[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 158 (Thursday, November 15, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H8233-H8237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TRIBUTE TO FORMER CONGRESSMAN EDWARD P. BOLAND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) is 
recognized for 30 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate having this time in order to 
speak about our great beloved, departed colleague from the State of 
Massachusetts, Edward Patrick Boland. He served in this institution for 
36 years. He was elected in 1952; he served until 1988.
  He loved this institution, and this institution loved him. He arrived 
in 1952, with his best pal, Tip O'Neill, another freshman Congressman 
coming from the eastern part of the State. They were roommates for 24 
years here in Washington, really only staying here on Tuesday, 
Wednesday, and Thursday, and immediately returning to their home 
districts after the close of business on Thursdays.
  And that is how it went in their little apartment over all those 
years until Tip was elected Speaker and brought Millie down. However, 
it had been preceded just a couple of years before that by Eddie 
breaking his long years of bachelorhood and marrying Mary Egan, a 
marriage that produced four beautiful children that were, without 
question, the pride and joy of his life.
  Now, for those that knew Eddie, he still and for always will be 
thought of as a legislative giant, as someone who motored around on the 
floor of the House like the Energizer Bunny, moving at the speed of 
sound from deal to

[[Page H8234]]

deal to deal to deal as he worked his legislative magic. And whether 
the Member was Democrat or Republican, Eddie Boland was universally 
respected.
  When, in 1977, Tip O'Neill decided that it was necessary to create a 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, by definition that job 
required someone who could keep secrets, someone who could be trusted 
with the greatest intelligence which our country has, that which 
protects the national security, the health and well-being of every 
American, out of the entire institution, Tip selected Eddie Boland to 
be the first chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence. Because he was someone that every Member, Democrat and 
Republican, would trust.
  And so, without question, as the 20th century's legislative history 
is written, he will be looked back upon as someone who was the 
quintessential public servant, elected as a State representative when 
Roosevelt was President. He served in World War II, was elected and 
served in Congress in the Korean War, in the Vietnam War, and all the 
way through to the point where not only was the Reagan era ending but 
the George Bush, Sr., administration was about to begin. What a legacy 
that he leaves to this country, to his family.
  So we in the Massachusetts delegation, without question, will miss 
him; but we know so too will all of his colleagues, all of his 
constituents, and all who came to know him in this great country.
  I would like to turn now to the gentleman who succeeded Eddie in the 
United States Congress in his seat in Springfield, and, in fact, was 
Eddie's choice to carry on the political and spiritual legacy that he 
brought to the Congress from the City of Springfield, the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal).
  Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, 
the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), who is the dean of the 
Massachusetts delegation, for organizing this Special Order as we pause 
in remembrance of my friend and former Congressman, Edward P. Boland.
  Congressman Boland came here in the midst of the Eisenhower 
landslide; and he won that first race, I believe, by 5,000 votes. And 
for 36 years he served here virtually, but with a couple of exceptions, 
without challenge. What I think is ironic about the Boland legacy, 
beyond the kindness that he exhibited time and again, was the affection 
that he held for this old House. He revered his service in this 
institution, respected it, and believed time and again that this was 
one of the best jobs that anybody could ever hope to hold.
  Eddie Boland came from Springfield's Hungry Hill. He was the child of 
Irish immigrants. For 50 years, 50 years, he was elected. Think of it, 
at least 25 elections, and at the end of those 25 elections he could 
say, at retirement, he was undefeated and untied. What a remarkable 
legacy indeed that was.
  But there are projects across this country that bear his imprint. 
Because of his relationship with John Kennedy and the fact that he was 
on the plane with President Kennedy, or at that time Senator Kennedy, 
as they returned from Los Angeles after having secured the Democratic 
nomination in 1960, he was devoted to the Apollo program and, indeed, 
remained, until his last days, one of its great champions.
  We recall in this institution his wisdom as it related to the Boland 
amendment and Nicaragua. He saved this country from a disastrous 
journey had we proceeded with military support for Nicaragua. Today, 
Mr. Speaker, with the exception of Cuba, every government in Central 
and South America is freely elected. His impact on housing programs 
because of his subcommittee chairmanship at VA-HUD happens to be 
profound.

