A ’v ii H 19H7 Purtl.u
'O b s e rv e r P y<
3
_______ Capitol Hill in Black and White_______
Part three of a three part senes on the revelations o f the former maitre d
°* the Senate dining room
Reprinted by permissron of Dodd Mead ft
Company, Inc., from Capitol Hill in Black and W hite, by Robed Parker
and Richard Rashke. copyright 1986
For the first time, colored people have a pow erful leader, " Johnson
lectured the three northern liberals, referring to Dr M artin Luther King I
smiled to myself, because LBJ d id n 't say niggers
A religious leader A
nonviolent man of the cloth Do you know w hat that means? Have you
ever seen a colored Baptist preacher from the S outh in action? Well, let me
tell you som ething That's one man w h o controls the colored com m unity
And I'll tell you another thing
These people are not breakin' any laws
They re dem onstratin' peacefully, and the eyes o f the w orld are on them "
Johnson continued. "You know the boycott in Alabama was successful
Very successful J Edgar Hoover was saying |ust the other day how he
was hoping niggers w ould flock behind m ilitant leaders like Malcolm X,
cause then they could lock 'um all up and th ro w away the key Even old
Hoover admits his hands are tied The colored are not going to give up
They're determined They 've been oppressed long enough
No o n e s, I said 'He used to come all the tim e when President John
son was here
"Don t let the man in a g a in," advised Dodd
Unless someone sponsors
him. you II get yourself in a lot o f trouble
I knew Dodd was right A Kennedy supporter was bound to either create
a scene or com plain to Senator Jordan Even if I d id n 't ask H unt to leave
that day, I knew I'd have to tell him the next day or the day after Besides
I trusted Dodd s judgem ent, and I looked on him as a friend He had taken
me to Cape Canaveral in May 1962 to w ait h John Glenn blast o ff into space
as the first man to orbit the earth I sat in the VIP section w ith Dodd and
other members of the Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee
Chairman Clinton Anderson of New Mexico. S tuart S ym ington Margaret
Chase Sm ith and Bourke Hickenlooper of Iowa No bleachers for Robert
Parker that time
I w ent over to H unt's table “ I can't let you eat here anymore w ith o u t
a letter from a senator," I said
W ho told you that? Hunt asked. I could see he was angry
Mr Hunt. I just have orders There are new rules Senator Everett Jor
dan is the chairman o f the Rules Committee
Y ou'll have to see him
Hunt left w ithout a fuss and never came track again
Martin Luther King had a great impact on my life I met him for the first
tim e early in 1963. several m onths before his March on W ashington He
came to the Hill w ith his colleagues Ralph Abernathy. Jesse Jackson.
Hosea Williams, and A ndrew Young in the hope of seeing Senator Jacob
Javits, am ong others Dr King spent three days g e ttin g the runaround
from Ja vit's staff, w ho thought it w ould be best for the senator if he
weren t seen w ith the controversial civil rights leader Javits himself d idn't
even know Dr King was in tow n
Tired of cam ping out in front of Ja vit's office. Dr King and his colleagues
walked over to the House side to meet black congressmen, among others
W hen I saw him com ing dow n the hall outside the Senate Dining Room, I
introduced myself I admired his courage and his nonviolent approach to
civil rights, and I was proud of him
"If you ever w ant lunch on the H ill," I told him, "le t rne know I'll arrange
it for you And if there’s anything else I can do. just ask
" I sure w ould like to see Senator J a v its ," Dr King com plained he des
cribed his problem
Be here tom orrow at n o o n ." I told him "Y o u may have to wait a little
but I'll introduce you to the senator
Andy Young began chuckling They had tried every trick they knew to
reach Senator Javits except asking the headwaiter for an introduction
" I do n 't believe i t ! " Young said "Can you do that?"
