[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 4 (Monday, February 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S252-S253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
McKINLEY WISE: THE SENATE'S FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN REPORTER OF DEBATES
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this month marks the 22nd year the United
States has celebrated Black History Month. I want to take this
opportunity to mark a relevant piece of Senate history. I am proud to
serve with Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois and to have served with
Edward Brooke of Massachusetts. These outstanding Senators and African
Americans are well known and recognized by those who follow the Senate.
But today, I also want to recognize McKinley Wise.
Twenty years ago this month, McKinley Wise was asked to work in the
office of the Official Reporters of Debates and in March 1978 became
the first African American to stand on the Senate floor and record the
words of this body.
I was privileged to be a Member of the Senate at that time, and I
know that this happened not because there was a quota to be achieved
but because McKinley Wise's ability qualified him to work on the floor
of the Senate.
In 1978, the Senate was beginning its debate on the Panama Canal
treaties. Because this was such an important debate and all Senators
were expected to participate, the Chief of the Official Reporters of
Debate expected long hours and knew that they were going to need more
staff. G. Russell Walker, the chief reporter at the time, set out to
find qualified people to work part time and help record the Senate's
debate. One of those people he recruited was McKinley Wise. Here's how
Mr. Walker explained how Mr. Wise's name came to his attention:
We had before the Senate in late January the Panama Canal
Treaties, and there was a very good possibility of the
Senate's having 12- and 14-hour-a-day sessions, and we needed
more reporters. I went through our file and saw McKinley
Wise's name. He was well qualified, had all the certificates,
and seemed to have a good background. I asked for and
received authority to call him, to see if he could come down
and assist us. It was on Friday, February 24th, when I called
him and asked him if he could come in the following Tuesday.
Not many reporters could leave their businesses and come to
Washington on such short notice, but Mac was there, and he
did a magnificent job.
Mr. President, I remember that very well. And we did have those 12-
and 14-hour and sometimes longer days. But he was there.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an article from the May
1978 issue of the Circuit Reporter, the official publication of the
United States Court Reporters Association, be printed in the Record at
the end of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit No. 1.)
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I bring this to the attention of the Senate
to highlight not only this moment in the Senate's history, but also to
note that qualifications and hard work do count. Although no longer
working for the Senate, McKinley Wise has continued to use his skills
over the past 20 years and is currently working in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. We spend a lot of time in the Senate talking about
opportunity and providing every American the same chance at life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Hard work is the key to success,
but people need the opportunity to perform. The Senate gave that
opportunity to Mac Wise in 1978, and both are better for it.
Exhibit No. 1
Former U.S. District Court Reporter, First Black Reporter on Senate
Floor
February 24, 1978, was the day a dream came true. McKinley
(Mac) Wise, a former Official Court Reporter in the United
States Court in Philadelphia, Pa., had long dreamed that some
day he would have the honor and privilege of being the first
black court reporter to serve on the Senate floor--but he
thought it was just another of his dreams.
G. Russell Walker, Chief Reporter, Official Reporters of
Debates, United States Senate, had Mac's name on his list of
highly qualified reporters to call upon in an emergency. He
made that call to Mac on February 24, inquiring whether Mac
could report for temporary duty in connection with the
expected lengthy debate on the Panama Canal Treaties.
Mac lost no time in rearranging the busy schedule of his
reporting firm, McKinley Wise & Associates, Inc., of
Philadelphia, and four days after the call he was on his way
to achieving another ``first'' in his long career of
``firsts.''
When he arrived at the Office of the Official Reporters of
Debates, Mac was cordially greeted by all of the reporters,
transcribers, and staff, and before he knew what was
happening, he was there--on the Senate floor--with his
Stenograph machine.
A feeling of awe came over Mac when he realized that here
he was at last, sitting among this august and distinguished
body of United States Senators. At first, Mac had a
supervisor beside him, identifying the speakers, and
explaining the procedures. Mac said, ``I was able to conquer
the words spoken, but when it came to putting them into the
proper format, it was an art to which I had never been
exposed. In the beginning I felt inept, but said to myself,
`The job must do done', and I did it.''
