1964 ALL CR REFERENCES
ECONOMY, COMMERCE, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
Appalachian region: public works and economic development program for (see bill S.2782), 10335.
10335: May 7, 1964; Muskie is one of a number of Senators whose names are added as cosponsors of S. 2782, Sen. Randolph’s (D-West Virginia) bill to authorize public works and economic development for the Appalachian region. This measure set up the Appalachian Regional Development framework which built on the earlier work of the TVA in bringing economic development to the region as a whole.
Flood control projects: provide long-term payment by local areas of contributions toward (see bill S. 2882), 12270.
Flood control projects: legislation to provide for repayments for, 12270.
12270: June 1, 1964; Muskie introduces S.2882, a bill designed to apply to water and harbor projects the same kind of local funding provisions as are written into the Area Redevelopment Act and the Accelerated Public Works Act, allowing lower-income communities and regions to pay the local share of the cost of these projects over the life of the project rather than being forced to come up with all the funding in a lump sum at the start of the project.
To Serve the Fleet: Case for Naval Shipyard, Shipmate, J. D. Alden, 13601.
Naval shipyards: study, 13601.
13601: June 12, 1964; Muskie inserts a lengthy article about naval shipyards into the Record as part of the ongoing debate that accompanies the Defense Department’s review of the future of existing U.S. Naval Shipyards. Maine, with a large private shipyard at Bath Iron Works and the Portsmouth-Kittery Naval Shipyard has long had an active interest in the operation and future of the navy’s shipbuilding and overhaul plans.
Reply to Reader's Digest Article, Area Redevelopment Administration. 15076.
Area Redevelopment Administration: tribute, 15076, 15078, 15079.
Newsletter: support for ARA, by, 15079.
List: ARA projects in Hazleton, Pa., 15079.
Letter: Federal assistance for economic development in Maine, to John Moran, by, 15080.
Hope in Appalachia, Time, 15078.
Letter: Comments on Hope in Appalachia, article, Time, W.L. Batt, 15079.
15078, 15079, 15080: June 25, 1964; Muskie inserts assorted materials defending the Area Redevelopment Act and its works against criticism from the Readers’ Digest, including a copy of his own newsletter to Maine of June 1, 1964, and the text of a May 13, 1964 Muskie letter to John Moran, the Managing Director of the Bangor Daily News who had inquired about possible federal assistance for economic development efforts, particularly highways.
Table: Maine potato futures, 16404, 16405, 16408.
Table: comparison of Maine and Idaho potatoes (sundry), 16405.
Comparison of Maine With Idaho Potatoes, 16405.
Table: agricultural prices, 16405.
Agriculture: bill (S. 332) to prohibit trading in Irish potato futures, 16403-16412.
Agriculture: amend bill (S. 332) to prohibit trading In Irish potato futures, 16408.
Editorial: Maine Potatoes, Portland Telegram, 16409.
Letter: Potato futures trading, H. L. Graham, 16408, 16409.
16403 -16409; June 21, 1964; During debate on S.332, his bill to prohibit trading in Irish potato futures, Muskie’s opening statement outlines the need for a legislative prohibition on the trading in potato futures, and he debates this view with other Senators, introducing materials to compare the condition of the Maine potato crop with conditions in Idaho, and information from outside experts which contrasts the issue of futures trading in the case of storable products like grains to the case of a perishable product like potatoes. The bill is passed on a voice vote.
ENERGY
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
Passamaquoddy-St. John hydroelectric project: authorize construction of (see bill S . 2573), 3791.
3791; February 27, 1964; Notice only of Muskie’s introduction of S.2573, his bill to authorize construction of the Passamaquoddy-St. John hydroelectric project. The notice of a bill introduction appears in the Congressional Record along with others, while introductory and explanatory remarks appear in succession in a different location.
Passamaquoddy-St. John project: legislation to construct, 3794
3794: February 27, 1964; Muskie speaks about his bill, S.2573, to authorize the construction of the Quoddy-St. John project, discusses the importance of harnessing the potential power of the Quoddy tides for electricity generation, and expresses the hope that the necessary agreements between U.S. and Canada can be reached to make the project a reality. There is no bill text at this point.
ENVIRONMENT, PARKS, HISTORIC PRESERVATION, WILDLIFE
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
Roosevelt Campobello International Park: established (see bill S. 2464), 1029.
