Ernest Hollings
Encyclopedia
Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings (born January 1, 1922) served as a Democratic
United States Senator
from South Carolina
from 1966 to 2005, as well as the 106th Governor of South Carolina
(1959–1963) and Lt. Governor (1955–1959). He served 38 years and 55 days in the Senate, which makes him the 8th-longest-serving Senator in history. He served alongside Republican Strom Thurmond
for 36 of those years, making them the longest-serving Senate duo in history, and him the most senior junior senator ever.
to Adolph G. and Wilhelmine Hollings and was raised at 338 President St. in the Hampton Park Terrace
neighborhood from the age of ten through enrolling in college. He graduated from The Citadel
in 1942, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree.
He received an LL.B. from the University of South Carolina in 1947 after only 21 months of study, and joined a law practice in Charleston. Hollings is a brother of the Pi Kappa Phi
fraternity. He is married to Rita Liddy "Peatsy" Hollings. He had four children (Michael, Helen, Patricia Salley, and Ernest the 3rd) with his first wife, (Martha) Patricia Salley Hollings. He is a Lutheran.
Hollings served as an officer in the U.S. Army
's 323rd and 457th Artillery units from 1942 to 1945, during World War II
, and was awarded the Bronze Star
for meritorious service in direct support of combat operations from December 13, 1944 to May 1, 1945 in France and Germany. He received the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
with five Bronze Service Stars for participation in the Tunisia, Southern France, Rome-Arno, Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns.
from 1949 to 1954. After only one term, Hollings' colleagues elected him Speaker Pro Tempore in 1951 and 1953. He was subsequently elected Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in 1954, and Governor
in 1958 at age 36.
In, 1962, during Hollings' term as Governor, the Confederate flag went up above the South Carolina Statehouse where it was flown underneath the US and state flags. In 2000, the Confederate battle flag was lowered from above the South Carolina Statehouse where it had flown underneath the US and state flags.
In his last address to the General Assembly on January 9, 1963, ahead of the peaceful admission of the first African-American student Harvey Gantt
to Clemson University
, Hollings declared: "As we meet, South Carolina is running out of courts...this General Assembly must make clear South Carolina's choice, a government of laws rather than a government of men...This should be done with dignity. It should be done with law and order.".
Hollings oversaw the last executions in South Carolina before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia
which temporarily banned capital punishment. During his term, eight inmates were put to death by electric chair
. The last was rapist
Douglas Thorne, on April 20, 1962.
He sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the U.S. Senate
in 1962 but lost to incumbent Olin D. Johnston
.
, resigned in order to accept appointment to the Senate seat, and Hollings defeated Russell in the Democratic primary for the remaining two years of the term. He then won the November 1966 special election and was sworn in shortly thereafter, gaining seniority on other newly-elected U.S. Senators who would have to wait until January, 1967, to take the oath of office. He won the seat for a full term in 1968, and was re-elected five more times.
For 36 years (until January 2003), he served alongside Republican Strom Thurmond
, making them the longest-serving Senate duo ever. This made him the longest-serving junior senator ever, even though he had more seniority than all but a few of his colleagues. Thurmond and Hollings generally had a good relationship despite their sometimes sharp philosophical differences, and frequently collaborated on legislation and projects to benefit South Carolina. Only Thurmond, Robert Byrd
, Ted Kennedy
, Daniel Inouye
, Carl Hayden, John Stennis and Ted Stevens
served longer in the Senate than Hollings.
In 1970, Hollings authored The Case Against Hunger: A Demand for a National Policy, acknowledging the Reverend I.D. Newman and Sister Mary Anthony for opening his eyes to the despair caused by hunger and helping him realize that he must do something about it. Hollings made headlines the year before when he toured poverty-stricken areas of South Carolina, often referred to as his "Hunger Tours." In February 1969, Hollings testified as to what he had seen on his fact-finding tours in front of the Senate Select Committee on Hunger and Human Needs. Charleston's News and Courier (now The Post and Courier
) reported that "Senators, members of the press corps and visitors packed in the hearing room watched and listened in disbelief as Hollings detailed dozens of tragically poignant scenes of human suffering in his state." Hollings recommended to the committee that free food stamps be distributed to the most needy, and just over a day later, Senator George McGovern announced that free food stamps would be distributed in South Carolina as part of a national pilot program for feeding the hungry.
