols with Close Proximity to Nixon and Ford

Chapter 46:   Ford Began Rise Through The House by Ousting Hoeven as Minority Whip

Chapter 47:   Ford Unseated Halleck as Republican Leader in 1965

Chapter 48:   Cederberg Ford’s Michigan Colleague in House and Among 3⁸th President’s Closest Friends

Chapter 49:   Wisconsin Republicans Byrnes and Davis had Close Proximity to Nixon and Ford in Congress and in Life

Chapter 50:   Vander Veen, A Democrat Won Ford’s House Seat When He Became VP

Chapter 51:   Wisconsin Republicans Byrnes and Davis had Close Proximity to Nixon and Ford in Congress and in Life

Chapter 52:   Nice Guy Laxalt Was the Reagans First Friend

Chapter 53:   Usually Content to Work Behind the Scenes, Rep. McClory Authored Impeachment Article III and Brokered a Deal That Led to Nixon’s Resignation

Chapter 54:   Dreaming no Little Dreams, Kent Hance Beat George W. Bush for Congress in 1978

Chapter 55:   Quayle’s Career Began with Defeat of 911 Emergency Founding Father Roush in 1976

Chapter 56:   Kathleen Sebelius’s Father-in-Law Was Kansas Congressman Who Lost to Dole

Chapter 57:   Dole Held Off Adverse 1962 Redistricting to Beat Breeding

Chapter 58:   Congressman and Physician Roy Nearly Discharged Dole From Senate In 1974

Chapter 59:   Maryland’s Beall Beat Pelosi’s Father In ’58 Senate Race

Chapter 60:   Some Like Them Old: North Dakota Senators Kept In Office Into Their 80s

Chapter 61:   McNamara Roots Were Geared Toward The Working Class As Were His Ideals: Legacy Was Fairness In Service Contracts

Chapter 62:   Five Congressman Were Shot by Puerto Rican Nationalists on House Floor in 1954

Chapter 63:   Dawson First African-American to Chair a House Committee

Chapter 64:   Keogh Presided Over the House’s Nine Day Debate of Civil Rights Act

Chapter 65:   Giaimo and Daddario Two Proud Italian-Americans and Sources of Pride for Connecticut

Chapter 66:   Idaho’s Two Women in Congress Since Statehood Vastly Different

Chapter 67:   Catherine May First Woman to Serve in Congress from Washington State

Chapter 68:   Butler-Hansen Proved She Could Give as Good as She Got in Male Dominated House

Chapter 69:   Ralph Harding Took on John Birch Society Early and Paid the Ultimate Political Price

Chapter 70:   New York’s Bill Ryan Waged Lonely but Vigorous Battles On Social Progress and Vietnam

Chapter 71:   Conable was Batavia, New York’s Commoner, Not Congressman; Made Famous Smoking Gun, Phrase During Watergate and Put the K in 401K

Chapter 72:   New York’s McEwen a Key Architect in Landing ’80 Olympics at Lake Placid

Chapter 73:   District Containing Cooperstown, New York Hit Home Run with Donald Mitchell as its Congressman

Chapter 74:   Gunn McKay a Special Public Servant to his Country, Colleagues and Constituency

Chapter 75:   McCormack a Rare Scientist in the House – and a Founding Father of World-Class Energy Initiatives

Chapter 76:   Nix, Pennsylvania’s First African-American Congressman Anything But Distinct

Sources

Cover Images

Top Row:

Representative Otis Pike (D-New York); Representative Walter Judd (R-Minnesota); Representative Jerry Litton (D-Missouri); Senator Joseph Tydings (D-Maryland); Congressman William McCulloch (R-Ohio)

Middle Row

Representative Robert McClory (R-Illinois); Senator Mike Monroney (D-Oklahoma); Senator Jennings Randolph (D-West Virginia); Senator/Attorney General William Saxbe (R-Ohio); Representative Gracie Pfost (D-Idaho)

Bottom Row

Senator William Hathaway (D-Maine); Representative Tom Railsback (R-Illinois); Senator Bob Bartlett (D-Alaska); Representative Mike McCormack (D-Washington); Senator Paul Laxalt (R-Nevada)

Prologue

H istorically, when sweeping policy changes or statutes of indelible consequence are signed into law, Presidents receive the credit. There is good reason for that. Without the Chief Executive putting pen to paper, these advancements would stand no chance of becoming reality. In most cases, though, a President’s signature is simply the culmination of a long battle to make an idea or proposal reality. Quite often, members of Congress are the people who nurture proposals from inception to the President’s desk. Like a train leaving its first station, the legislative process often starts with a handful of people on board until slowly at each stop, more passengers hop on and before long there’s a full car with people standing in the aisles. Often times, a bill becoming law is no different.

Allow me to offer examples. President Lyndon Johnson is most commonly associated with the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well he should be. A handful of universally known Senators such as Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Everett Dirksen of Illinois also played leading roles. But have you ever heard of Bill McCulloch? If you haven’t, you’re not alone. The Republican Congressman from Ohio, with his keen legal mind and unmatched skill for negotiation, deserves as much credit as anyone for the law’s passage. That is reflected to some extent in his prominent place in photos as Johnson signed the bill into law.

Key initiatives such as Title IX (which outlaws gender discrimination in educational activities), the creation of an agency to regulate consumer affairs, and student loan programs all were made possible by the perseverance and legislative talents of individuals such as Edith Green of Oregon, Ben Rosenthal of New York and Carl Perkins of Kentucky. On non-social policy, did you know that a congressman from Sacramento named John Moss labored for a dozen years before successful passage of the Freedom of Information Act? That the efforts of an Oklahoma Senator named Mike Monroney on aviation and his New Mexico colleague Clinton Anderson on wilderness resulted in such sweeping advancements for those endeavors that they earned the names Mr. Aviation and Mr. Wilderness respectively?

