[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 38 (Friday, March 15, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E311-E312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HONORING WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH AND FORMER MEMBER LINDY BOGGS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 15, 2013

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this week, a beloved former Colleague of our 
House, Representative ``Lindy'' Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs, 
of New Orleans, Louisiana, celebrates her 97th birthday. In describing 
her life and career, one does not use single syllable words.
  Trailblazer, gracious, erudite, compassionate, witty, diplomatic, 
visionary, indefatigable, inspirational, enduring. These words capture 
her. When I think of words she utters, certain come to mind: 
``darlin','' ``precious,'' and the manner in which she forms the words 
``New Orleans,'' held a lilt and tone hard for others to emulate.
  Wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, Congresswoman, 
Ambassador, author, woman of faith. When she retired from Congress in 
1991 at age seventy-five, she was the only Caucasian woman serving in 
Congress from the Deep south (excluding Florida). Part magnolia, part 
Tabasco sauce, part French Quarter grande dame, she represented the 
maturation of a modern political miracle--a Roman Catholic, Caucasian 
woman elected for nine consecutive terms to the U.S. Congress from 
Louisiana.
  ``Lindy'' was born in Pointe Coupee Roads, Louisiana on March 13, 
1916. Her father Roland Claiborne, a prominent lawyer, died when she 
was only two years old. After her father's death, her mother remarried 
and Lindy spent her formative years on a plantation. Her grandmother 
Morrison had a great influence on her life and lived to be ninety-
seven. The Morrison family's roots can be traced back to the Mayflower. 
Her grandmother Morrison had a fondness for artichokes. Solari's a 
fancy, southern grocer, did not have them at certain times of the year 
which prompted Boggs' grandmother to experiment growing them herself. 
Soon, she was shipping her artichokes to Solari's. Lindy says she was 
introduced to politics as she listened to the conversations between 
sugar planters and cotton planters. ``The sugar planters were very 
isolationist, protectionist, and they kept talking about high tariff 
walls. And in the country, we had constructions called ``stiles,'' 
which were really steps over fences. And I kept wondering if Uncle Joe 
could build me a stile tall enough so I could see what was on the other 
side of that high tariff wall. But then on the cotton plantation, of 
course, the cotton people were free traders, to get rid of all that 
surplus cotton they had, so the conversation was entirely different. So 
I learned early on that families can be divided over political 
situations.''
  Lindy matriculated at Newcomb College in New Orleans, the first 
women's college in Louisiana and the sister school to Tulane 
University, where she majored in history and education. At Newcomb, she 
was editor of the student newspaper and it was in that capacity she met 
her future husband Congressman Hale Boggs, who was then the paper's 
general editor. Upon graduating, Lindy taught high school history and 
English, served as school librarian and coached the girls' basketball 
team. In January 1938, at 21, she married Hale and through university 
connections, Hale and Lindy embarked on a political career, becoming a 
part of the grass-roots reform movement that took place in Louisiana in 
the late 1930's. With Lindy's support, Hale was elected to Congress in 
1941. Lindy orchestrated his re-election campaigns as well as set up 
his district offices in New Orleans, canvassed voters, arranged her 
husband's many social gatherings and acted as his political surrogate 
as he climbed in House leadership. When Hale's plane tragically crashed 
in 1972, Lindy emerged as a top choice to take over his seat. ``When 
the various people were trying to persuade me to run . . . Lady Bird 
Johnson . . . called and talked to me for a long time about how I had 
an obligation and all of these things. Then when she thought maybe she 
had convinced me, she said, ``But darling, do you think you can do it 
without a wife?'' I've told her many times, it was very hard without a 
wife.''
  In March 1973, Lindy Boggs was elected to the House of 
Representatives in a special election. Her victory made her the first 
woman to represent Louisiana in the House and the first Catholic 
elected from a state that had never elected a Catholic to any major 
state office. She won her election by 75 percent in the Democratic 
primary and by 80 percent in the general election. ``I had a Republican 
running against me by the name of Robert E. Lee,'' she has said, ``I 
knew he was an imposter!'' Lindy was at first appointed to the Banking 
and Currency Committee, where she played a key role during the mark up 
of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974. She cites her experience 
as a newly widowed woman seeking

[[Page E312]]

credit as her motivation to add ``sex or marital status'' to the 
provision barring discrimination on the basis of ``race and age, and 
their status as veterans.'' Without informing the other committee 
members, Lindy inserted those words and made copies of the revision for 
her colleagues saying, ``Knowing the Members composing this committee 
as well as I do, I'm sure it was just an oversight that we didn't have 
``sex'' or ``marital status'' included. I've taken care of that and I 
trust it meets with the committee's approval.'' The bill passed 
unanimously, 47-0.
  In 1976, she became the first woman to preside over a national 
political convention. In 1977, Lindy was elected to the House Committee 
on Appropriations at her retirement, she remained the longest serving 
member of that committee, serving for 12 years. That same year, she 
helped cofound the Congressional Women's Caucus and later served as its 
secretary. Throughout her career, Lindy maintained that the most 
important women's issues were economic, backing those causes. ``The 
major issues of importance that I have worked on are economic ones; 
equal rights for women in business, banking and homeownership, the 
promotion of women in the workplace, better jobs in government and 
contracts, and equal opportunities for higher education, especially in 
science and medicine. Women vote with their pocketbooks . . . it boils 
down to that.'' Lindy was also a champion for civil rights in her 
diverse district. A political observer once noted, ``She is the only 
white Congress Member representing a black voter majority in the United 
States.''
  In the early 1980's, Lindy was instrumental in the creation of the 
House Historian's Office. She helped create and served as a member of 
the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families. From 1985 to 
1989, she served as the chair of the Bicentenary of the United States 
House of Representatives. In July 1991, shortly after her retirement 
from Congress, the House named a room off the Rotunda in her honor, the 
Lindy Claiborne Boggs Congressional Women's Reading Room, of which she 
says, ``I was always so proud that room was named for me because I felt 
that Abigail Adams had finally succeeded. She had asked her husband, 
John, to `remember the ladies' when the Constitution was drafted or 
they would foment a revolution. He had not done so, and so their son's 
final resting place is now occupied by women and named for a woman.''
  Retirement did not slow Lindy down. She remained politically active 
and in 1994 authored her autobiography, Washington Through a Purple 
Veil. In 1997, President Clinton appointed the 81 year old as U.S. 
Ambassador to the Vatican, a position in which she served until 2001. 
In 2002, Congress honored Lindy for her ``extraordinary service'' to 
Louisiana and the country. The occasion marked the 25th anniversary of 
the Congressional Women's Caucus.
  Of the accomplishments she is most proud of, she cites bills 
cosponsored on behalf minorities, women, and children; her efforts to 
improve education from the elementary to the college level; her work on 
the children's task force on crisis intervention; efforts to open the 
National Museum of African American Art in Washington, D.C.; 
establishing the Office of Historian of the House of Representatives; 
and achieving Margaret Chase Smith's dream of making the rose the 
national flower.
  On a personal level, Mrs. Boggs mentored me in the ways of this 
institution, introduced me and so many others to the Appropriations 
Committee, and hosted me as our nation's Ambassador to the Vatican. She 
has served our nation with a grit and grace that demonstrates to us all 
what service can be. Lindy Boggs has become a legend in her own time. 
How privileged I am to be able to honor her 97th year anniversary of 
life and pay tribute to her honorable service to America and the world.

                          ____________________