In the 1970s, Hollings joined with fellow senators Kennedy and Henry M. Jackson
in a press conference to oppose President Gerald Ford
's request that Congress end Richard Nixon
's price controls on domestic oil, which had helped to cause the gasoline lines during the 1973 Oil Crisis
. Hollings said he believed ending the price controls (as was eventually done in 1981) would be a "catastrophe" that would cause "economic chaos."
in the presidential election of 1984. Hollings' wit and experience, as well as his call for a budget freeze
, won him some positive attention, but his relatively conservative record alienated liberal Democrats, and he was never really noticed in a field dominated by Walter Mondale
, John Glenn
and Gary Hart
. Hollings dropped out two days after losing badly in New Hampshire, and endorsed Hart a week later. His disdain for his competitors sometimes showed. He notably referred to Mondale as a "lapdog" and to former Astronaut Glenn as "Sky King
" who was "confused in his capsule."
, Hollings endorsed Jesse Jackson
.
Hollings remained very popular in South Carolina over the years, even as the state became increasingly friendly to Republicans at the national level. In his first three bids for a full term, he never dropped below 60 percent of the vote. In the 1992 election
, however, he faced an unexpectedly close race against former Congressman Tommy Hartnett in what was otherwise a very good year for Democrats nationally. Hartnett had represented the Charleston area in Congress from 1981 to 1987, thus making him Hollings' congressman. His appeal in the Lowcountry — traditionally a swing region at the state level — enabled him to hold Hollings to only 50 percent of the vote.
In his last Senate race in 1998
, Hollings faced Republican
congressman Bob Inglis
. One of the more heated and notable moments of the race was a newspaper interview in which Hollings referred to Inglis as a "goddamn skunk". Hollings was re-elected 52%-45%.
On January 7, 2003, Hollings introduced the controversial Universal National Service Act of 2006, which would require all men and women aged 18–26 (with some exceptions) to perform a year of military service.
On August 4, 2003, he announced that he would not run for re-election in November 2004. Republican Jim DeMint
succeeded him.
As a senator, Hollings was noted for his support for legislation in the interests of the established media distribution industry (such as the proposed "Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act
"). His hard-line support of various client-side
computer restrictions such as DRM
and Trusted computing
led the Fritz chip (a microchip that enforces such restrictions) to be nicknamed after him. Hollings also sponsored the Online Personal Privacy Act.
In his later career, Hollings was generally considered to be a moderate politically but was supportive of many civil rights
bills. He voted for re-authorizing the Voting Rights Act
in 1982. However, in 1967 he was one of the 11 senators who voted against the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall
, the first African-American Supreme Court justice. Hollings later voted in favor of the failed nomination of Robert Bork
and also for the successful nomination of Clarence Thomas
.
On fiscal issues, he was generally conservative, and was one of the primary sponsors of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, an attempt to enforce limits on government spending.
Hollings and Howell Heflin
of Alabama
were the only two Democratic senators to vote against the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
.
In 1981, Hollings had to apologize to fellow Democrat Howard Metzenbaum
after Hollings referred to him as the "senator from B'nai B'rith
" on the floor. Metzenbaum, who was Jewish, raised a point of personal privilege and Hollings's remarks were stricken from the record.
Hollings would become popular for the wrong reasons among fans of the MTV
animated series
Beavis and Butt-head
after he said to Janet Reno
; "We've got this...what is it...Buffcoat and Beaver or Beaver and something else. I haven't seen it, I don't watch it, but whatever it is, it was at 7, Buffcoat, and they put it on now at 10:30". After the remark, mispronouncing
Beavis
and Butt-head
's names became a running gag
on the show.