You might know that countless Jews from Eastern European nations with strict immigration policy were allowed to come to America because of a simple rider tucked into a spending measure by a universally well-known politician, Senator Henry Scoop Jackson for whom a chapter in a prior version is composed? Were you also aware that another man, Representative Charles Vanik of Ohio, sponsored the measure in the House? Again, you wouldn’t be in the minority if you weren’t as Vanik will never achieve the recognition he deserves. And while it is well-known that the Vietnam War had many opponents even in its earliest days, figures such as Rosenthal and fellow New Yorker William Ryan were at the forefront of efforts to end funding very soon after boots landed on the ground in Hanoi. The names of these individuals may have the look and sound of footnotes in history, but in reality, they were prime movers and shakers of our national direction. This book also will show, incidentally that not all personalities were created equal – Monroney was beloved by colleagues and staff while Anderson was despised for being nasty.

It goes without saying that some quests for societal change do not involve the White House, and the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is one representation. Because such an amendment would involve amending the Constitution, a President would not theoretically have to be involved. In fact, the long fight for the ratification of the ERA involved a few determined members of Congress such as Martha Griffiths of Michigan. Its failure to pass after more than a decade of efforts marked one of the rare defeats for advocates of social progress. Though the measure cleared both Houses of Congress, proponents were unable to muster the two-thirds of legislative chambers required to amend the Constitution, and the fight was abandoned in the early 1980s.

Senator Jennings Randolph of West Virginia had more success in his quest to amend the Constitution to give 18-year-olds the right to vote in 1971. That’s enough of a legacy, but Randolph continued to cement his place in history. He saw through the Interstate Highway System and at the end of his career gained more distinction as the last New Deal-era member of Congress to leave office.

Yes, Randolph was successful in his endeavors, while Griffiths and other members fell short. However, all deserve to be remembered in the annals of history and that is only part of where this volume of Statesmen and Mischief Makers comes in.

Let’s look at others. My first chapter is devoted to Otis Pike, a Democratic Congressman from New York. The eastern Long Island district that Pike represented was so Republican that he’d often joke, I’m surrounded on three sides by water and on the fourth by Republicans. Pike confronted his designation as an endangered specie by being unique. He was a perennial straight-shooter, sometimes irascible and often sarcastic but a Congressman voters and colleagues knew was authenic. He was not enamored by the prestige of being a member of Congress and refused to throw the weight around that the territory that is known as Capitol Hill practically demanded of him. This one-of-a-kind public servant did not enjoy name recognition outside of New York but were he better known, it is easy to imagine envy from residents in the 434 other Congressional districts for the people represented by Pike.

In many instances, the term footnotes in history go well beyond policy and encompass simple moments in time. The Watergate scandal, particularly the investigations and hearings by the House Judiciary Committee, catapulted men and women from both houses of Congress to holding national reputations. Yet while the names Peter Rodino, Barbara Jordan and perhaps Elizabeth Holtzman are the members of Congress most associated with Watergate (and are profiled in volume one), the scandal allowed many junior members to shape what ultimately resulted in the only resignation by a U.S. President. Republicans Tom Railsback of Illinois and Caldwell Butler of Virginia and Democrat Walter Flowers of Alabama were among three members of the Fragile Coalition or The Unholy Alliance as The New York Times labeled them. Countless meetings led to the drafting of Article One of impeachment.

Unbeknownst to even some historians, the impact of Robert McClory, even exceded that. While the mild-mannered Illinoisan did gain a more than sufficient 15-minutes of fame for drafting Article III of impeachment, few are aware of his inadvertent contribution to among the most consequential Presidential decisions in decades; the pardon by Gerald Ford of his predecessor. As Nixon resisted resigning even after the adoption of the Articles by Judiciary, McClory hoped assurances from key Democrats to not prosecute him would finally convince him to call it a career, and he conveyed that to the White House. Nixon announced his departure the next day but the pledge went over poorly with the increasingly younger and liberal members of the Democratic caucus who wanted the book thrown at the 37th President. The rebelliousness of those individuals meant the only way that agreement could be honored was for Ford to step in and issue the pardon. Tidbits like that are inherently fascinating.

Others needn’t be in the midst of the Judiciary deliberations to be footnotes. Stan Greigg once represented Iowa in Congress but was chairing the Democratic National Committee at the time of the burglary at the National Committee. When police notified him, Greigg asked, Did you catch the kids? (the kids were grown men in business suits).

Next we explore members of Congress who had proximity to the politicians who did become household names, whether before or during. Richard Nixon served in Congress prior to the Executive Branch and sponsored bills with Senators such as Karl Mundt of South Dakota and Norris Cotton of New Hampshire. Gerald Ford had many friends during his quarter of a century in Congress and I profiled a handful. Yet Ford rose through the ranks by successfully challenging two Congressional leaders named Charlie, both with the initials C.H. (Charlie Hoeven of Iowa and Charlie Halleck of Indiana.). Those are pretty big footnotes to history. Even the careers of men who didn’t reach the top prize such as Robert F. Kennedy or Robert J. Dole created footnotes. Sam Stratton was a Representative from the Albany-Schenectady area who in 1964 very much coveted a U.S. Senate seat. Kennedy was eyeing the seat as well and Democratic powers that be made clear that the brother of the recently assassinated President was their man. Stratton vowed to press forward but ultimately yielded to political reality. Dole preserved his political durability by making second fiddles of current or future Congressional figures and Keith Sebelius, Floyd Breeding and Bill Roy. Those campaigns are linked to a number of chapters. A Nevada icon maned Paul Laxalt was so close with Ronald Reagan that he earned the title First Friend. First daughter Chelsea Clinton’s father-in-law was a two-term Iowa Congressman who served on the Judiciary Committee during Watergate.