  But there was another side of Congressman Boland, and I think my 
colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), and others in 
the delegation again hold it in highest regard. Congressman Boland only 
talked to reporters from the hometown newspaper. In 36 years in this 
institution, Congressman Boland had one fund-raiser, and really was 
upset that he had to go to it. He thought that the only allegiance he 
owed to anyone was to those people back in the Second District of 
Massachusetts.
  And here is an even more compelling statistic, given the modern 
nature of Congress. Congressman Boland held one press conference in 36 
years to announce he was retiring; and he did it on Hungry Hill, where 
36 years before he had announced he was running, without a press 
conference at that time.
  It is remarkable that his legacy could have been as pervasive as it 
was, given the fact that by nature he was fairly shy and really did not 
care for the limelight and did not care for the national attention that 
his years in Congress and the Boland amendment and the housing programs 
that he championed brought him as they were put in front of the 
American people.
  It is the honor of a lifetime to have known him. I attended one day 
this remarkable Christmas luncheon that he had every year after he 
retired, which many of the people that had elected him State 
representative 50 years before all attended faithfully. At one of those 
luncheons, the fellow he defeated, I believe in 1934, for State 
representative from Hungry Hill, was there. And when asked why he was 
there, he simply pointed out that a half century before Eddie Boland 
had retired him from public life. And with that graciousness Boland 
simply smiled and laughed, and they had a wonderful moment of 
friendship and harmony again.
  I am struck by that service, I am struck by the legacy, but I would 
like to take all of the young Members that have come to this Congress 
during the last 2 years and say to them: you should understand the 
reverence that Eddie Boland held for service in this institution. He 
really believed that this was one of the great arbiters of fairness in 
American life. He really believed that this institution was courageous 
and visionary in the manner in which it proceeded. But not only did he 
feel strongly about this institution, he was a believer in the Federal 
Government of the United States.
  I am going to close on this note, because while people understood him 
and his legacy and the programs he championed, one of the footnotes 
that occurred in his obituary that few people ever knew, because he 
never called attention to it, Eddie Boland marched in Selma, Alabama, 
to bring about an end to much of the unfairness that had been 
institutionalized in American life. He was patriotic, he was kind, he 
was impeccably decent.
  He has a wonderful wife in Mary Egan, and to hear his son's 
remarkable testimony to his father at the funeral, his son Edward, his 
daughter Martha, daughter Kathleen, and son Michael. What a great 
family. And I would be remiss as I close if I did not mention one of 
the great eulogies that I have ever heard that came from former judge 
and my friend, Daniel M. Keyes, who was Eddie Boland's friend for 70 
years.
  We will miss him in this institution; we miss him in Massachusetts. A 
great friend was Congressman Eddie Boland.
  Mr. MARKEY. Let me now yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Olver), whose congressional district abuts the district of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) and then Congressman Boland, so 
he knew him very well.
  Mr. OLVER. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I am very 
pleased to be able to join my colleagues, the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Neal), from the second district, and the successor 
to Edward P. Boland, and the dean of our delegation, the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), from the eastern part of the State.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the life and work of 
Congressman Edward Boland, who represented the Second Congressional 
District of Massachusetts for nearly 4 decades. Let me start by giving 
my deepest sympathy to Mary Boland and the Boland children for their 
loss of a husband and a father.
  I first met Congressman Eddie Boland in 1968. He had already served 
more than 15 years and was a force in the Congress. I, by contrast, was 
making my first run for political office as a Massachusetts State 
representative in a district that partly overlapped Eddie Boland's 
Second Congressional District.

                              {time}  1815

  My first and most lasting impression of Ed Boland was his booming 
voice. He

[[Page H8235]]