In 1993, Hollings told reporters that he attended international summits because, “Everybody likes to go to Geneva
. I used to do it for the Law of the Sea conferences and you'd find those potentate
s from down in Africa
, you know, rather than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva.”
Hollings penned a controversial editorial in the May 6, 2004 The Post and Courier
, where he argued that Bush invaded Iraq
possibly because "spreading democracy in the Mideast to secure Israel
would take the Jewish vote from the Democrats."
policies as inherently destructive, suggesting that certain protectionist measures have built the United States, and only a few parties actually benefit from free trade, such as large manufacturing corporations.
Hollings started the Hollings Scholarship in 2005. This scholarship gives over 100 undergraduates from around the country a 10 week internship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
and a monetary scholarship for the school year.
Hollings helped to establish the Hollings Center for International Dialogue
, an organization which promotes dialogue between the United States and Turkey, the nations of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia, and other countries with predominantly Muslim populations in order to open channels of communication, deepen cross-cultural understanding, expand people-to-people contacts, and generate new thinking on important international issues.
Hollings is on the Board of Advisors of the Charleston School of Law
and is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law there. He delivered the commencement address to the first graduating class there on May 19, 2007.
attempts to woo in order to land the Democratic convention in the 1996 film City Hall
.
Because of Strom Thurmond
's longevity and length of service, Senator Hollings spent 36 years as the junior senator from South Carolina, despite having seniority over the vast majority of his peers. He was the senior senator from South Carolina for only the last two years of his Senate service while serving alongside Lindsey Graham
.
|-
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
from 1966 to 2005, as well as the 106th Governor of South Carolina
Governor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
(1959–1963) and Lt. Governor (1955–1959). He served 38 years and 55 days in the Senate, which makes him the 8th-longest-serving Senator in history. He served alongside Republican Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
for 36 of those years, making them the longest-serving Senate duo in history, and him the most senior junior senator ever.
Early life
Hollings was born in Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
to Adolph G. and Wilhelmine Hollings and was raised at 338 President St. in the Hampton Park Terrace
Hampton Park Terrace
Hampton Park Terrace is a neighborhood located in peninsular Charleston, South Carolina. The neighborhood is bounded on the west by the Citadel, on the north by Hampton Park, on the east by Rutledge Ave., and on the south by Congress St. In addition, the one block of Parkwood Ave. south of...
neighborhood from the age of ten through enrolling in college. He graduated from The Citadel
The Citadel (military college)
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, also known simply as The Citadel, is a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. It is one of the six senior military colleges in the United States...
in 1942, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
He received an LL.B. from the University of South Carolina in 1947 after only 21 months of study, and joined a law practice in Charleston. Hollings is a brother of the Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi is an American social fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg, Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty, Jr. on December 10, 1904 at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina...
fraternity. He is married to Rita Liddy "Peatsy" Hollings. He had four children (Michael, Helen, Patricia Salley, and Ernest the 3rd) with his first wife, (Martha) Patricia Salley Hollings. He is a Lutheran.
Hollings served as an officer in the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
's 323rd and 457th Artillery units from 1942 to 1945, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and was awarded the Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
for meritorious service in direct support of combat operations from December 13, 1944 to May 1, 1945 in France and Germany. He received the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
The European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
with five Bronze Service Stars for participation in the Tunisia, Southern France, Rome-Arno, Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns.
Political career
He served three terms in the South Carolina House of RepresentativesSouth Carolina House of Representatives
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
from 1949 to 1954. After only one term, Hollings' colleagues elected him Speaker Pro Tempore in 1951 and 1953. He was subsequently elected Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in 1954, and Governor
Governor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
in 1958 at age 36.