Everything went along smoothly until the arrival of Morning
Business, which was somewhat like taking pleas before a
magistrate. The proceedings go very rapidly, because it is
usually routine to the lawmakers, with deviations coming
later in the office where proper headlines and sub-headlines
are inserted.
Mac said that the cooperation of his colleagues overwhelmed
him, and that their knowledge on just about any subject was
astounding. No one was ever too busy to take time to answer
any question that Mac had.
Mac said, ``I think that being the first black reporter on
the Senate floor, especially at a time when a debate of
critical importance to the country was taking place, is
something which I will never forget. It isn't often that one
of your wildest dreams comes true.''
Mr. Walker, Chief Reporter of the Official Reporters of
Debates, confirmed the fact that McKinley Wise was the first
black or any other minority reporter to serve on the Senate
floor. Walker said that, to his knowledge, no black or
minority reporter has yet served on the floor of the House.
When asked how he came to call Mac Wise, Mr. Walker
replied, ``We had before the Senate in late January the
Panama Canal treaties, and there was a very good possibility
of the Senate having 12 and 14-hour-a-day sessions, and we
needed more reporters. I went through our file and saw
McKinley Wise's name. He was well-certified, with all of the
certificates, well-qualified, and he seemed to have a good
background.
``I asked for and received authority to call him, which I
did, to see if he could come down and assist us. It was a
Friday when I called Mac, asking if he could come in the
following Tuesday. Not many reporters could leave their
business and come to Washington on short notice, but Mac was
there, and he did a magnificent job.''
Mr. Walker went on to say, ``Ordinarily, when someone comes
into this office as one of the Official Reporters of Debates,
he or she is given great in-depth training in all of our
forms, and parliamentary procedures, Senate rules, and so
forth. I didn't give Mac any of that. We just wanted somebody
to write, and write fast, because this is the kind of debate
where there was not at that time a lot of parliamentary
procedure going on; it was mostly stand-up, straight, hot and
heavy debate.
``As I said before, he did a magnificent job.''
Mac was born in Jeanrette, Louisiana, but with his parents
moved to Port Arthur, Texas, at a very early age. He was
graduated from Lincoln High School there, after which he
served in the United States Navy, where he was given a
stenomask reporting in order to report courts-martial and
other related proceedings. Mac found the stenomask
unsatisfactory, and while in the Navy started studying
stenotype at the Certified School of Stenotype in San
Francisco, California, completing his course after being
discharged from the Navy.
Since then Mac Wise has had a varied reporting career,
involving free lance work in New York City, substituting in
many of the courts in New York City; serving as an assistant
in the Philadelphia County courts,
[[Page S253]]
free-lancing in Philadelphia, before becoming an Official
Court Reporter in the United States District Court in
Philadelphia, where he served the Hon. Charles R. Weiner and
the Hon. J. William Ditter, Jr., from 1967 to 1975.
Mac left his official job to return to the free lance
field, and is now the owner of McKinley Wise and Associates,
Inc., with a staff of seven certified reporters. Daily copy
is the specialty of the firm.
During the time when Mac was reporting in the Federal
courts in Philadelphia, he was a member of USCRA. He is a
member of PSRA and NSRA. Mac is now serving NSRA as Chairman
of the Free Lance Committee, as a member of the Advisory
Committee, Professional Examination Service, the Committee on
Testing, and the Ad Hoc Committee for Professional Standards.
Mac is the holder of the following certificates from NSRA,
RPR, CP, CM, and in Pennsylvania holds the CSR certificate,
as well as being a Qualifier in the PSRA Speed Contest at 280
wpm.
USCRA is proud of the fact that one of its former members
has achieved the distinction of being the first of his race
to serve on the floor of the Senate.
____________________