was speaking at an event in Granby, and I was certain that he could be 
heard all of the way to South Hadley. Over time I learned that 
Congressman Ed Boland was not just heard, but attention was paid when 
he spoke. He was heard all the way down the hall to the Senate. He was 
heard by Presidents at the White House. He was even heard at the 
Pentagon.
  This modest man with a towering voice commanded towering respect here 
in Washington, and he was a towering presence in the political life of 
western Massachusetts. Eddie Boland provides even now a model for 
Members of this House of Representatives to follow.
  Eddie Boland was known equally for his ability to tackle the most 
complex issues of the day, and his willingness to show simple kindness 
to anyone around him who needed his help. He rose to national 
prominence on a number of issues, particularly his authorship of the 
Boland amendments restricting U.S. involvement in the conflict in 
Nicaragua. Yet the people of the Second Congressional District remained 
his foremost concern throughout his long and distinguished career.
  When Eddie Boland passed away last week, everyone in the Pioneer 
Valley lost a friend. On behalf of the people of the First 
Congressional District, I rise to say ``thank you'' one last time to 
Congressman Edward Boland for his work and his service.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for participating in 
this special order, and now I yield to the minority whip designee, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), who knew Ed Boland well.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman for calling this 
special order and congratulate him. I congratulate because this is a 
wonderful occasion when we in the House who served with Ed Boland can 
come together and talk about him and the wonderful contribution he made 
to our country.
  I felt a special responsibility to come to the floor, not only 
because it was a privilege to serve with Eddie, but also as the senior 
Democrat on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I know full 
well what his great contribution was to our country. The gentleman 
referenced that in his remarks very beautifully, and I want to speak to 
that for a bit.
  I do so bringing some of the appreciation from the staff of the 
Intelligence Committee, as well as many Members who have served on that 
committee over time. We serve in the Edward P. Boland Room in the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
  For over 50 years, 36 in this House, Eddie Boland represented the 
people of western Massachusetts with uncommon dedication and 
effectiveness. He believed deeply in the capacity of government to be a 
positive force in people's lives and in the duty of those in government 
to do everything within their power to ensure that result.
  It has been said that he treated his constituents the same way as he 
treated his friends. That explains not only his success at the polls, 
but the high regard with which he was held. His career was a testament 
to the fact that politics, when practiced by people of great skill and 
commitment, is both an art and a high calling.
  Eddie served with distinction on the Committee on Appropriations, and 
was the committee's second most senior Democrat for many years. He was 
a long-time chairman of what was then the Department of Housing and 
Urban Affairs and Independent Agencies, now known as VA-HUD. I doubt 
that there are many communities in the United States who have not 
benefited from his programs that he promoted on the subcommittee. 
Veterans hospitals and clinics, projects to improve the quality of air 
and water, affordable housing for the poor, the elderly and disabled, 
efforts to reinvigorate the Nation's cities and to explore the universe 
of which we are a part, were among the activities made national 
priorities by the appropriations measures he crafted. It is impossible 
to calculate all of the ways in which those programs made fuller and 
more secure the lives of the people of our country.
  Had Eddie Boland's service been measured only by his work on the 
Committee on Appropriations, it would have been deemed highly 
successful. As has been mentioned by the distinguished dean of the 
Massachusetts delegation earlier, in 1977 Speaker Tip O'Neill asked 
Eddie to be the first chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence. Tip's reasoning was simple. The leader of that committee 
would have to be someone people could trust, as the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) said, someone who could keep a secret.
  Eddie Boland's integrity was unassailable. The committee's reputation 
for keeping secret matters secret is due in large part to the standard 
established during the 8 years he served as chairman. That is an 
incredibly long time to be chairman of the Committee on Intelligence.
  Although not one to seek fame, he did not shrink from taking on a 
popular President in a most public way when the U.S. intelligence 
agencies unwisely, in his judgment, became involved in a civil war in 
Nicaragua. Later when questions arose as to whether laws restricting 
the activities of those agencies had been violated, he was among the 
small number of Members of the House selected to determine the truth. 
Even in the highly charged atmosphere that surrounded that 
investigation, when legislation bearing his name was central to the 
inquiry, he was not interested in publicity, but sought only to do the 
job entrusted to him by the House.
  Despite his many accomplishments in Washington, Eddie took his 
greatest joy and was most proud of his family back home in Springfield. 
His wife, Mary, and their children, Martha, Edward, Jr., Kathleen, and 
Michael were the focus of his life, each though he started late in life 
to acquire that magnificent and beautiful family. Many of us saw him 
with his family at the funeral of Congressman Joe Moakley, another 
esteemed Member of this Congress, and it gave us a chance to say hello 
to Eddie, and little did we know that it would be good-bye. But we 
reported to our colleagues in the House that Eddie was still as sharp 
as a tack and enjoying his beautiful family. Our condolences go out to 
Mary and the children.
  That is why he left here, to spend more time with his family at a 
very important time in their lives. His devotion to them says as much 
about the man he was as does his distinguished service in the Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, although I only served for a short time with Eddie 
Boland, I directly followed him onto the Committee on Appropriations 
and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, so I know well how 
well-respected he was by his colleagues and by the people in the 
executive branch. He was one of the quiet, hard-working Members so 
essential to the conduct of the business of the House. His service 
enriched the Nation, and will always be a source of great pride for his 
family. Anyone who served with him will always treasure the privilege 
of calling him ``colleague.''
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for allowing me to participate in 
this special order.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for participating.
  One of the great things about Eddie Boland was that he lived such a 
long life. He passed away at 90. The gentleman from California (Mr. 
George Miller) is now one of the few Members who served with him 
because he left 13 years ago. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman 
for holding this special order so we can pay tribute to Eddie Boland. I 
want to mention a small episode.
  There was a time when many of us were involved in trying to end the 
violence in Latin America, in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and 
elsewhere. It was a struggle that was consuming those individuals and 
those countries. It was an uphill struggle.
  Finally, justice came, and in the case of El Salvador, a democratic 
government has been established and a series of elections have been 
held; but that was not the history of the region and that country at 
the time when I served in this Congress with Mr. Boland.
  I always thought that the reason that justice came to Central America 
in large part was because the generals in El Salvador made a huge 
mistake and the intelligence community in this country made a huge 
mistake.
  The generals in El Salvador made a huge mistake in lying to Joe 
Moakley