Roosevelt Campobello International Park: bill (H.R. 9740) to establish, 1030, 14748-14751
Proposes Campobello Park as Memorial to Roosevelt, by Donald C. Hansen, in Kennebec Journal, 1031.
Letter: Roosevelt Campobello International Park, to President Kennedy and President Johnson, by, 1031, 1032.
United States and Canada Agree on Power and Campobello, by William M. Blair, in New York Times, 1032.
1029: January 23, 1964; Notice only of the introduction of S.2464, Muskie’s bill to establish an International Park honoring Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Campobello Island.
1030; Muskie introductory remarks on S.2464, the bill to create an International Park at Campobello Island in honor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Muskie includes a copy of his letter to President Kennedy of April 7, 1961 raising the possibility of a joint U.S. - Canadian park on the island, a news report on the proposal from August 1962, describing Kennedy’s proposal during a visit to the Boothbay region to create such a park, along with a 1964 Muskie letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson, describing the past efforts to create a park, and a news report of a January 22, 1964 agreement between Johnson and Prime Minister Lester Pearson of Canada to establish the Park. The agreement requires legislation to take effect, and Muskie is the author of that legislation.
14748; June 23, 1964; During debate on the bill to create an International Park at Campobello Island, Muskie makes a statement on the reported bill S.2464, and discusses the bill’s appropriate referral. On a voice vote, the Senate agrees to passage of H.R. 9740, the companion House measure as the vehicle for the legislation.
Committee on Public Works: pollution hearings by, 6261.
Automobiles: exhaust pollution, 6261.
Air Pollution: problems of, 6261.
6261; March 25, 1964; Muskie reports on hearings held in six cities by the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, and points out that the hearings served to highlight the steps that must still be taken to curb pollution, including more effort to curb auto exhaust pollution, which is identified as one of the principal issues to be attacked.
Arnold's March to Quebec, C. P. Bradford, 7416.
7416: April 9, 1964; Muskie inserts an article on Benedict Arnold’s March to Quebec (1775) written by Charles P. Bradford, the supervisor of historic sites for the Maine State Parks and Recreation Committee. This route is preserved in Maine as a historic site.
Water Quality and National Interest, Duke University, by, 8757.
8757: April 22, 1964; Metcalfe (D-Montana) inserts Muskie speech given before the 13th Southern Municipal and Industrial Waste Conference at Duke University on “Water Quality and the National Interest,” in which he discusses in some detail the major points of the Clean Water Act, S.649, which he introduced.
Appalachian Trail: facilitate management, use, and public benefits from (see bill S.2862), 12549.
12549: June 3, 1964; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S.2862, Senator Nelson’s (D-Wisconsin) bill to improve the management of the Appalachian Trail by facilitating federal, state, local and private cooperation and assistance for the promotion of the trail. There is no Muskie text at this point.
National Rivers and Harbors Congress, K. Holum. 12931
12931: June 8, 1964; Muskie inserts the copy of a speech by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Kenneth Holum, outlining the approach the Department has taken to water power projects, including Passamaquoddy. Muskie’s interest in harnessing the tidal power of Passamaquoddy Bay never waned, although it was ultimately unsuccessful.
Interstate Air Pollution Study Luncheon, R. R. Tucker, 13604
Air pollution: work of R. R. Tucker against, 13604.
13604: June 12, 1964; Muskie inserts the text of a speech on cooperative efforts to control interstate air pollution by then-President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Raymond R. Tucker, Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri. Especially in the early years of his work on clean air legislation, Muskie took every effort to emphasize that pollution was by its nature an interstate problem that could not be easily handled on a state and local level. Although this idea is hardly controversial today, at the time, the reflexive reliance on state and local authorities automatically created opposition to any new national program of pollution control.
Air Pollution, Washington Area Cleaner Air week Ceremony, by, 13112
13112: June 9, 1964; Metcalf (D-Montana) inserts Muskie speech to the Metropolitan Washington Cleaner Air Week Luncheon Award Ceremony. In his speech, Muskie describes the carrying capacity of air against the volumes of gaseous exhausts that the air is required to absorb. The text can be read here.
Polluted Air We Breathe, Labor's Economic Review, 14730.
