[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 63 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2406-S2407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Remembering Fritz Hollings

  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak on behalf 
of Senator Hollings' passing, along with my colleague Senator Scott 
from South Carolina.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Thank you.
  Mr. President, Senator Scott and I have come to the floor today to 
recognize a legend in South Carolina and this body, Senator Fritz 
Hollings, who passed away on April 6 in Isle of Palms, SC. He was 97. 
He loved Isle of Palms. That was his place to be.
  He was born in Charleston, SC, in 1922. He graduated from the Citadel 
in 1942. He attended the University of South Carolina School of Law. He 
served as an artillery officer in World War II, earned a Bronze Star, 
and finished with the rank of captain.
  He was in the State house of representatives from 1949 to 1954. He 
became our Governor in 1958 at age 36. He shepherded South Carolina 
through the turbulent times of the civil rights movement. He urged the 
legislature to follow the law after Brown v. Board of Education.
  He established the best technical college system in the country. We 
say that with great pride. It was Fritz Hollings who was the father of 
the South Carolina technical college system, which has resulted in 
thousands of jobs being created and educational opportunity for 
millions in our State.
  When he was a Senator, they called him the Senator from central 
casting. He looked the part, he acted the part, and he sounded the 
part. He was the junior Senator for 36 years, I think, in South 
Carolina, with Senator Thurmond being the senior Senator. When Senator 
Thurmond retired, I was honored to be able to take his place, and Fritz 
was my senior Senator for 2 years.
  I just want to thank him and recognize what he did for me to become 
established in the Senate. He was kind. He was gracious. We did not 
agree on policy, but he could not have been a better friend.
  I spent half of my time trying to interpret what he was saying on the 
floor. I caught about every third word. He has this Charleston accent 
that even I couldn't understand at times.
  Nobody enjoyed their job more than Senator Hollings. Nobody was ever 
better at it. When it came to South Carolina, Senator Hollings was able 
to move mountains. He was the chairman of the Commerce Committee and 
the Budget Committee.
  He was one of the great environmentalists of our time. The ACE Basin 
in South Carolina is a beautiful place along the coast where three 
major rivers come together. It was Senator Hollings who established 
that, now and forever to be preserved. He helped establish NOAA, which 
has done so much for our oceans.
  He was part of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act. He was 
always trying to keep our fiscal house in order.
  He was a champion of the military. Being a World War II veteran 
himself, he always looked out for those in uniform. Senator Thurmond 
and Hollings were giants of their time, and they

[[Page S2407]]