Governor of South Carolina
As governor of South Carolina from January 20, 1959 to January 15, 1963, Hollings worked to improve the state's educational system, helping to bring more industry and employment opportunities to the state. His term in office saw the establishment of the state's technical education system and its educational television network. He also called for and achieved significant increases in teachers' salaries, bringing them closer to the regional average. At the 1961 Governor's Conference on Business, Industry, Education and Agriculture in Columbia, S.C., he declared, "Today, in our complex society, education is the cornerstone upon which economic development must be built--and prosperity assured."In, 1962, during Hollings' term as Governor, the Confederate flag went up above the South Carolina Statehouse where it was flown underneath the US and state flags. In 2000, the Confederate battle flag was lowered from above the South Carolina Statehouse where it had flown underneath the US and state flags.
In his last address to the General Assembly on January 9, 1963, ahead of the peaceful admission of the first African-American student Harvey Gantt
Harvey Gantt
Harvey Bernard Gantt is an American architect and Democratic politician active in North Carolina. He was Mayor of Charlotte from 1983 to 1987, and ran twice for the United States Senate....
to Clemson University
Clemson University
Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....
, Hollings declared: "As we meet, South Carolina is running out of courts...this General Assembly must make clear South Carolina's choice, a government of laws rather than a government of men...This should be done with dignity. It should be done with law and order.".
Hollings oversaw the last executions in South Carolina before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia
Furman v. Georgia
Furman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...
which temporarily banned capital punishment. During his term, eight inmates were put to death by electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
. The last was rapist
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
Douglas Thorne, on April 20, 1962.
He sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in 1962 but lost to incumbent Olin D. Johnston
Olin D. Johnston
Olin DeWitt Talmadge Johnston was a Democratic Party politician from the US state of South Carolina. He served as the 98th Governor of South Carolina, 1935–1939 and 1943–1945, and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1945 until his death in 1965.-Early Life, Military Involvement,...
.
Early Senate career
Johnston died on April 18, 1965. Hollings' successor as Governor, Donald S. RussellDonald S. Russell
Donald Stuart Russell was a Democratic Senator from South Carolina. He served from 1965 to 1966. He also served as the 107th Governor of South Carolina, 1963-1965. Russell was a protege of former Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and served as Assistant Secretary of State for Administration...
, resigned in order to accept appointment to the Senate seat, and Hollings defeated Russell in the Democratic primary for the remaining two years of the term. He then won the November 1966 special election and was sworn in shortly thereafter, gaining seniority on other newly-elected U.S. Senators who would have to wait until January, 1967, to take the oath of office. He won the seat for a full term in 1968, and was re-elected five more times.
For 36 years (until January 2003), he served alongside Republican Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
, making them the longest-serving Senate duo ever. This made him the longest-serving junior senator ever, even though he had more seniority than all but a few of his colleagues. Thurmond and Hollings generally had a good relationship despite their sometimes sharp philosophical differences, and frequently collaborated on legislation and projects to benefit South Carolina. Only Thurmond, Robert Byrd
Robert Byrd
Robert Carlyle Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010...
, Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
, Daniel Inouye
Daniel Inouye
Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye is the senior United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in American history. Inouye is the chairman of the United States Senate...
, Carl Hayden, John Stennis and Ted Stevens
Ted Stevens
Theodore Fulton "Ted" Stevens, Sr. was a United States Senator from Alaska, serving from December 24, 1968, until January 3, 2009, and thus the longest-serving Republican senator in history...
served longer in the Senate than Hollings.
In 1970, Hollings authored The Case Against Hunger: A Demand for a National Policy, acknowledging the Reverend I.D. Newman and Sister Mary Anthony for opening his eyes to the despair caused by hunger and helping him realize that he must do something about it. Hollings made headlines the year before when he toured poverty-stricken areas of South Carolina, often referred to as his "Hunger Tours." In February 1969, Hollings testified as to what he had seen on his fact-finding tours in front of the Senate Select Committee on Hunger and Human Needs. Charleston's News and Courier (now The Post and Courier
The Post and Courier
Charleston's The Post and Courier is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the South and the eighth oldest newspaper still in publication in the United States. It is published in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the Charleston Courier, founded in 1803, the...