14730: June 23, 1964; Muskie inserts an article, “The Polluted Air We Breathe” from Labor’s Economic Review, detailing the background history of air pollution, its health effects, and the economic impact of air pollution. It was during these years that much of the nation began to recognize that air pollution was not a temporary annoyance but a problem that required long-term and sustained action, as articles such as this one became more common.
Air Pollution Linked to Wide Range of Ills, Washington Post, H. Simons, 15076.
15076 [actually begins 15075]: June 25, 1964; Muskie inserts a news story from the Washington Post about a 17-nation conference in Strasbourg, France which highlighted medical findings about air pollution and its effects on health. The international dimension of air pollution, like climate control today, was used by American supporters of pollution control to buttress their arguments that action should be taken.
Fish killed by water Pollution, 15192-15194.
Table: fish killed by water pollution: selected data, 15193.
15192-15194: June 26, 1964; Muskie speech on water pollution, talks about the progress made in states’ acceptance of a federal role in pollution control, and about recently highlighted pollution of the lower Mississippi, in particular, contamination by chemicals which lead to fish kills, such as endrin contamination from a source in Memphis, Tenn., and the findings of public health authorities which investigated these fish kills. Read the speech here.
Air pollution: automobile manufacturers efforts to combat, 19564.
Auto Firms Say Smog Unit Can Be Built on 1966 Cars, Wall Street Journal, 19564.
19564: August 14, 1964; Muskie notes that the auto industry has announced that pollution-control equipment for the national auto fleet would be available one year earlier than had been anticipated and welcomes this news, as illustrated in an article in the Wall Street Journal.
Letter: Fish kill investigation in Memphis, Tenn., correspondence with G. E. McCallum, 19736.
19736: August 15, 1964; Senator Walters (D-Tennessee) inserts a copy of a Muskie letter and correspondence from Tennessee public health workers relating to the fish kill which the federal Public Health Service investigated and about which Muskie made a floor statement in June, 1964.
Muskie’s letter indicates that it was not his intention to cast aspersions on the motives or actions of Memphis city employees but merely to report the problems the Public Health Service ran into when it began investigating the fish kill. As Muskie became more prominent, his comments were given wider public attention, sometimes with unintended consequences, as in this instance.
Air Pollution, Reporter Magazine, by C. W. Griffin, Jr., 22073.
22073: 9/15/64: Muskie mentions that the summer just past provided several eye-irritant days of smog and pollution, and inserts an article from Reporter magazine about air pollution and its effects on health by C.W.Griffin, Jr.
NATIONAL SECURITY/FOREIGN AFFAIRS
1964 88th Congress, 2nd Session
Johnson, Lyndon B.: letter to Khruschev, 1033.
1033: January 23, 1964; Muskie commends President Johnson on his letter to Khruschev on the New Year (written in response to Khruschev’s New Year greetings) for being specific with respect to proposals that could be discussed at the upcoming Disarmament Conference in Geneva. During the Soviet period, Christmas was not an officially recognized holiday, and Soviet citizens were, instead, encouraged to observe the New Year as a festive gift-exchange period. Greetings from the Soviet national leader to his counterparts overseas on the occasion were part of the panoply of efforts made to persuade Soviet citizens that “their” holiday was as internationally acknowledged as Christmas.
Report: Expenditures of Foreign Currencies and Appropriated Funds, 4659.
4659: March 6, 1964; Muskie’s name appears along with other Senators in a pro-forma list (required under the Mutual Security Act of 1954) of Senators whose committee travels had included the use of foreign currency. Muskie expended a total of $184.52 in Mexican dollars during service on the Senate delegation to the Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group Conference in 1963.
King Paul of Greece: sorrow upon death (see S. Con. Res. 72), 4742, 4769.
4742: March 9, 1964; This index listing reflects a recording anomaly. Senator Mansfield (D-Montana), the Senate Majority Leader, introduced S. Con. Res.72, (on the death of King Paul of Greece) with every member of the Senate as a cosponsor. Although there is no listing with every Senator’s name reflected, the index entry reflects the universal cosponsorship and shows up in each Senator’s individual index entries. It is traditional for the full Senate to express its official condolences upon the death of a leader of an allied nation.
Foreign aid: book by Frank Coffin on, 7198.