Another key component of the book are the terms statesmen and mischief makers themselves. I’ll explore the former first. As elected officials, the word Honorable automatically appears before any members name but the beauty is none of the statesmen would ever be caught with dishonorable before their names. Their characters were impenetrable, and they couldn’t fall prey to the viciousness of campaigns or the sinister ways of Washington D.C. if they tried. Stan Tupper fits that mold. The Maine Republican had a relatively brief tenure of six years, but his refusal to engage in cheap shots even against opponents against whom he was not always favored made him a public servant of the highest probity. Democrats Gunn McKay of Utah and Mike McCormack of Washington and New York Republicans Robert McEwen and Donald Mitchell were of similar pedigree.

Like all of my prior volumes, this book profiles a number of firsts. William Dawson of Illinois was the first African-American to chair an Appropriations Subcommittee and Julia Butler Hansen of Washington was the first female to do so, and man, did she have a reputation. One loyal employee, when asked if he had seen the movie Patton replied, I work for her. What rounds out the book are the uplifting legacies of men and women that should be preserved.

A prior volume of Statesmen and Mischief Makers profiled a few members who died untimely deaths. Sadly, this one is no different save for the fact that at least two were on a path to national greatness. Telegenic Missouri Congressman Jerry Litton was on his way to the Senate in 1976 - and possibly higher - when a primary night plane crash took his life and five others, including his wife, two children and two members of the crew who were also family friends. Two years later, a Wisconsin Republican, Bill Steiger was felled by a heart attack at age 40 when he too was at the pinnacle of his influence – he was very close to George H.W. Bush just as he was embarking on national importance. Steiger’s name in fact was bandied about as a possible Speaker of a future Republican House.

As I mentioned in my previous prologues, my singular mission is to tell stories, particularly of officeholders who aren’t well known but ought to be. Their contributions to political history were indelible and in many instances cannot be overstated. Everything above is a synopsis of some of those stories.

Again, I would like to thank my editor, Alexa Marotta, for always giving her all by indulging in what for her, undoubtedly borders on tedious. In some instances, it’s not speculation to say she’d probably preferring watching grass grow. That by itself makes her gifted at what she does.

Happy Reading!

CHAPTER ONE

Pike Didn’t Take Himself Seriously – But

Took Responsibilities Darned Seriously

Historic Tidbit: When LBJ exited a plane on a visit to Vietnam, he proceeded to a waiting plane. The military aide told Johnson, Your plane is over there, to which he replied, Son, they’re all my planes.

image002.jpg

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Congress Printing Office

O n his passing in 2014, the subject on which I am writing was hailed as a true treasure to the nation as he should be.

His name was Otis Pike and he represented Long Island as a Democrat for 18 years – not an easy undertaking. His national importance was due to his foresightedness on intelligence matters and his commonsense frugality on fiscal affairs. On both, he was ahead of the curve. Yet those weren’t his only special gifts nor do they come close to summing up his legacy. Pike was what longtime confidant Joe Quinn called an original. His self-deprecating nature - his Pikeisms if you will and yes - even his wardrobe would make the gentleman from Riverhead a valuable figure in today’s Congress and a true statesman sorely lacking.

The man who once said he learned more in the back of the bus than I did in school, was a straight-shooter who did not suffer fools gladly. The New York Times once said he usually got straight to the point, while Time labeled Pike, the model of a properly pugnacious public servant — sharp-tongued and not easily intimidated. His sense of humor could be sarcastic – around the time of ERA, he wrote in one of his legendary newsletters that …the question of how we do, and should treat our women has created some strange bedfellows. Still, it’s easy to see why he had Mr. Smith like characteristics. He was friendly with no braggadocio and as authentic as the Long Island Sound which he proudly represented.

How was Pike so effective? Well for one, he was accessible. He would rely on weekly radio broadcasts to reach constituents. Also, Pike’s style was distinctly his own. It wouldn’t be unusual for him to sport a banjo or a ukulele, the latter which he learned to play in Hawaii (a friend taught him to play the timpani). Songs about his opponents and issues of the day were common. His voting record was district oriented and middle-of-the-road. While solidly in favor of civil rights, Pike opposed funding for the Philadelphia Plan which sought to extend Affirmative Action to government contracts and opposed federal funding of abortions. He backed capital punishment and argued for its reinstatement in New York State when it was abolished. He supported the Vietnam War longer than most in his party. With a seat on the Armed Services Committee, Pike was able to keep tabs on the region’s defense facilities and manufacturers. He furthermore played a major role in creating the Fire Island National Seashore, today a major tourist destination. Yet Pike’s true gift was that he never took himself too seriously. As early as 1965, he told his constituents, Politicians keep their ear so close to the ground that an ant can jump in.

Pike was a lifelong son of Riverhead, New York. After high school where he served as president of his senior class, Pike enrolled at Princeton University but chose to put his education on hiatus to serve his country during World War II. He was a Marine Corps Pilot but later labeled himself a dive bomber and night fighter pilot who flew 120 combat missions in the Pacific and joked, I was in the Marines, which the Navy alleges is part of it and the Marines deny. Whatever the case, Pike would be awarded five air medals for 120 missions. Pike returned home to obtain his undergraduate degree from Princeton and a law degree from Columbia University. In 1946, he married Doris Orth, a resident of nearby Flanders whom he had met through the Congregational Church in Riverhead. He went on to father three children would soon make a name for himself in Riverhead though success was not immediate. Pike sought the position of justice of the peace and was defeated but earned it on his second try. He held the job for seven years and was simultaneously a member of the town board.

