[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 6 (Wednesday, February 4, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S331-S332]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     RONALD REAGAN WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT--AMENDMENT NO. 1640

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we will shortly be called upon to vote on an 
amendment that I offered yesterday with Senator Torricelli to change 
the name of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, in effect to take his 
name off the building and have it referred to as the FBI Building.
  That underlying amendment is really about how we honor those who 
undertake the profession of public service. The amendment is about 
those who serve the public and also contrasting that with those who 
abused its trust and violated the rights of thousands of public and 
private citizens.
  Mr. President, we dishonor our undisputed reputation as the greatest 
defender of civil liberties in the world by maintaining the name of J. 
Edgar Hoover on the FBI's headquarters. This amendment will remove one 
of the last vestiges of McCarthyism still on display in Washington.
  Yesterday, Mr. President, I talked about some of the things that he 
did. I talked about some of the people he abused, such as Joe Louis.
  Today, I am going to talk about a few more people whose civil rights 
he violated. Irving Berlin, the man who wrote ``God Bless America,'' 
and ``White Christmas'' and hundreds of other songs, was a person that 
J. Edgar Hoover investigated endlessly for

[[Page S332]]

years. Irving Berlin did not die until he was 101 years old, but he was 
investigated by J. Edgar Hoover for most of his life.
  He conducted surveillance on Albert Einstein, Wernher Von Braun, Vice 
President Hubert Humphrey, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Rock Hudson, 
Elvis Presley, Senator John Tower, Cesar Chavez.
  Mr. President, in Chavez's case, the FBI seemed omnipresent, tuning 
in to the Reverend Jesse Jackson's radio broadcasts dealing with Cesar 
Chavez when Jesse Jackson was simply appealing for support for the farm 
workers. Chavez created so much concern by J. Edgar Hoover that they 
had many FBI agents keeping tabs on a Valentine's Day dance at Grand 
Rapids Junior College in Michigan where there was literature being 
distributed about a grape boycott. He even had investigators following 
people who were on a 12-man march dealing with the grape boycott.
  We simply do not honor the historical record of this country by 
maintaining this man's name on Bureau headquarters.
  Mr. President, in a biography that I talked about yesterday, written 
by Curt Gentry, which he spent 10 years writing, Gentry says that 
Hoover used his FBI files to advance the careers of numerous 
politicians he liked, including President Nixon, and against those he 
did not like, including the Kennedys, Estes Kefauver and Adlai 
Stevenson.
  Gentry further said that extensive records were maintained on the 
suspected amorous adventures of President Kennedy. And Hoover ordered 
the bugging of the entire Justice Department during Bobby Kennedy's 
tenure as Attorney General. Gentry isn't saying that he maintained 
wiretaps of various places in the Justice Department, but everything 
was wiretapped in the Justice Department.
  So the list is endless of people who this man thought was suspicious. 
There is no question in my mind that he is the greatest violator of 
human rights during this century in this country. That says a lot. I 
hope that my colleagues will remove from that building something that 
is and should be an embarrassment to all people who believe in human 
rights.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I want to rise today to introduce the 
Survivors of Torture Support Act and to ask my colleagues for their 
support, and I send the bill to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill will be received and referred to the 
appropriate committee.
  (The remarks of Mr. Grams pertaining to the introduction of S. 1603 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. GRAMS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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