Wait and see," I told him
Dr King was right on tim e the next day I asked him to have a seat in the
reception room near my desk, out of the way he d id n 't have long to wait
In walked Senator Javits w ith tw o guests I seated them and, w hen the
senator had almost finished his lunch. I walked over to his table
"S e n a to r," I said, "th e re ’s someone w h o w ants to meet you
I waited for Javits to push away from the table the I told him. It s Dr
Martin Luther King He saw you walking in to the dining room
Javits and King shook hands Then the senator led the civil rights leader
to his hideaway just dow n the hall from the Senate Dining Room I went
w ith them to see if they needed anything I served Dr King a cup o f coffee
Javits asked him if he w anted lunch Dr King said no, and I left them It
was the beginning of a five year relationship that proved to be useful to
both leaders
A t n ig h t, w h e n I kiss m y childre n good n ig h t, I o ffe r a sm all prayer o f
th a n ks to G od for m aking tfie m so p e rfe i t. so h e a lth y, so lovely, and I fin d
m yself tem pte d to tha nk H im for le ttin g them lie b o rn w h ite
The I am n o t
so p ro ud , neither of m yself nor o f our soi lety w h ic h fo ri es such a te m p ta
tion upon us
A n il that is w h y I d o n 't feel th .it tins is a sou thern p ro b le m , it is a n o rth
ern p ro blem , a w estern p ro blem , an eastern pro blem
It is an A m e rica n
pro b le m for all A m erican s It is m y pro b le m
I am only one person, one w o m a n I w ish th e ie w as s o m e th in g I c o u ld
do in th is issue I w a nt to help The only w ay I k n o w flo w to start is to edu
cate m y childre n th a t ju stice and freedom am) a m b itio n are not m ere ly p rivi
leges, b u t th e ir b irth rig h ts
I m u s t try to im p re ss u p o n tfie m tfia t these
lig h ts m ust tie given n o t fie ld tig h tly u n to them selves, for w lia t < a n n u l lie
given w e do not really have fo r ourselves
These are th e th o u g h ts o f but one of your citize n s
I realize th a t no
earth shaking changes w ill de ve lo p fro m having w ritte n this le tte r, h u t it is a
b e g in n in g I, m ore can tie d o n e by people like me please tell me w tia t 11 an
do Thank you for your tim e
By th e tim e M an sfield had finishe d the letter. I w as in tears
So w ere
M itc h e ll and Price next to m e In a few hu n d re d w o rd s w h ic h it too k the
senator exactly tw elve m in u te s to read tfia t o rd in a ry M o n ta n a w o m a n had
m ade a fo o l o u t o f the filib u s te r and those w h o s u p p o rte d it She stu n n e d
th e gallery M an sfield sat d o w n w ith o u t another w o rd
A u th o r R o b e rt P a rke r
I was in the Senate Dining Room when I heard that President John F
Kennedy hed been shot in Dallas
Like everyone else in the Capitol I
couldn't believe it. At first I thought it was a mistake The Hill feeds off
rumors like m osguitoes feed o ff blood Then I th o u g h t he had just been
wounded
Since I d id n 't have a radio or a television set in my office I
rushed to the press room I found people running dow n the corridor, some
shouting, others crying Senators deserted the Senate floor as if the plague
had struck The elevator was packed. The Capitol was in chaos I co u ld n't
get near the press room, there were so many senators trying to catch a few
phrases from the newscast
W orried that there m ight be a conspiracy to kill o ff the leadership o f the
United States, the Capitol Police took charge guickly They cut o ff tele
phone service to and from the Capitol S etting up ropes across corridors
they rounded up all tourists and herded them out of the building By early
evening, the Capitol had been turned into a funeral home
The Senate
chamber was as still as a co ffin Guards stood guietly at their stations, w ith
no one to guard but the marble and bronze statues Janitors and mainten
ance men w ith brooms, mops, and wax began shining the Rotunda floor on
w hich the bier of John F Kennedy w ould rest
It d id n 't take long for the enemies of Lyndon Johnson to crawl out of the
Capitol w oodw ork
"O ld LBJ must have had som ething to do w ith it.