) reported that "Senators, members of the press corps and visitors packed in the hearing room watched and listened in disbelief as Hollings detailed dozens of tragically poignant scenes of human suffering in his state." Hollings recommended to the committee that free food stamps be distributed to the most needy, and just over a day later, Senator George McGovern announced that free food stamps would be distributed in South Carolina as part of a national pilot program for feeding the hungry.
In the 1970s, Hollings joined with fellow senators Kennedy and Henry M. Jackson
Henry M. Jackson
Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson was a U.S. Congressman and Senator from the state of Washington from 1941 until his death...
in a press conference to oppose President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
's request that Congress end Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's price controls on domestic oil, which had helped to cause the gasoline lines during the 1973 Oil Crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
. Hollings said he believed ending the price controls (as was eventually done in 1981) would be a "catastrophe" that would cause "economic chaos."
Presidential candidate
Hollings unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United StatesPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in the presidential election of 1984. Hollings' wit and experience, as well as his call for a budget freeze
Budget freeze
A budget freeze is a term for when a budget for an aspect of government or business is fixed- or frozen- at a specific level. One can be applied in a business in order to increase profits as well as in a government, often to reduce taxes....
, won him some positive attention, but his relatively conservative record alienated liberal Democrats, and he was never really noticed in a field dominated by Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
, John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
and Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
. Hollings dropped out two days after losing badly in New Hampshire, and endorsed Hart a week later. His disdain for his competitors sometimes showed. He notably referred to Mondale as a "lapdog" and to former Astronaut Glenn as "Sky King
Sky King
Sky King is a 1940s and 1950s American radio and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King...
" who was "confused in his capsule."
Later Senate career
During the 1988 Presidential primariesUnited States presidential election, 1988
The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...
, Hollings endorsed Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
.
Hollings remained very popular in South Carolina over the years, even as the state became increasingly friendly to Republicans at the national level. In his first three bids for a full term, he never dropped below 60 percent of the vote. In the 1992 election
United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1992
The 1992 United States Senate election in South Carolina was held on November 3, 1992. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings won re-election.-Candidates:*Thomas F. Hartnett, former U.S. Representative from the 1st congressional district...
, however, he faced an unexpectedly close race against former Congressman Tommy Hartnett in what was otherwise a very good year for Democrats nationally. Hartnett had represented the Charleston area in Congress from 1981 to 1987, thus making him Hollings' congressman. His appeal in the Lowcountry — traditionally a swing region at the state level — enabled him to hold Hollings to only 50 percent of the vote.
In his last Senate race in 1998
United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1998
The 1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings won re-election.-Candidates:*Stephen Brown, Greenville County GOP Chairman*Bob Inglis, U.S. Congressman from the 4th CD...
, Hollings faced Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
congressman Bob Inglis
Bob Inglis
Robert Durden "Bob" Inglis, Sr. is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and then again from 2005 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
. One of the more heated and notable moments of the race was a newspaper interview in which Hollings referred to Inglis as a "goddamn skunk". Hollings was re-elected 52%-45%.
On January 7, 2003, Hollings introduced the controversial Universal National Service Act of 2006, which would require all men and women aged 18–26 (with some exceptions) to perform a year of military service.
Jim DeMint
James Warren "Jim" DeMint is the junior U.S. Senator from South Carolina, serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party and a leader in the Tea Party movement. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for from 1999 to 2005.-Early life and education:DeMint was born in...
succeeded him.
As a senator, Hollings was noted for his support for legislation in the interests of the established media distribution industry (such as the proposed "Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act
Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act
The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act was a United States bill proposed in 2002 that would have prohibited any kind of technology that could be used to read digital content without digital rights management —which prohibits copying and reading any content under copyright...