really made a difference for our State and for the country as a whole.
  When it comes to his distinguished career in the Senate, Fritz 
Hollings was at the top of anybody's list. He served for 38 years.
  He was a tireless advocate for the hungry--for hunger. He was trying 
to combat hunger and poverty before it was cool. He traveled all over 
this world to try to spread the good news about America.
  After Senate life, he established the Hollings Center for 
International Dialogue to create exchanges in dialogue between the 
United States and mostly Muslim populations. He was ahead of his time 
there. For us to win this war on terror, we have to side with people in 
the faith who reject radical Islam, which the overwhelming majority of 
people reject, and Fritz understood that.
  He was a great husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. 
He was my friend.
  He had the eighth longest tour of duty in the U.S. Senate in the 
history of the body. Yesterday, with Senator Scott's help, we passed a 
resolution unanimously--every Senator signed on--honoring the service 
of Senator Hollings.
  There are so many friends of his in this body. The staff and former 
Senators all will tell you that Fritz was a force of nature. He had 
strong opinions. He would share them with you whether you asked him or 
not. He knew what he was talking about. He was prepared. He was a 
fighter for his causes. He was willing to die for his country. Now he 
has passed, and the legacy for the people of South Carolina will be 
enduring.
  Our beaches and our oceans and our mountains and our rivers are 
better off for his service. Our educational system stands out on the 
technical school side because of his vision. He shepherded us through 
very turbulent times during the civil rights movement, where other 
States were literally on fire. South Carolina had problems, but they 
paled in comparison to most because of Senator Hollings' leadership.
  He was a lawyer. He loved the law. He was my friend. Senator Scott is 
from Charleston, and both of us have a tough act to follow when it 
comes to being Senators in South Carolina. Senator Hollings' way was to 
fight for your causes, work across the aisle, know what you are talking 
about before you speak, and try to do it with good humor. What more can 
you say? From the time he was a young man in Charleston until he passed 
away on April 6, he was always fighting for his causes. He loved his 
State. He delivered for the people of South Carolina.
  When it comes to the Senate, he was a legend. His presence was felt 
up here. His legacy is enduring. He fought the good fight. He was a 
faithful servant, and now he will enjoy an eternal rest. To his family, 
I know you are grieving, but you have much to be proud of. To the 
people of South Carolina, it is not about being a Republican or a 
Democrat in terms of service; it is about how much you love your State. 
No Republican and no Democrat ever loved South Carolina more than Fritz 
Hollings, and no Senator has ever made more of a difference than 
Senator Hollings.
  So Senator Scott and I will do our best to keep up this good man's 
legacy. We will have different policy choices, and we will go down a 
different political path, but we will be ever mindful of the way we do 
our job. The way we do our job matters as much as what you do. Let it 
be said that when it came to doing his job, Fritz Hollings did it 
professionally, effectively, and with love and passion.
  I now yield to Senator Scott of South Carolina.
  Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. President, I thank Senator Graham 
for yielding to me. Without any question, I think Senator Graham did 
such a great job of distilling the life and some of the accomplishments 
of Senator Hollings. Without any question, I cannot imagine Mr. Graham 
spending 36 years or so as a junior Senator from the great State of 
South Carolina because of the long tenure of the senior Senator, Strom 
Thurmond, whose seat you have. I have the privilege of being in the 
seat of Senator Hollings, who, of course, is from Charleston, as I am 
from Charleston. I think of the commonalities we all share as South 
Carolinians, and certainly ones who are not--all of us from South 
Carolina understand how hard it is to understand those folks who speak 
in the old Charleston brogue, the language of Senator Hollings and 
folks like our cousin, Arthur Ravenel, who shares the same inflection 
in his voice. Senator Graham brought back some very fond memories with 
his thoughts.
  To the family, the Hollings family, we certainly extend our 
condolences. I had the chance to speak with Michael, his son, just the 
other day, and the family is doing well. The family is encouraged by 
the outpouring of love and support from so many folks from the Senate 
and throughout the country because Senator Hollings was not only a 
South Carolina Senator, he was America's Senator. He spent a lot of 
time doing a lot of things that made a significant difference.
  I do want to put a little meat on the bones. As Senator Graham has 
covered so much of what I would have said, I will not say it twice. I 
will, perhaps, drill into a few of the times of service Senator 
Hollings had.
  As we think through the 1960s and as we read through the 1960s, we 
read through a time of volatility, a time where our Nation is clashing 
with one another, where the races were so divided. In the Deep South, 
we perhaps led in that direction of conflict. We have a provocative 
history on race in South Carolina. Without any question, Senator 
Hollings did what so many others did not do, which is, he led for a 
peaceful integration of what is today one of America's great public 
universities, Clemson University. I say that as a South Carolina fan, 
without any question, but it is no doubt that Harvey Gantt, being the 
first African American in Clemson to graduate from Clemson, was a 
monumental shift in southern education, one we can all celebrate today.
  I went to church with Harvey Gantt's family for 20-plus years at 
Morris Street Baptist Church in Charleston, SC, and I will say that, 
perhaps as a part of the springboard of controversy and challenge and 
conflict, it led to a level of greatness in Harvey Gantt's life as he 
took arrows that most of us are unfamiliar with. Senator Hollings--
then-Governor Hollings--took arrows that some would be unfamiliar with 
in making the decision to ask for and to encourage and support a 
peaceful transition in a State at the time broiled in controversy. 
Harvey Gantt went on, of course, to be the first African-American mayor 
of the city of Charlotte, NC.
  In thinking about Senator Graham's comments as it relates to the 
technical college system in South Carolina, how Senator Hollings 
birthed that for our State, that may sound like a good accomplishment, 
but for a State that faced extinction from an economic standpoint, when 
industries were leaving our State, the technical college system became 
the springboard, once again, for the great city of South Carolina to 
see a rebirth of our economic systems. What we have today is a 
manufacturing haven whose foundation is the technical college system. 
When we think about companies like BMW, Boeing, Volvo, Mercedes, Bosch, 
Michelin, Bridgestone, all these companies became a part of the 
corporate family in South Carolina because we had a healthy, thriving 
technical college system born because of the leadership of Senator 
Hollings.
  Senator Hollings not only succeeded in public life, but he also 
succeeded in his private life. I will tell you that I cannot imagine 
the reunion between Senator Hollings and his wife, Peatsy, of over 40 
years. I can't imagine the celebration that is happening in Heaven as 
those two are being reunited and spending time talking about what has 
occurred over their lifetimes and the things they had to see.
  There is an amazing Greek proverb that I want to end with, as it 
relates to Senator Hollings, that says that a society grows when old 
men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit under.
  Senator Graham and I, the youngsters, comparatively speaking to 
Senator Hollings and Senator Thurmond--we are sitting under the shade 
of that tree. Our Nation benefits from people who have the wisdom to 
look forward, beyond their lifetime, and create a country where we all 
benefit.