I heard them say the very next day The suspicion echoes in every corridor
from Senate staff attorneys, legislative aides, waitresses, and tourists
Their grief for John F Kennedy made their cynicism and dislike of Lyndon
Johnson even more intense
It d id n 't take long for a power struggle between the Kennedy and John
son factions on the Hill to flare up I felt it even in the Senate Dining Room
Most of the time, the fighting was petty, but it showed how deeply feelings
ran
I had tw o private dining rooms near the Senate restaurant IS 120 and
S 138) and one reception room IS 207), w hich senators and staff w ould
reserve for private lunches, parties, or dinners Each seated th irty to forty
people The rooms were in such demand that there was usually a w aiting
list when the Senate was in session The Kennedy and Johnson factions
began waging a pitched battle over w ho had m ore of a right to use them
first The Kennedy people had been already scheduled for parties when
Johnson hurriedly took the oath o f office on Air Force One The Johnson
people began leaning on me to cancel their reservations
Since the Senate Dining Room did not take reservations, a party of Ken
nedy people and a party of Johnson people w ould end up w aiting together
in the outer reception room for a table to open The Johnson crow d felt
they should be seated first, even though the Kennedy crow d had been wait
ing longer And so it went
Sometimes the petty became ridiculous Oil billionaire H L Hunt used
to eat in the Senate Dining Room every day he was in to w n , w hich could be
for weeks on end. A penny pinching eccentric, he used to roam the halls
of Congress, papering it w ith p etitions to reform the electoral process and
to keep the Russians from taxing over the country He was harmless, and
everyone knew that he was the unofficial guest of Lyndon Johnson I had
the authority to seat anyone I wanted in the Senate Dining Room, whether
they had a letter from a sponsoring senator or not. I used my judgem ent If
the restaurant w asn't crow ded and a dignitary or special friend of a senator
wanted to eat there, I w ould seat him or her The last thing any senator
wanted was a scene in the reception room or an embarrassed, pow erful
guest I had been seating Hunt for years, even though he d id n 't have a
letter No one objected because, although the billionaire w asn't popular,
he ate in the shadow o f LBJ
Soon after Kennedy was assassinated, however. I felt pressure from
Connecticut Senator Thomas Dodd to kick the old man out Kennedy men
like Dodd suspected Hunt o f playing a role in the assassination: Hunt was
rich; he was from Dallas; and he had been saying for years that Kennedy
had turned soft on Fidel Castro.
Dodd cornered m y one day at lunchtim e when H unt was eating in the
Senate Dining Room.
"R o b e rt." he asked, "w h o se guest is he?"
nzed the Lincoln Gettysburg Address I accepted these tilin g s as truth
I grew up w ith the right to feel that I. as an individual was as good as any
one else, that I had the opportunity to clim b as high as my ability, my mtel
lignece, and my am bition w ould take me W hile I did not learn to consider
myself as a superior being, I could look upon myself w ith a lack o f inferior
ity I did not learn to regard my color w ith a great sense of pride, but never
w ith guilt or shame
I was conceived by a pair of good, respectable, hard w o rkin g w hite
parents. I was allowed to grow and mature to have faith in myself and my
future, and when I married and gave birth to m y lovely children, to have
faith in them and their future
" I know that my children may go to the school nearest our hom e I know
that w hen I give my children a com to buy an ice cream cone, that com is
good in any store in to w n W hen we are traveling, we can stop at any hotel
or m otel of our choice W hen we go out to eat we may do so in any cafe
or club we wish and can afford I can sit in any vacant seat in a bus. I can
use a public restroom, and if I am thirsty. I may quench my thirst at any
public drinking fountain These things I consider my rights I take tfiem
for granted and know that no one may deny me these rights
This morning, the thought occurred to me, that by the same accident of
birth, I could have been conceived by a pair of equally good, respectable
hard w orking Negro parents The process is the same but w hat im m ense
differences there w ould have been in my life and upbringing
How heartbreaking it must ire for a child to have to learn that his future
is sharply lim ited even if his intelligence and his ability is not How confu
sing it must be for a child to learn that he may not buy an ice cream cone or
a Coke in the same shop as a lighter skinned child, even th o u g h his dim e
has the same value as the other How could my parents have logically ex
plained to me that a dune from a w hite hand is w o rth ten cents, tint that the
same coin in a brown or black hand is unacceptable?