In 1958, Pike decided to try for the Suffolk County oriented New York’s First Congressional District (a sizable portion of Nassau County was also part of the territory). His opponent was three-term Republican incumbent Stuyvesant Wainwright, the wealthy scion of a family that had been a part of the Island for a century. The district was so unfriendly to Democrats that Pike failed to come close to winning even as scores of new members from the party were winning Republican-held seats nationally. He managed just 42.5% (he almost carried the Nassau part but lost Suffolk 3-2).

Pike’s luck would come two years later when taking on Wainwright again and the time in between might have been the most valuable undertaking for future success. After his death, Karl Grossman published a piece in Smithtown Matters on Pike’s journey that contained excerpts from a lengthy New Yorker piece years earlier, in part detailing how he never let an event pass by. Dear friend and campaign manager Aaron Donner was one call supporter who recalled, Otis put together one very funny, very good speech, and went out and spoke every place he could. He got to be very much in demand, and by the next election a lot more people had heard of him - and he was a lot more expert as a campaigner. Donner also noted that funds were so sparse that we put on the original shoestring campaign—by selling red-and-white shoestrings for a dollar a pair.

Wainwright, fearful of being linked to a series of Suffolk County scandals that occurred five years earlier, equivocated on debating Pike unless the challenger promised to keep the topic on national matters. Instead, the debate and campaign itself centered to a large degree on local issues. The location of a new inlet was the subject of much debate as Pike mocked Wainwright’s support of housing it near the Fire Island lighthouse. Lack of support from the state and federal government made the proposal impractical but the necessity of shoring up other projects was also a reason it had to wait its turn. Pike did not neglect his Justice of the Peace duties incidentally. Five days before the election he conducted a wedding.

The margin was 2,737 votes (50-49%), but Pike pulled it out and it occurred as Richard Nixon carried both Nassau and Suffolk against John F. Kennedy (Pike once again lost Suffolk but by a narrower margin than ’58 but won Nassau). The only unhappy folks were fellow members of the Riverhead community band. In 1961 The Daily News wrote Pike, may become the best representative Suffolk ever had but to these dedicated musicians, his election meant the loss of a good timpanist.

Pike quickly became aware that the local GOP never stopped wanting him to return to the timpanist days. Long into his tenure, he joked, I’ve always said I’m surrounded on three sides by water and on the fourth by Republicans. One would never know that in the numbers. By his first re-election, Pike took 62%. In 1964, it was 65%. That year, he showed no ambiguity over Bobby Kennedy’s decision to seek a New York State Senate seat calling it, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and an outrage. Pike supported Congressman Sam Stratton, his good friend and fellow maverick on the Armed Services Committee and placed his name in nomination at the state convention. The convention overwhelmingly selected RFK who won the seat. Though the relationship between he and Pike was professional, it was not warm. One person close to Pike said, I’m sure that Bobby Kennedy continued to dislike Pike well beyond 1964 and I’m certain that Otis Pike continued to dislike Bobby Kennedy well beyond 1964. It could be said that the two indirectly butted heads in 1968.

In the next two elections, the electoral roller coaster Pike had long expected began presenting itself but he always won (a 1966 Daily News headline the day after Pike defied the naysayers yet again declared, Pike Still A Dem Peak in Republican Suffolk. In 1968, Pike declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination to face Republican incumbent Jacob Javits. It was about the same time that RFK had announced his candidacy for President and the fact that Kennedy was running as an opponent of the Vietnam War while Pike was generally supportive of the Johnson administration’s policy became a political disadvantage to his effort to earn the endorsement of the State Democratic Party. Pike lost the convention nod and filed for re-election to his Congressional seat. He ran ahead of Nixon in the district that November.

After that, it was back to hard electoral slogs. His 1970 challenge from a wealthy businessman named Malcolm Smith, who largely self-funded his campaign was thought to be his hardest race and Smith was without question his toughest opponent. His 52-48% win was the smallest as an incumbent (conversely, his 1966 campaign against James Catterson, Jr., had been expected to be close but in a not so Democratic year, Pike took almost 60%). 1972 was also a tough test. Pike faced Joseph Boyd, an appointments secretary to Nelson Rockefeller who used his youth and connections to his advantage. Boyd hoped his key to victory would be penetrating Pike’s strength on the Eastern end. But Boyd was hurt by the presence of Robert David Lion Gardiner on the Conservative line, who was protesting Pike’s efforts at preserving wilderness on an island that had been in Gardiner’s family for centuries. Pike managed nearly 53%, but that was still 16% ahead of Boyd (Gardiner fell just shy of 10%.)

image003.jpg

Pike and his wife Doris

Pike was assigned to the Armed Services Committee upon his arrival to Congress and in 1965, after noticing how much was marked secret, came up with a novel idea. He gave himself a code name (OGP-0002) and after returning from a sensitive mission to California, joked he would resist pressures to divulge what he found even from Doris. I shall smile my steeliest smile, and give nothing but my name, rank and serial number.

Rooting out military waste was a hallmark of Pike’s pedigree and he was a watchdog when it came to careless Pentagon spending. He once came to the floor armed with a steel rod for which he had paid 50 cents. The military, he said, had acquired it for $25.55. In the manufacturer’s catalog, Pike said, this rod is described as precision shafting. For once, the American taxpayer got precisely what he paid for."

In 1967, Pike noticed that a government contracting agency -- the Defense Contracting Supply Center in Columbus, Ohio -- purchased, among other things, gears for $194.30 that had a manufacturing price of $3.43. That was far from the only excess that Pike labeled greedy on one side and stupidity on the other. He asked for an investigation. He called out the Air Force a month later for frivolous purchases of nuts and bolts which he displayed at his office. He told reporters, In the lexicon of the cost-cutting reduction at the Pentagon, there is a category called, ‘Buying Only What We Need.’ In the Lexicon of Waste, we have to add a new category called, ‘Buying What We Don’t Know We Already Have.