Coffin, Frank, 7198.
7198: April 8, 1964; Muskie describes Frank Coffin’s attributes and training as ideal for his position as the U.S. Representative to the Development Assistance Committee, and lauds his new book, “Witness for Aid.” Frank Coffin served as a Member of Congress for Maine and after service in various capacities in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, was named a federal judge.
Polish Constitution Day Observance, by, 15774.
15774: July 1, 1964; Muskie speaks to a Polish-American group in Cleveland, Ohio, and describes the Polish Constitution of 1791, and his visit to his father’s home village in Poland in 1959. The speech in inserted in the Extension of Remarks by Congressman Roman C. Pucinski, (D-Illinois).
Department of Defense: amend bill (H.R. 10939) making appropriations, 17386, 17405.
Department of Defense: bill (H.R. 10939) making appropriations, 17392, 17396
Department of Defense: closing of naval shipyards, 17392, 17396.
17386: This index item is in error. The page reflects a roll call vote in which Muskie and 72 other Senators participated.
17392, 17396: July 29, 1964; During debate on a Javits (R-New York) amendment to the Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 10939, Muskie announces his support for the amendment, which would require advance notice to Congressional committees before any Navy Yard is closed. Muskie rebuts the claim made by Morse (D-Oregon) that supporters of the Javits amendment are motivated by pork barrel considerations. His remarks verge on the not-quite-polite.
17405: July 19, 1964; Muskie is listed as one of several cosponsors of a Thurmond (R-South Carolina) amendment which would require that at least 35% of funds allocated for naval ship repair be spent in private shipyards. An earlier amendment to make this proportion 50% had been rejected immediately prior to Thurmond’s offering his. It is very common in the Senate that when one proposal of this nature is voted down, a compromise variant is offered, giving Senators who rejected the first proposal a fall-back to vote for. Some observers of the Senate suggest that such splitting-the-difference compromises are a cynical method by which Senators can, in essence, vote both ways on a touchy proposal. Others see such compromises as integral elements of the way politics should work.
Foreign aid: amend bill (H.R. 11380) authorizing, 18815.
Foreign aid: maintain Polish graves in Italy, 18815.
Polish Cemetery in Italy, Deutschman, 18815.
Foreign aid: bill (H.R. 11380) authorizing, 18815, 19161-19163.
18815: August 10, 1964; During debate on the foreign assistance authorization bill, H.R. 11380, Muskie speaks on a Proxmire(D-Wisconsin)/Hart(D-Michigan) amendment which would authorize the president to help care for the graves of Polish soldiers who fought in the battle of Monte Cassino alongside allies and who are buried in Italy and asks to be made a cosponsor. These soldiers were members of the Free Polish forces which fought alongside the allies in World War II but found themselves somewhat orphaned at the close of the war, when the Soviet occupation of Poland made some countries reluctant to acknowledge the Free forces. In his remarks, Muskie cites an article about the cemetery written by a returning GI, Deutschmann.
19161-19163; August 12, 1964; During debate over a McGovern (D-South Dakota) amendment designed to authorize $50 million for the purchase of high-protein foods for donation to foreign school lunch programs, Muskie inquires whether fish products would also be considered eligible for this program, is assured they would, and the amendment passes. Following is a Bartlett (D-Alaska) amendment to require the inclusion of excess canned fish in the Food for Peace program. After discussion of this issue which includes Muskie commentary, Bartlett withdraws the amendment because enough Senators have had enough to say that the Secretary of the Interior is certain to make the surplus declaration as he has had the discretion to do. It was a common practice for Senators to bring up amendments for debate – particularly those with strong support – as a means of demonstrating legislative will, but then to withdraw them in the expectation that the demonstration itself was adequate to show that recalcitrant bureaucrats would be forced by law to take whatever steps they had been reluctant to take within their legal discretion. This is one kind of “legislative history” that acts as an informal means of instructing the Administration to do as Congress wishes.
Appointed to NATO Parliamentary Conference, 22062.
22062: September 15, 1964; Muskie is appointed as an alternate delegate to the Parliamentary Conference of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. There is no Muskie text at this point.
Baltic States: United Nations to provide for self-determination of (see S. Con. Res. 99), 22786.