C o u rte s y o f Fox S tu d io
On M o n d a y. J u n e 8 S enator M ike M ansfield file d a m o tio n to cut o ff .ill
d e ba te on the < ivil rig h ts bill A cco rd in g to Senate rules, the c lo tu re vo te
had to be taken tw o days later and one hour after the P resident o f the
Senate p o u n d e d his gavel
"T h e Senate n o w stands at the crossroads of h isto ry, and the tim e for
d e i ision is at h a nd
S enator M an sfield said He the n u n fo ld e d th e letter
fro m <i tw e n ty nine year old m o th e r o f four It w as so e lo q u e n t and pas
sionate, so rig h t for the m o m e n t, tha t it sent a shiver rig h t th ro u g h m e It
still does as I reread parts of it
M an sfield delivered it in a b o o m in g , pro
fessortal von e. jie p p e re d w ith d ra m a tic pauses
H o w can we. as responsible A m erican s c o n tin u e ta kin g arg u in g tuck
erm g over civil rig h ts as th o u g h the privileges, resp on sibilitie s, and b irth
rig h ts o f a great pe rcen ta ge o f our pe op le w ere fa vo rs or rew ards to be
handed o u t by a b e ne vole nt few ?
I am w h ite
By a sim ple a ccid e n t o f b irth , I w as a llo w e d to g ro w up
b e lie vin g in the law s o f God and our c o u n try As a child. I learned to ret ite
the P ream ble to the C o n s titu tio n I learned the Bill o f R ights, and m em o
W h e n the v o tin g was co m p le te d the fin a l tally w as 71 to 29. fo u r vo te s
m ore th a n M an sfield H u m ph re y arid Dirksen needed to w in
President
J o h n s o n had had a very busy nigh t
There was a sigh It was over The Seriate had killed th e fust i ivil rig h ts
filibuste r in h isto ry
T h a t's it , " I heard som eone say fro m b e lo w S enator
M a n sfie ld relaxed in his chair S enator Russell fro w n e d th e n tieg an si uh
tilin g on a ye llo w pad I felt like leaping over the ba lco n y o n to the Senate
floo r and bear h u g g in g S en ators M an sfield. H u m p h re y, a n il D irksen
Early one m o rn in g a fe w days after K ennedy s assassination, w h ile Se
nate pages w ere still placin g copies o f The C ongressional Rei o rrl on eai h
desk in the Senate cham ber a n il before m ost sen ators had had their fust
i up o f co ffe e , one o f the C a pito l Policem en i .lin e over to m e "Y o u w a nt
to see so m e th in g ? " He p o in te d to the small trim fig u re of S enator S m ith
dressed in a con serva tive business suit
W a tc h 1 She does tins every m or
ning
S enator S m ith stole in to the Senate chamber, a cavern o , e m p ty desks
and galleries P icking her w a y over to S enator J o h n I K e n n e d y's old seat,
she reached in to her h a n d b a g and laid a single red rose on the de skto p
C o uld Lyn do n Jo h n so n ever w in the resjiei t and co o p e ra tio n of a Con
gress a n il a n a tio n w h o felt so deeply ab ou t their slam leader ?
E a s te r E gg H u n t S e t fo r
PC C C a s c a d e A p r il 18
The Associated Students of Port
land C om m unity College are inviting
children through age 12 to attend an
annual Easter Egg hunt Saturday
m orning, April 18 at Cascade Cam
pus, 706 N K illingsw orth
Hunts
have been arranged by age group
for children three years and under,
four to six years seven to nine
years and 10 to 12 years
An
ASPCC spokesman said the Easter
bunny w ill be on hand to greet the
children, and coffee and doughnuts
will be available for grow nups The
hunt w ill get under way at 10 a m.
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