[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17109-17110]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                         A TRIBUTE TO ROZ WYMAN

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, 50 years ago today a young and 
dynamic woman was elected as a member of the Los Angeles City Council. 
She was just 22 years old, making her the youngest council member in 
the city's history.
  The fact that such a record has been held for so long is in itself 
remarkable. But then again, we are talking about a truly remarkable 
woman, Rosalind Wyman.
  For many years now, Roz has worked tirelessly, for her family and 
friends, for the city she loves, for the State of California, for the 
Democratic Party, and for women everywhere.
  There is a wonderful photo of Roz when she was only 2 years old, 
smiling up at a portrait of Franklin Roosevelt. Her mother, Sarah, was 
a precinct captain for FDR's first Presidential campaign, running the 
operation out of the family's drugstore on 9th Street and Western 
Avenue in Los Angeles.
  Roz's father, Oscar, worried that such a partisan stance would cost 
them customers, but Sarah believed that electing Roosevelt was much 
more important.

[[Page 17110]]

  Small wonder, then, that Roz developed a deep and abiding passion for 
political activism and the Democratic Party. Her first campaign was 
working on behalf of Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas, in her ill-
fated 1950 Senate race against Richard Nixon, when he unfairly 
portrayed her as ``the Pink Lady.''
  Then, 2 years later, Roz made history by becoming the youngest person 
ever elected to the L.A. City Council, and only its second woman 
member. She went on to serve in that body for the next 12 years, on the 
finance and budget committees, and eventually becoming president pro-
tempore.
  As another woman who entered California politics in the 1950s, I can 
assure you that it was quite a different world back then. It was still 
very much a male club. In both Los Angeles and San Francisco, one was 
hard-pressed to find a women's bathroom anywhere near the chambers.
  Something else Roz inherited from her mother was a love for baseball. 
In fact, there is nowhere that Roz Wyman would rather be than at Dodger 
Stadium, at the home plate corner of the Dodger dugout, where she has 
had her seats for over 40 years now.
  It is no exaggeration to say that the Dodgers would not have come to 
Los Angeles without the vision, fortitude, and sheer determination of 
Roz Wyman. Just ask Tommy Lasorda, who said: ``What this lady did for 
baseball in this city, they should erect a monument to her.''
  Today, it is hard to believe how polarizing the effort was to bring 
the Dodgers from Brooklyn in the late 1950s. Yet Roz, believing that a 
professional sports team was just what L.A. needed to cement its image 
as a major American city, braved death threats and earned many 
political enemies in order to see this come about.
  One year after coming to L.A., however, the Dodgers went on to win 
the World Series, as they did again in 1963, 1965, 1981, and 1988, 
along with three National League Championships in the 1970s. No one 
today could imagine the city without one of baseball's greatest 
franchises.
  One of the other defining moments in the modern history of Los 
Angeles, which placed the city firmly on the map as one of America's 
premier cities, was when it hosted the Democratic Convention in 1960.
  And here, too, Roz Wyman played a vital, even pivotal role. She was 
an ardent Kennedy supporter, having supported him in 1956, in his 
unsuccessful bid for the Vice Presidential nomination.
  She understood the natural connection between Hollywood and 
Washington, and before many others recognized Kennedy's enormous 
charisma and appeal, along with the growing importance of television to 
electoral politics.
  And with her late husband, Eugene, who served as chairman of the 
California Democratic Party, they proved to be extraordinarily 
effective fundraisers and campaigners. They were responsible for 
enlisting the likes of Frank Sinatra to sing by the swimming pool, as 
Kennedy worked his political magic with the delegates.
  It is easy to forget that back then, party conventions were not the 
largely scripted events that they are today. There was real drama--
nothing was inevitable--and delegates could change their vote at the 
last minute.
  Such was Roz's influence with the Kennedy campaign, that she was able 
to convince Robert Kennedy to change the venue for JFK's fabled ``New 
Frontier'' speech from the Sports Arena to the grander Memorial 
Coliseum next door.
  She went on, 8 years later, to work closely on Robert Kennedy's bid 
for the White House, which ended so tragically in Los Angeles.
  During the 1970s, both with her husband Gene and after his unexpected 
passing, Roz was a highly effective advocate for the Democratic Party, 
raising awareness on a wide array of issues.
  I first met Roz when I was mayor of San Francisco and she served as 
convention chair and chief executive officer of the 1984 Democratic 
National Convention, the first woman--Democrat or Republican--ever 
selected to run a Presidential Convention. In that position she oversaw 
the entire planning and management of the convention and its $13 
million budget.
  We soon became close friends, forming a bond that has grown ever 
stronger over the years. She was already a living legend, already a 
star of our party, and she did an absolutely stellar job, not just for 
the Democratic Party but for the city of San Francisco.
  President Clinton recognized Roz's contribution, back in 2000, when 
he said: ``She reminds me of my ties to my roots. Her loyalty to our 
party and our candidates is something I hope I can emulate for the rest 
of my life.''
  I share President Clinton's sentiments--and I, too, hope that I can 
emulate Roz Wyman. A pioneering force in American politics, she is my 
Field Marshall, my trusted adviser, and most importantly to me, my very 
dear friend.

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