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 w I INLrStMtN* ’M» .M i -----------4 .....— .'wars VMVX 1 war* $ I? > » 4 VT.it» Serving P ortland For Over 30 Years Deli Sale! super savings on lunchm eat, cheese, m argertne, etc. . . O pen M o n Sat 9 30 6 00 G ro c e rie s B e lo w W h o le s a le P ric e s !! F o o d stam p s W e lc o m e 1 J ' ARMY. BE ALL YOU CAN BE.