[[Page H8236]]

about their involvement in the killing of the Jesuits at the 
university. From that day forward, because he recognized the lie when 
it was uttered, and I was with him on the trip to Latin America to 
investigate that, Mr. Moakley recognized that lie the minute it was 
presented on that military base by those generals. He pursued it along 
with our now-colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) 
for many, many months until that lie unraveled and we realized the 
incredible role that the Government of El Salvador played in the murder 
of those Jesuits and its military.
  Eddie Boland, while he did not agree with us necessarily on the 
policy in Latin America or what some of us were trying to achieve, 
believed that the laws of the land were the laws of the land. When he 
later found out the involvement of the intelligence agency in Latin 
America and when it became clear that they were fudging the laws, we 
passed the Boland amendment that made it very clear that having Eddie 
Boland stand before this Congress and support the Boland amendment and 
having this Congress pass the Boland amendment as he did in his role as 
the chairman of the Intelligence Committee changed the dynamics and 
changed people's attitude to what was taking place in Central America 
and the deep involvement of this country in really horrific events and 
abuses of human rights in those countries.
  Mr. Speaker, I think we owe him a great debt of gratitude because he 
insisted that people not play fast and loose with the laws of this 
country, that this country not be involved in the abuse of human rights 
of the people in El Salvador; and we all should thank him very much and 
remember him for that important role that he played on behalf of 
humanity who, without Eddie Boland, would not have had a champion of 
that stature to bring about that kind of change.

  I thank Eddie Boland for his service to this country.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California 
(Ms. Pelosi.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I just want to mention that we serve, those 
of us on the Intelligence Committee, serve in the Edward P. Boland Room 
upstairs, and while Members have the opportunity to come to the floor 
to express their condolences as well as their commendations of Mr. 
Boland, I want to extend the condolences also of the staff of the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, especially Mike Sheehy, the 
Democratic counsel to the staff, who served Mr. Boland so very well for 
so many years, and mourns his death, and knows more about his 
contributions than many.
  I thank the gentleman for allowing me that further remark.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. 
George Miller) very much. When a younger Member is advocating for an 
idea, you look around the institution to find somebody who everybody 
respects who as we say in the Catholic Church, would place their 
imprimatur, their blessing, on the idea.
  As the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) knows, when Mr. 
Boland put his blessing in terms of what our relationship should be 
with the Government of Nicaragua, at that point people could disagree 
with Eddie Boland, but they knew they would be wrong because he would 
never take anything other than the most honest position.
  Let me conclude the special order by recognizing the only other 
member with the exception of myself who served in the Massachusetts 
congressional delegation with Eddie Boland, the Congressman from the 
city of Newton, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
  Mr. FRANK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Markey) for taking this special order to give us a chance to express 
our sympathy to Mary Boland and their children, and express our 
admiration for a man who really had an extraordinary, distinguished 
legislative career.
  I am a great follower of parliamentary and legislative history. It is 
something that I read to relax, reading about the British parliament 
and other parliamentary bodies. I do not think it is sufficiently 
appreciated what an important role a leading institutionalist plays in 
making democracy function. Among other things, that is what Eddie 
Boland exemplified.