22786: September 24, 194; Muskie is listed as a cosponsor of a Dodd (D-Connecticut) Resolution expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the right of the Baltic States, then occupied by the Soviet Union, to determine their own form of government free of Soviet influence. Throughout the Soviet period, Congress observed Captive Nations Week, which verbally reaffirmed the right of the Baltic countries to be free of Soviet domination.
Malaysia: condemn Indonesian aggression against (see S. Res. 376), 22787.
22787: September 24, 1964; Muskie is listed as a cosponsor of a Dodd (D-Connecticut) resolution which condemns Indonesia for its invasion of East Borneo and the Malay Peninsula with guerillas and regular Army troops. President Sukarno of Indonesia was pursuing his “Greater Indonesia” policy and had denounced the 1963 independence of Malaysia as an imperialist British subterfuge. He waged an undeclared war against Malaysia until his own deposition from power in 1965.
Report: Council for a Livable World, 23605-23607.
23605: October 2, 1964; Senator Simpson (R-Wyoming) reproduces a report on the Council for a Livable World, a nonprofit group concerned with nuclear arms agreements. The report lists Senators who have received funds from the Council and Muskie is shown as getting $252.30. Senator Simpson indulged suspicions that the Council was a communist-inspired entity.
HUMAN RESOURCES PROGRAMS
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
Taxation: education expense, 1833.
Telegrams: tax credit for higher education (sundry), 1833.
1833: February 4, 1964; During debate on H.R.8363, the Revenue Act of 1964, Muskie speaks against a Ribicoff (D-Connecticut) amendment to provide tax credits against tuition for college students. He questions the substantial ($1.3 billion) cost of the proposal, which has not been adequately reviewed, and opposes it because its net effect would do nothing for those who could not afford college in the first place, but would instead provide additional benefits to those who would be benefitting from the underlying Revenue Act (through lowered tax rates) in any case. Muskie includes telegrams from Maine teachers and associations, both in support and opposition to this amendment.
Higher education students: provide assistance for (see bill S. 2490), 4664.
4664: March 6, 1964; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to the Hartke (D-Indiana) bill which increases the authorized amount available for loans under the National Defense Education Act of 1958, and establishes scholarships, loan insurance and work study programs.
Poverty: mobilize human and financial resources to combat (see bill S. 2642), 6467.
6467; March 26, 1964; Muskie’s name is listed along with other Senators as being added as a cosponsor to S. 2642, a McNamara (D-Michigan) bill to mobilize the human and financial resources of the Nation to combat poverty. This was the central bill in President Johnson’s War on Poverty, which was announced in a Johnson statement on economic opportunity that called for programs to create jobs, provide training for those who needed it, and empower communities of the low-income to mobilize for their own economic improvement. The War on Poverty was an ambitious and, to some, a misguided initiative which embodied the contemporaneous belief that the United States could take purposive action to eliminate poverty. This is no longer a widely-held belief in the United States.
Text of amendment to S. 750, truth in lending bill, 7580.
7580: April 10, 1964; The text of the Muskie amendment to the Truth in Lending bill is printed as one of a large number of proposed amendments which were being circulated within the Banking Committee. The Truth in Lending bill was then in its fourth year before the Congress and ongoing efforts to determine whether it would be administered by the Federal Trade Commission or the Federal Reserve continued to be at issue. As one of the earliest consumer-protection initiatives dealing with modern consumer concerns (in this case, credit), the proposal was controversial and not enthusiastically embraced by regulatory agencies which had existing relationships with the groups they regulated. This is a pattern of reaction frequently seen when novel suggestions seem to threaten existing relationships.
Social Security Amendments of 1964: amend bill (H.R. 11865) to enact, 21103, 21215, 21543.
21103: August 31, 1964; Muskie is listed as one of several Senators cosponsoring the Gore (D-Tennessee) amendment which would have added a hospital care component to the Social Security Act. At the time, the last cost-of-living increase for Social Security benefits had been enacted in 1958, and Long (D-Louisiana) offered a 5% increase which he maneuvered so that any medical care amendment would be seen as a substitute for his increase, rather than a complement, lessening the likelihood of action. There is no Muskie text at this location.