"). His hard-line support of various client-side
Client-side
Client-side refers to operations that are performed by the client in a client–server relationship in a computer network.Typically, a client is a computer application, such as a web browser, that runs on a user's local computer or workstation and connects to a server as necessary...
computer restrictions such as DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
and Trusted computing
Trusted Computing
Trusted Computing is a technology developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group. The term is taken from the field of trusted systems and has a specialized meaning. With Trusted Computing, the computer will consistently behave in expected ways, and those behaviors will be enforced by...
led the Fritz chip (a microchip that enforces such restrictions) to be nicknamed after him. Hollings also sponsored the Online Personal Privacy Act.
In his later career, Hollings was generally considered to be a moderate politically but was supportive of many civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
bills. He voted for re-authorizing the Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
in 1982. However, in 1967 he was one of the 11 senators who voted against the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
, the first African-American Supreme Court justice. Hollings later voted in favor of the failed nomination of Robert Bork
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork is an American legal scholar who has advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
and also for the successful nomination of Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....
.
On fiscal issues, he was generally conservative, and was one of the primary sponsors of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, an attempt to enforce limits on government spending.
Hollings and Howell Heflin
Howell Heflin
Howell Thomas Heflin was a United States Senator from Tuscumbia, Alabama, and a member of the Democratic Party.-Biography:...
of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
were the only two Democratic senators to vote against the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a United States federal law requiring covered employers to provide employees job-protected unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. These reasons include personal or family illness, military service, family military leave, pregnancy,...
.
Controversies
When Hollings embarked on tours of poor areas of South Carolina in 1968 and 1969 and testified as to his findings before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, he was accused of drawing unwanted attention to South Carolina when other states — North and South — also faced extreme poverty. Hollings knew South Carolina was not alone in its struggle and thought that if any politician was going to investigate hunger in South Carolina, it was going to at least be a South Carolinian. After a tour of an East Charleston slum, he said, "I don't want Romney and Kennedy coming here to look at my slums. As a matter of fact when I get caught up with my work, I think I may go look at the slums of Boston." For his efforts, Hollings was also accused of "scheming for the negro vote." Hollings, who had seen plenty of white hunger and poverty and slums on his tours, responded, "You just don't make political points on hunger. The poor aren't registered to vote and they won't vote."In 1981, Hollings had to apologize to fellow Democrat Howard Metzenbaum
Howard Metzenbaum
Howard Morton Metzenbaum was an American politician who served for almost 20 years as a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate from Ohio . He also served in the Ohio House of Representatives and Senate from 1943 to 1951.-Early life:Metzenbaum was born in Cleveland, to a poor Jewish family, the son...
after Hollings referred to him as the "senator from B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International |Covenant]]" is the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was initially founded as the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith in New York City, on , 1843, by Henry Jones and 11 others....
" on the floor. Metzenbaum, who was Jewish, raised a point of personal privilege and Hollings's remarks were stricken from the record.
Hollings would become popular for the wrong reasons among fans of the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
animated series
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
Beavis and Butt-head
Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...
after he said to Janet Reno
Janet Reno
Janet Wood Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States . She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11...
; "We've got this...what is it...Buffcoat and Beaver or Beaver and something else. I haven't seen it, I don't watch it, but whatever it is, it was at 7, Buffcoat, and they put it on now at 10:30". After the remark, mispronouncing
Spoonerism
A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched . It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner , Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency...
Beavis
Beavis
Beavis is a fictional character on the MTV series Beavis and Butt-head. He is voiced by the show’s creator, Mike Judge.Beavis has an underbite and a fixated stare on his face which rarely looks straight at the television viewer, but rather to the side...
and Butt-head
Butt-head
Butt-head is a fictional character from the MTV animated series Beavis and Butt-head. He was voiced by the show's creator, Mike Judge.Mike Judge got the name Butt-head from his university days, when he knew a couple of kids who had the nicknames 'Iron Butt' and 'Butt-head'...