Pike also took aim at a program that would authorize extra pay to flight duty generals, many of whom simply sat behind a desk. Gesturing like a plane, Pike said, If the in-basket is continually loaded on the starboard, or right-hand, side of the desk, and the out-basket is continually empty on the port, or left-hand, side of the desk, wood fatigue sets in, the landing gear tends to buckle and the whole fuselage crashes down on your feet.

The philosophy of not spending more than necessary even extended to the number of U.S. generals. When Armed Services cleared a proposal to increase the number of the nation’s four-star generals in 1971 by a mere two – from 41 to 43, Pike dissented (43 men with 172 stars). The Daily News reported Pike wanted an explanation but was hesitant about disturbing the Defense Secretary and the eight officials immediately below him. He finally decided on a lady whose title was secretary to the assistant secretary. There were eight of them too. She didn’t know why we had to have 43 four-star generals and admirals and neither do I. On another note, Pike called out petty corruption in low places upon learning that the military purchased $27 million of faulty generators during the Vietnam War. The repair tag was $2.6 million.

What did Pike’s hawkish colleagues think of his doggedness in exposing Pentagon waste? Most were not amused but not all of them showed it. Georgia’s Carl Vinson chaired the Armed Services Committee from when Pike arrived in Congress until his 1965 retirement. Pike had spoken against his chairman on the House floor and was beaten back but Vinson sent him a teller complimenting him. Pike was so proud he had it framed. Others, such as Mendel Rivers of South Carolina and Ed Hebert of Louisiana were not as enthralled but Pike likely couldn’t have cared less.

When it came to not spending excessively, Pike practiced what he preached. He once called it not my style to throw around the label of being a member of Congress and that remark came after an official delegation to London when officials would not cash his Sergeant-at-Arms issued check. As a result of being broke at the trip’s end, Pike was forced to watch a movie on the plane ride home without sound because he couldn’t afford the headphones). Aaron Donner told The New Yorker that Pike once told him he was the only person I’d ever known who drove into a gas station in a Volkswagen and got only the emergency tank filled.

Protecting the quality of life in the coastal, environmentally tourist-haven district was another priority. In 1964, Pike spearheaded the bill establishing the Fire Island National Seashore extending from the Moriches Inlet to Robert Moses State Park. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law. Three years later, he urged Governor Nelson Rockefeller to abandon plans to place a jetport in Calverton in the district. Rockefeller promoted the Calverton location after residents of a previously chosen site in Morris County, New Jersey essentially ran it out of town and Pike hoped for a case of deja vu. When Rockefeller wouldn’t budge, Pike combined sarcasm with facts. He said, …to cram an utterly impractical, technologically ludicrous and technologically disastrous international jetport plunk down the middle of Suffolk County over the unanimous objection of every single local governmental body is a moving testimonial to his deep and abiding belief in his concept in local government. Pike also opposed a new bridge connecting Orient Point on the Island with Connecticut and Rhode Island. As his family wrote after he died, Thus he helped to protect the North Fork for farms and vineyards – and to preserve the natural beauty that residents and visitors love. On another note, Pike labored hard to protect the local Brookhaven National Laboratory from proposed spending cuts.

While Pike clearly was the product of another era, he may have had empathy with the current times: frustration and gridlock. In today’s climate, he may have seen similarities between the full House’s refusal to release the full report of the Select Intelligence Committee he chaired and say, a Congressional super-committee refusing to reach agreement despite paving the way for spending cuts were it not to happen.

Despite the fact that he was hampered by obstinance and happenstance, Pike’s work on matters involving the CIA would define him. His appointment as chair of the House Select Committee on Intelligence saw him investigate abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and National Security Agency (NSA). Fellow Democrat Frank Church of Idaho chaired a similar Senate committee but Pike’s focus was on potentially illegal operations by those agencies whereas Pike’s focus was on how far up the chain the orders were for them to be carried out.

Pike’s investigation was hampered by a tug-of-war between his committee and the Ford Administration. The latter at one took a hard-line on supplying materials the committee requested, arguing that they weren’t being kept secure, but Pike had big ammunition to fire back when White House lawyer Roderick Hills left a briefcase in Pike’s office that contained at least one classified document (this became known as the briefcase episode). The obstinance became so intense that Pike threatened to sue the Administration for access to the documents. Ford eventually relented and accepted a compromise, but not before accepting the conclusion that he would be overridden by the courts and also after disregarding the advice of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

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To say Pike couldn’t stand Secretary of State

Henry Kissinger is an understatement

Photo via news.yahoo.com

Indeed, Pike had served more than a decade with Ford in the House and while his rapport with him was good albeit limited, he locked arms extensively with Kissinger. The Secretary at one point charged Pike with McCarthyism, which Pike deeply resented not because it was out of line but because one person close to him said he viewed Kissinger as a threat to democracy and a skillful, unprincipled, manipulative liar.

By late 1975, the panel had compiled a 338-page report but the conclusion was markedly different from the Church Committee. For example, Pike rejected his counterpart’s characterization of the CIA as a rogue elephant. Pike and many colleagues on his committee concluded that the agency does not go galloping off conducting operations by itself and essentially never did anything a U.S. President didn’t want it to do. The Ford Administration, Pike said, was focused largely on preserving all of the secrets in the executive branch and very little on guaranteeing a lack of any further abuses.

The report’s compilation had seemingly concluded the Pike Committee’s mission but one unexpected saga remained: its release. Pike made an impassioned plea for House colleagues to do so and the expectation was that they would. In a bipartisan shock, however, the House voted release down. More specifically, on a 246-124 vote, it adopted an amendment by a Democratic colleague that asserted the report could not be released until it has been certified by the President as not containing information which would adversely affect the intelligence activities of the CIA. The amendment had earlier cleared the Rules Committee.