Under the Senate rules, amendments supercede each other as long as no final vote has been taken on the underlying amendment, and Senators adept at working the rules often put their preferred amendment in place in “the amendment tree” so as to make a vote for any subsequent amendment an implicit vote against their amendment. In this case, Senator Long was in the position of having an amendment no one wanted to vote against – a cost of living increase for retired Americans – and was saved from having to make an argument against a Medicare proposal on the merits of Medicare.
Until 1972, increases in Social Security benefits were not automatic. Any increase had to be enacted by the Congress. Not surprisingly, Congress often found itself offering such increases in even-numbered years.
21215: September 1, 1964; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to a Dodd (D-Connecticut) amendment to the Social Security Act. The Dodd amendment would make self-employed physicians eligible for Social Security. The Finance Committee had dropped them from the program because of the opposition of the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates, but this action made physicians the only professionals in the country not to be covered by the Social Security program.
During the 1950s and to a lesser degree, the 1960s, groups of workers who had not been covered under the original Social Security Act were gradually included in the program. As here, some of these groups objected.
21543: September 3, 1964; Debate by Dodd on his amendment, following which it was rejected on a voice vote. Muskie is listed as a cosponsor but does not speak.
College students: aid for, 21221.
Letter: Reply to editorial on student aid, Saturday Evening Post, W. H. Boyce, 21221.
21221: September 1, 1964; Muskie describes a recent editorial in the Saturday Evening Post which argued that there was no federal need for college assistance of the kind being proposed by several members of the Senate, including Muskie, and inserts a lengthy rebuttal to this article by a professor from Bates College, Dr. Walter Boyce, Dean of Men.
At the time, the only broad college-aid program for students was the GI Bill, which was predicated on service in the armed forces. Although federal aid was given directly to colleges for such purposes as student housing construction, the concept of direct aid to students themselves was viewed by many with deep suspicion. Muskie, who earned a college degree with a combination of work and scholarship aid, was a strong proponent of programs to help all students with the ability to go on to college, a common sentiment today, but not at this time.
Role of Government and Labor Law, Maine Bar Association, C. Donahue, 21945
21945: September 10, 1964; Muskie inserts the text of a speech by Charles Donahue, the Solicitor of the Labor Department, to the Maine Bar Association at Rockland, Maine. The speech discusses the changes that have developed in the working world as a result of technological change and the failure of many workplaces to keep pace, with the resulting tensions that causes when the Department of Labor is forced to intervene.
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
Committee on Government Operations, 808, 809, 810, 12536, 21364.
Committee on Government Operations to study intergovernmental relations between U.S. and States and municipal ties (see S. Res. 280), 809, 810. See above.
Federal grants-in-aid to States: legislation to provide review of, 12536.
Catalog of Federal Aids to State and Local Governments: print additional copies of (see S. Con. Res. 87), 12536, 12537
Catalog of Federal Aids to State and Local Governments: print additional copies of (see S. Con. Res. 96), 21364.
808: January 22, 1964; Muskie reports S.1928, authorizing the General Services Administration to sell part of former Cheli Air Force Station to an oil and development company; and S.855, to improve the operation of federal grants by improving the coordination between state and local authorities seeking grant funds.
In Congress, the Committees are where legislation is reviewed, re-drafted, and amended before it is sent to the floor of each Chamber for a vote on passage. Bill reports are made when the Committee has concluded its work on a bill, and provide basic information about the legislation – its purpose, the existing law on the underlying issue, and what changes the Committee has made in the bill as well as the suggested changes that have been rejected. As a rule, bills must be reported before they can be placed on the Calendar for debate.
809: January 22, 1964, Muskie introduces S. Res.280, a resolution authorizing a study of the intergovernmental relationships between the United States and the States and municipalities, which was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration. The resolution gives the Government Operations Committee the job of carrying out the study and authorizes it to spend not more than $129,000 for the purpose.
810: January 22, 1964; Notice only of the report of S. Res. 280, authorizing the Committee on Government Operations to make a study of the intergovernmental relations between federal, state and municipal governments.
12536: June 3, 1964; Muskie introduces Government Operations Committee report (S. Rept. 88-1056) on S.2114, a Muskie bill introduced in 1963 to provide for periodic review of Federal grants-in-aid to states and local units of government. The bill would establish a uniform policy and procedure for review of grants. Grant programs created by subsequent and future Congresses would automatically expire in five years’ from creation, with provisions for independent review and renewal. This is the first Muskie Sunset bill.
