[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E59]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        HONORING J. MACK SWIGERT AS A GREAT LIVING CINCINNATIAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ROB PORTMAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 2005

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor J. Mack Swigert, a 
friend and constituent, who will be formally honored as a Great Living 
Cincinnatian on February 24, 2005 by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of 
Commerce. The recipients of this prestigious annual award, presented 
since 1967, are selected on the basis of professional achievement; 
leadership; vision; and community service. Past honorees include Neil 
Armstrong; Dr. Albert B. Sabin; and Charles Scripps.
  Mr. Swigert is well known for his work on the historic National 
Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, better known as the Taft-
Hartley Act, which is still the critical center of America's labor law. 
At the time, Mr. Swigert was a young associate attorney representing 
employers at the Cincinnati firm of Taft, Stettinius and Hollister. He 
was asked by U.S. Senator Robert Taft to draft some suggested 
amendments to the Wagner Act, the 1935 law protecting the bargaining 
rights of unions. While he believed that the Wagner Act had generally 
good features, Mr. Swigert felt some key changes were needed. 
Eventually these important amendments were passed over President 
Truman's veto. Although Mr. Swigert credits Senator Taft's political 
acumen with getting the changes passed, the law's endurance today is 
truly Mr. Swigert's legacy.
  Ironically, Mr. Swigert never intended to become a lawyer. Born in 
Illinois and raised in Iowa, he graduated from Harvard. He met his late 
wife, Alice, in 1930 while visiting his parents in Tennessee, and she 
encouraged him to attend law school. Following a brief stint with a 
Chicago law firm, in 1936 he was asked by Charles Taft to work in the 
labor department at Taft, Stettinius and Hollister, one of Greater 
Cincinnati's largest and most distinguished law firms. He was named 
partner in 1948, and in 1979 was named managing partner and chairman of 
the Executive Committee. He still retains the title ``Of Counsel'' with 
the firm.
  In Cincinnati, Mr. Swigert has held leadership posts with the Queen 
City Club; Cincinnati Country Club; Queen City Optimists Club; 
Cincinnati Tennis Club; Recess Club; and Harvard Law Club. In 2004, the 
Cincinnati Bar Foundation presented him with its Lifetime Achievement 
in Law award. Mr. Swigert has two living children, David and Sally, and 
five grandchildren.
  All of us in Greater Cincinnati congratulate Mr. Swigert on being 
named a Great Living Cincinnatian.

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