Pike was not happy but at first was uncertain how to respond and seriously contemplated making the report public on his own. While an earlier accord with the White House had stated that intelligence would not be released if the administration had not cleared it beforehand, Pike said that agreement did not apply to our final report. Were that the case, he said, it would invite the White House to censor it. Ultimately, Pike was spared from having to choose when Daniel Schorr of CBS News obtained a copy and ran a story on it. The Village Voice soon printed the report in its entirety.

As Schorr explained it, one portion painted a damning picture of national readiness. Mr. Pike, he wrote, maintained that the security agencies were inept bureaucracies that left the country vulnerable. Pike in fact had written that, If an attack were to be launched on America in the very near future, it is my belief that America would not know that the attack was about to be launched. The leak of the report itself belied the fact that the vote against its release, as Myron Waldman of Newsday wrote, would effectively destroy what could have been Pike’s greatest legislative triumph.

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Pike met with President Gerald Ford, Speaker Carl

Albert and others in the White House in 1976

Photo via the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum

The vote would not be Pike’s only setback. In 1976, he delivered an impassioned speech in opposition to proposed ethics rules that drew a standing ovation from his colleagues but they voted against his position. This all had the effect of washing Pike up. In the fall, Pike won re-election one last time but after that, was clearly ready to pack it in. His announcement was anything but standard.

In a lengthy broadcast to his constituents on one of his now-legendary radio broadcasts, Pike was self-deprecating to the end. Calling his move less than earthshaking, Pike wistfully waxed eloquent about deciding to return to earth. Will I miss it, he wondered? Lord, yes, I’ll miss it. Congressmen are treated in Washington at least, like little tin Jesus’s. Seven employees are there to fetch me a cup of coffee, get me a hamburger, look up things, take dictation, pamper me, flatter me, remind me to get a haircut, and generally ease my way through life. It will be good for me to have to make my own plane reservations and balance my own checkbook. But he said, there was a time for everything. Quoting the words of the soccer player Pele, A man can’t play the same game all of his life.

Prior to his term ending, Pike cited the new ethics code as also factoring into his decision, specifically a lack of consistency which makes no sense to me. He explained, Last year, Congress was in session 174 days. If I take those 191 days when Congress was not in session and go junketing around the world at your expense, I am ethical. There were loopholes for certain professions. If I write a book, I am ethical. If I write wills or deeds I am unethical…There’s now the concept that every aspect of my private life should be public property.

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Image courtesy of the News Review of Riverhead

When Pike did a campaign appearance for Thomas Downey during his longshot first campaign for the Second District in 1974 (portions of which Pike had previously represented), he told Downey he’d probably lose the race but set the stage for a future win. Downey stunned the incumbent and won the seat and thought Pike was envious because it took him two tries (though he never showed it). Downey recollected that Pike could be a bit remote and curmudgeonly but had no problem admitting it. He recalls one flight from Washington to New York when without warning the plane dropped 1,000 feet and Downey reached for the seats while Pike continued reading his paper. Why was he so calm? If I don’t see ‘tracers’ coming up from the ground, I’m probably okay. When Pike retired, Downey, who said Pike helped me get through tough votes that I knew were right, was able to continue his legacy for Long Island by securing the Ways and Means Committee seat he left behind.

After retiring, Pike became a columnist for Newhouse Newspapers and often penned on Congressional affairs by using exclusive access to former chums that colleagues in his new profession didn’t have: the House floor. He explained how that came to be shortly after. Oh, I wandered over to see about joining the Press Gallery, but they told me I’d have to give up my floor privileges, and I said ‘f--- that.’ I’d much rather sit with my colleagues and hear what they’re saying.

Pike eventually moved to Florida, remarried following Doris’s death and simply became captive of the sea. His obituary called him, probably happiest on his boat, especially with his hands on a fishing rod or a harpoon or a bourbon whiskey (‘Old Grand Dad’) on the rocks.

Pike died in 2014 at 92. A number of landmarks near Fire Island bear his name which serves as a reminder to the locals and thousands of tourists of its champion’s legacy.

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Pike and his ukulele went together like love and marriage

CHAPTER TWO

New York’s Rosenthal, "A Congressman

with a Fair Amount of Chutzpah" A

Crusader Of Many Liberal Causes

Historic Tidbit: The fight for the Democratic Presidential nomination in the spring of 1960 was between two Senators – John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Kennedy famously swept West Virginia and Wisconsin, captured the nomination and narrowly prevailed in the general election. In the early months of his term, the new President invited Humphrey to the White House and told him, Hubert, if I had known it was going to be like this, I would have let you win. Humphrey replied, "Well Mr. President. I knew it might be like this and that’s why I let you win."

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Photo courtesy of the U.S. Government Printing Office

W hile some would call him ubiquitous or idealistic, most would use the term impatient and all may be correct. A self-described Congressman with a fair amount of Chutzpah Benjamin Rosenthal was among the most hard-working and productive Congressman of the 1970s whose name, though not well-known outside of his Queens Congressional district, might deserve to rank among the giants in Congress. His untimely death from cancer in 1983 silenced a voice destined to be heard for years because had Rosenthal lived, he may very well have ascended to a high-ranking Congressional leadership position.

The most famous quote attributed to Robert F. Kennedy, who for a brief time served in the New York delegation with Rosenthal as its senior Senator, was a viewpoint by George Bernard Shaw that some see things as they are and say why. Others see things as they can be and say why not. Rosenthal was said to be an expert of motivation and of what could be accomplished. Newsday columnist Colman McCarthy took that further arguing he was defined by his swift candor and his unstudied leaps into gray areas that he felt deserved black and white solutions which drew McCarthy and other members of the press corps to him.