's names became a running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
on the show.
In 1993, Hollings told reporters that he attended international summits because, “Everybody likes to go to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. I used to do it for the Law of the Sea conferences and you'd find those potentate
Potentate
Potentate is an informal term for a person with potent, usually supreme, power.-Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine:...
s from down in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, you know, rather than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva.”
Hollings penned a controversial editorial in the May 6, 2004 The Post and Courier
The Post and Courier
Charleston's The Post and Courier is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the South and the eighth oldest newspaper still in publication in the United States. It is published in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the Charleston Courier, founded in 1803, the...
, where he argued that Bush invaded Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
possibly because "spreading democracy in the Mideast to secure Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
would take the Jewish vote from the Democrats."
Post political life
In retirement, Hollings continues to write opinion editorials for newspapers around South Carolina and is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. His opinion editorials are also published every week in EconomyInCrisis.org, an independent protectionist news blog. In 2008, the University of South Carolina Press published Making Government Work, a book authored by Hollings with Washington, D.C., journalist Kirk Victor, imparting Hollings' view on the changes needed in Washington. Among other things, the book recommends a dramatic decrease in the amount of campaign spending. It also attacks free tradeFree trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
policies as inherently destructive, suggesting that certain protectionist measures have built the United States, and only a few parties actually benefit from free trade, such as large manufacturing corporations.
Hollings started the Hollings Scholarship in 2005. This scholarship gives over 100 undergraduates from around the country a 10 week internship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
and a monetary scholarship for the school year.
Hollings helped to establish the Hollings Center for International Dialogue
Hollings Center
The Hollings Center is a tax exempt, non-profit organization founded in 2004, through Congress appropriations bills by Senators Ernest F. Hollings and Judd Gregg...
, an organization which promotes dialogue between the United States and Turkey, the nations of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia, and other countries with predominantly Muslim populations in order to open channels of communication, deepen cross-cultural understanding, expand people-to-people contacts, and generate new thinking on important international issues.
Hollings is on the Board of Advisors of the Charleston School of Law
Charleston School of Law
The Charleston School of Law is a for-profit private law school located in Charleston, South Carolina, established in 2003. The school was fully accredited by the American Bar Association in August 2011.-Inspiration and establishment:...
and is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law there. He delivered the commencement address to the first graduating class there on May 19, 2007.
Further information
Senator Hollings played a Southern senator, Senator Marquand, whom Al PacinoAl Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
attempts to woo in order to land the Democratic convention in the 1996 film City Hall
City Hall (film)
City Hall is a 1996 film directed by Harold Becker. Al Pacino and John Cusack star as the Mayor of New York and his idealistic deputy mayor....
.
Because of Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
's longevity and length of service, Senator Hollings spent 36 years as the junior senator from South Carolina, despite having seniority over the vast majority of his peers. He was the senior senator from South Carolina for only the last two years of his Senate service while serving alongside Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Olin Graham is the senior U.S. Senator from South Carolina and a member of the Republican Party. Previously he served as the U.S. Representative for .-Early life, education and career:...
.
Electoral history
Further reading
- Minchin, Timothy J., “An Uphill Fight: Ernest F. Hollings and the Struggle to Protect the South Carolina Textile Industry, 1959–2005,” South Carolina Historical Magazine, 109 (July 2008), 187–211.
External links
- The Papers of Fritz Hollings at the University of South Carolina
- "Fritz Hollings: In His Own Words," an online collection of documents from the Papers of Fritz Hollings at the University of SC
- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/weekinreview/19bigp.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
- Center for Responsive Politics figures on Hollings' funding
- Salon article on the Online Personal Privacy Act
- LawMeme article about the Online Personal Privacy Act
- "Hollings's Harangue" NY Sun Article about the Howard Metzenbaum incident
- SCIway Biography of Ernest Frederick Hollings
- NGA Biography of Ernest Frederick Hollings
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