                              {time}  1830

  He was an elected official, a man who came up through the political 
ranks, was always deeply rooted in the community from which he came, 
who was always in constant touch at all levels with the people he 
represented, and who took to Washington their mandate and built on it. 
He was at the same time their Representative and someone who 
transcended what might be the narrowing aspects of being a 
Representative.
  As previous speakers have said, he confounded some stereotypes. He 
was not by his manner, by his political background, by his general 
place in the world of the political culture the kind of man who people 
would have expected to have been leading an assault on a Presidential 
foreign policy. We have a tradition of deferring to Presidents in 
foreign policy, indeed excessively, it seems to me, in many cases 
because legitimate differences ought to be articulated.
  Eddie Boland, as the gentleman from Massachusetts and the gentleman 
from California just said, did a great deal to legitimize the notion 
that in a democratic society, elected officials had not only the right 
but the duty to speak out if they thought the President was pursuing 
gravely mistaken foreign policies. The fact that Ed Boland did that and 
did that with his dignity and with his respect for this institution and 
with all of the cultural attributes that he brought to the job really 
did, as the gentleman said, give it the imprimatur, or did give it a 
legitimacy.
  What that meant was this. It meant we could argue it on the merits. 
Too often when we are dealing with an issue like this, there is a whole 
set of deferences, a whole set of attitudes that interfere. Ed Boland's 
stature in this institution was justifiably of sufficient weight so 
that when he spoke on that issue, he overcame those deferences and we 
got to the merits, and he did a great service. He was also, of course, 
defending the prerogatives of the elected legislature against the 
executive, and in that also he was carrying on in the tradition of 
great parliamentarians.
  Finally, as someone who has been concerned with housing policy since 
I got here, I want to acknowledge his great leadership as subcommittee 
Chair in terms of recognizing the obligation of this very wealthy 
country to do something about the housing needs of the people. We look 
back now to the days of Ed Boland's chairmanship of the appropriations 
subcommittee dealing with HUD as golden days when we in fact did far 
more to meet vital social needs than we are doing today, unfortunately. 
And there are a lot of reasons for that. But Ed Boland's committed and 
passionate advocacy, and you can be passionate without making a lot of 
noise, you can be passionate by having an unstinting, unyielding 
determination to do the right thing; and that is what he had.
  As my friend from Massachusetts has said, he and I are the last two 
Members who served with Ed Boland and know just what integrity he 
brought to this job and just to what extent he exemplified what an 
elected representative of the people ought to be in a functioning 
democracy. I thank the gentleman for giving me the opportunity to say 
this.
  Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts, and I thank all 
of the Members who have participated in this Special Order.
  We will keep this part of the Record open so that any other Members 
who wish to do so may enter their own statement.
  Eddie Boland's career ended the way it began. He worked tirelessly in 
order to make the world a better place. I am proud to have known him. I 
am proud to have worked with him. I am proud to have served with him in 
this institution that he loved so much. I am proud to have called him 
my friend. His service to this country will never be forgotten. Our 
condolences to his wife, Mary, and his children.
  May Eddie Boland rest in peace.
  Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the life of 
public service and passing of Congressman Edward ``Eddie'' P. Boland. 
Congressman Boland was a humble statesman who moved legislative 
mountains and earned the respect of his colleagues with

[[Page H8237]]

a polite manner and solemn regard for this body.
  He received his education from Springfield's Bay Path Institute and 
Boston College Law School. The son of an Irish immigrant railroad 
worker, he would later establish himself as a community leader. Boland 
began his life of public service at the age of twenty-three when 
elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Later, he was 
elected as the Hampden County register of deeds. In 1942, he enlisted 
in the Army to fight tyranny in the Pacific theater of World War II and 
was promoted to captain.
  In 1952, Eddie Boland won election to Massachusetts' second 
congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. 
During his 36 years in the House, Congressman Boland became the 
Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and of the 
VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. 
Developing the necessary trust between his committee and the 
intelligence community and an acceptance of the need for Congressional 
oversight were hallmarks of his Chairmanship. Furthermore he was a 
steadfast advocate for individual's privacy rights and providing 
informative but discreet intelligence information to the public. Among 
this most notable legislative achievements was passage of the Boland 
amendments which restricted the use of U.S. funds by Nicaragua's Contra 
rebels and lay at the heart of the ``Iran-Contra'' scandal.
  Although Congressman Boland rose to become a figure of national 
prominence, he never lost sight of his modest beginnings in the Hungry 
Hill district of Springfield, Massachusetts. Congressman Edward P. 
Boland is survived by his wife Mary Egan, and four children. His legacy 
to our nation is a model of leadership born from quiet dignity and 
integrity.

                          ____________________