Rosenthal was the perfect representation of New York. The Bronx-born, Queens raised, Stuyvesant High School grad, City College, Brooklyn Law School educated lawyer had the Chutzpah and courage some might say Congress was devoid of. And boy, did he use it. His wife, the former Lila Moskowitz, nicknamed him Crusader Rabbit and if colleagues didn’t get that impression of the 6’ 2 Rosenthal at first glimpse, in time they surely would. Publicly, Rosenthal took on the powers that be on at least several occasions. In 1969, he called on House Speaker John McCormack to step down. That went nowhere but Wisconsin Democrat David Obey wrote in his memoir that Rosenthal used his sardonic wit to ridicule the old guard chairmen who in his view stood between the Democratic Party and its Progressive traditions." That meant a 1973 challenge to Government Affairs Chair Chet Holifield for the gavel of the Government Operations Committee, faulting him for running a committee that was both dormant and lacking of progressivism. He’d later take on Obey’s home state colleague, Clement Zablocki who was poised to chair the International Relations Committee over his perceived hostility to Israel.

If Rosenthal had initial distinction in Congress it was that he was born to a man of distinction, a hero to walkers and beachgoers - his father invented clip-on sunglasses. During World War II, Rosenthal served in the Army and was stationed in Iceland. When he returned home he received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School and his master’s degree from New York Law.

Rosenthal’s path to Congress was created by an unexpected opening. The Sixth District’s incumbent Democratic Congressman, Lester Holtzman, resigned after winning a seat on the New York State Supreme Court in late 1961 and Rosenthal competed for the seat as a regular Democrat over reform elements of the party at the following January convention. The choice of Mayor Robert Wagner was Harold Strauss but Rosenthal beat him 20-2. Wagner then got behind Rosenthal but it took nine additional ballots for Rosenthal to secure the nod and the final person he vanquished was State Assemblyman Moses Weinstein, 18-4.

Rosenthal then faced a determined Republican in the February election. In a normal cycle, Thomas Galvin would have entered the race as a huge underdog but a mid-February election was expected to see low turnout and there was a third candidate on the ballot, Emil Levin, who ran under the Emil Levin line. Plus, rancor over regular vs. reformist Democrats left what The Daily News labeled even households bitterly divided. Galvin’s most pressing issue was federal aid to parochial schools which he favored but Rosenthal and Levin did not. Rosenthal squeaked into the seat by 264 votes; 16,115 to 15,851 with Levin garnering 4, 245. John Glenn’s orbit was another reason for low turnout and The Daily News wrote that, Partly as a result of TV watchers’ preoccupation with the astronaut, fewer than 14% of the district’s 260,000 registered voters turned out. By November, any flirtation with Republicans by the now Eighth district voters had evaporated and Rosenthal won a full term with 67%. He was the first NYC member to move his family to Washington to be a full time legislator and not a Tuesday through Thursday commuter like the rest.

While Rosenthal had not entered Congress as the candidate of reform Democrats, he’d theoretically spend every day he served in the House making it up to reformers by virtue of his legislative agenda. He in fact was a major proponent of ending the awarding of committee chairmanships to the most senior member (that took until the large Watergate class of 1974 to come to fruition). The first step to carrying that out was the House Agriculture Committee, not a particularly fertile post for a member from the Bronx but leaders promised they’d seek out something more desirable in future Congresses (he was also placed on Veterans affairs). With typical Rosenthal style, however, he proceeded to launch an investigation on the food stamp program. Upon discovering that extra food that was given to the poor, he instead proposed that food stamps be given.

In 1965, Rosenthal was assigned to the House Foreign Affairs Committee despite the unwritten rule, as he told legendary House aid John Manley, that New York has only two members on a committee. But this year, with the great increase in Democrats in the House, they decided to let us have three. The other New Yorker in the mix was Bill Ryan of Manhattan but the story goes that Ryan rubbed some colleagues the wrong way and Rosenthal won the post. With Don Fraser of Minnesota, he took the lead in investigating access to international ocean floors and ocean space development.

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Photo courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

Many colleagues would find the headlines Rosenthal made in his first term unbecoming of a Congressman. The headquarters of Mad Magazine were located in the small Manhattan portion of Rosenthal’s district and on the publication’s 10th anniversary, Rosenthal took to the House floor to commemorate that occasion. Mad Magazine... for the last 10 years has humorously pointed out the laughable foibles of business, labor, advertising, television, sports and entertainment – to say nothing of politics.

It is likely that Rosenthal first achieved notice as a dove. His opposition to the Vietnam War came early and was such that he took in the protesters in his office and spearheaded the move to keep the House open all night. He and nine colleagues tried to cut funding. He called it a very lonely road... Maybe ten percent of my district agreed with me. Yet he was undaunted. One Congressman with a fair amount of Chutzpah can awaken the public conscience. Near the end of the war when protesters were arrested and taken to a fenced-in bullpen at RFK Stadium he and legislative assistant Douglas Bloomfield went to talk to them and show support.

Defending Israel was another challenge. Bloomfield wrote he had to be physically restrained from going after a colleague with a reputation as a Jew-baiter. Other publications had identified that colleague as Wayne Hays of Ohio, and Rosenthal was prepared to throw a glass water pitcher at him. Jewish affairs were also at the forefront of Rosenthal’s efforts to prevent another Democrat, Zablocki of Wisconsin, from becoming chair of the International Relations Committee. In a widely circulated 38-page memorandum, Rosenthal’s contention was, By the totality of his record. Representative Zablocki has forfeited any claim to serve as chairman… Rosenthal also focused on Zablocki’s pro-Vietnam views.

