[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.

                          ____________________