While Zablocki called it, not my intention to dignify his memo by a point-by-point refutation, he did say, I’m not anti-Semitic but I’m not as pro-Israel as Ben Rosenthal. Even (Israeli Prime Minister) Yitzhak Rabin doesn’t satisfy Ben Rosenthal. It was so fractious that one committee staffer said, Lord knows what’s going to happen if those two have to be around each other a whole year. Perhaps Rosenthal recognized that the votes to prevent Zablocki from getting the post were not there and Zablocki was awarded it by acclamation. Postscript: Rosenthal was a master of ironic levity and used some when traffic delayed his plane for an hour on the way back to Queens from the Capitol. The announcement began, This is your pilot, Captain Zablocki. And Bloomfield recalls, Ben grinned and said, ‘I knew he’d try to get me some day.’ Another irony: Zablocki was on his way to meet the Israeli Prime Minister when he fell dead from a heart attack.

If one had to carve out a single legacy for a man who is entitled to many, consumer protection would have to top the list. What makes that most remarkable is, despite efforts, Rosenthal was unsuccessful in seeing mechanisms become law. He had introduced legislation creating a Consumer Protection Act beginning in 1971 and his counterpart was Republican Florence Dwyer of New Jersey. Rosenthal succeeded in getting the bill through the House only to find it stalled in the Senate. By 1975, Connecticut Democrat Abe Ribicoff was able to steer the measure to narrow passage in the Senate, but President Ford vetoed it.

In 1977, the measure again passed the Senate but fell victim in the House to a massive lobbying campaign. To add salt to the wound, many initial supporters who had switched to opposing the bill were Democrats. When first introduced, the Chamber of Commerce’s head lobbyist Charles Mack called it a bureaucratic monstrosity. Rosenthal quipped that the administration has been dictated more by a concern for the hypochondria of the business community than for the real maladies facing millions of consumers. Incidentally, Bloomfield suspected Rosenthal hired him due to his work as a consumer reporter for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.

Rosenthal again had consumers on the mind when he spoke in favor of the Consumer Food Labeling Act. He said, I really do not care to know Coca-Cola’s famous secret formula or how to put the snap, crackle and pop in Rice Krispies or just how the Colonel blends those secret herbs and spices for his chickens or why nobody does not like Sara Lee. But I do want to know what is in each of these products and every other of food processed on the supermarket shelves. It’s not a matter of curiosity. It’s a matter of necessity and health.

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With Indiana colleague Andy Jacobs

Photo via Wikipedia

Rosenthal’s advocacy of CPA was by no means his only mechanism to helping Consumers. During the 1973 energy embargo, he led a crusade to remove windfall profits from oil legislation. He proposed consumer liaisons on Government Industry Advisory Committees. He called the lack of it an extension of a problem we’ve lived with for many years. There are advisory committees to every agency and every board. They usually, if not always, are dominated by industry or business representatives. And thus, they know what’s going on in the agency. They have input. They’re aware of agency decisions. They affect agency policies. And consumers have no input, accomplish nothing. And frequently, the consumers thus are at the mercy of the agencies.

Putting his legislative muscle into addressing things he saw as potentially epidemic was one of Rosenthal’s true gifts and he often was ahead of his time. Recognizing the growing drug epidemic as early as 1966, Rosenthal introduced the Drug Abusers Treatment Act and the Drug Abuse Treatment Facilities Act. As chair of the Government Operations Consumer and Monetary Affairs Subcommittee, Rosenthal wanted Customs to track the Columbian Connection which was responsible for the majority of cocaine smuggled into America. Rosenthal was disturbed by the intransigence of the Turkish government against Cyprus and was among the gang of four that in 1975 led the effort to impose an arms embargo on Turkey against the Ford Administration’s wishes (Majority Whip John Brademas and Senators Tom Eagleton of Missouri and Paul Sarbanes of Maryland were the other members and Rosenthal was the only one with no Greek ancestry.) The result was the Rosenthal Amendment which in 1974 called for suspending $242 million in aid to Turkey following its invasion of Cyprus that claimed 5,000 lives. Rosenthal succeeded by a large margin despite opposition from Congressional leaders of both parties. Sponsored with Delaware Republican Pierre Pete DuPont, the amendment to a foreign aid Appropriation measure would suspend only existing military aid already appropriated for Turkey. Yet Speaker Carl Albert thought the move would upset the already delicate process of forging solution stating, We need the friendship of both Greece and Turkey and House Appropriations chair George Mahon circulated a letter from Henry Kissinger calling it ill-advised and very disruptive of negotiations we’re trying to arrange.

Turkey in fact had pledged to negotiate with Cyprus but Rosenthal said he wanted to keep the pressure on. We’ve been through this before. In an ominous tone, Rosenthal said world peace and the stability of the eastern Mediterranean, and the strength and viability of NATO, is being threatened with every day that this action is delayed. He called it a signal to the government of Turkey that they cannot have the military equipment to continue and maintain attacking Cyprus. It is indeed a signal to the Greek government, which says, ‘Why don’t you come on along in the negotiations because we are going to use all the effort and muscle we can vis-a-vis the Turkish government?’ Rosenthal called the invasion a simple violation of our law. The amendment was heavily supported by the Greek community and passed 307-94. Three years later, President Carter wanted to gut the embargo and the four traveled to the White House to unsuccessfully convince him to back down. That led to a House floor fight that the gang narrowly lost 208-205.

Rosenthal’s advocacy resulted in a complete metamorphosis among feelings within the sizable Greek community in the district. Up to that point there had been tension mostly because Greek Americans vilified Rosenthal for his opposition to the junta and promotion of the embargo. But after that government was overthrown and replaced by a democracy, he became a hero of the community.

In his book Mayor, New York City Mayor Koch recalls a story Rosenthal told at the Turkish consulate. "I had lunch with my mother, who lives in New York, today; and she asked me what I was doing tonight, so