12537: June 3, 1964; Muskie reports S. Con. Res. 87 which provides for the printing of 35,000 additional copies of the report, “Catalog of Federal Aids t State and Local Governments.”
21364: September 2, 1964; S. Con. Res. 96, authorizing the printing of the “Catalog of federal aids to State and Local government” is introduced by Muskie.
Intergovernmental finances, 4083.
Deeper in Debt, by Peter Vanderwickin, in Wall Street Journal, 4083.
4083: March 2, 1964; Commenting that State-local public debt had soared 448% in the post-war period compared with a federal debt increase of just 13%, Muskie notes that the implications of federal funding for certain state and local needs, as well as the broadening of authority for states to issue revenue bonds are matters that ought be candidly debated. He inserts a Wall Street Journal article by Peter Vanderwicken which discusses the issue. This is a point Muskie made repeatedly in these years, but as with most federalism issues, it received relatively little public attention.
Local Government from the nationwide Point of View, by Norman Beckman, 4390.
4390: March 4, 1964; Muskie inserts a speech text by Norman Beckman, the Assistant Director of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations which outlines the assorted inventive and valuable steps taken by state legislatures to respond to the pressures and demands that accompany increasing urbanization nationally.
Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations: accomplishments, 4482, 4483.
4482: March 5 1964; Muskie reports on the fifth annual report from the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, which is focused on urban functions, and details the actions that have been taken by Congress in response to the Commission’s recommendations. The Commission is required by law to report to the President and the Congress on its findings, and Muskie, as a member, took the lead to bring its proposals to the Senate floor in legislative form. The Fifth Annual report can be read here.
Our Uncivil Treatment of Civil Servants, by Paul Harvey, 4679.
4679: March 6, 1964; Muskie inserts a Paul Harvey column which compares private businessmen with public servants and questions the poor treatment of public servants. Paul Harvey was a widely syndicated columnist of the period.
Government's Hidden Dimension, In Saturday Review, by, 8968.
8968: April 24, 1964; Senator Humphrey (D-Minnesota) inserts a copy of a Muskie article on federalism which appeared in the April 18, 1964 edition of Saturday Review. The article describes a survey taken by the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations of about 460 state and local officials about their views on the federal system.
"American Intergovernmental Relations," by W. Brooke Graves, 12932.
12932: June 8 1964; Muskie recommends a book, “American Intergovernmental Relations”, by Dr. W. Brooke Graves, a staffer on the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress. The book is an analytic study of the current day condition of federalism in the United States.
Dollars and Cents of Federalism, National Civil Review, by, 12934.
12934: June 8, 1964; Observing that the 1964 presidential election is going to be dominated by “emotional charges and slogans about Federal spending, socialistic big government, and Federal encroachment on State and local rights, Senator Metcalf (D-Montana) inserts a Muskie article about the relative growth of federal and state and local governments and the issue of encroachment on states’ rights. The article describes the post-war growth of state and local tax effort, and reflects an early indication that Muskie understood the limits of public tolerance for the property tax.
Local governments: impact of Federal development programs on planning by, 13676.
Urban development programs: impact on local government planning, 13676.
13676: June 13, 1964; Muskie introduces an Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations report which examines the extent to which the existence of different federal urban renewal programs are driving structural changes in the makeup of local governments as they seek to comply with and exploit federal resources.
Camp Elliot, Calif.: sale of land, 17082.
Government Services Administration: of land by, 17082.
Federal urban land: promote cooperation with local authorities in development of (see bill S. 3037), 17082.
Urban land use: legislation to establish policy for, 17082.
17082: July 28, 1964; Muskie introduces S.3037, a bill which seeks to require that the federal government conform its urban land use purchases and sales as much as possible with local zoning and other ordinances. He instances a case where the General Services Administration offered land at Camp Eliot, California for sale as suitable for housing or commercial development although the City of San Diego did not have adequate sewage or water service to the camp area and would not grant building permits to anyone who purchased the land.
Intergovernmental Relations, Alabama League of Municipalities, by, 18174
18174: August 5, 1964; Senator Hill (D-Alabama) inserts the text of a Muskie speech on federalism given to the Alabama League of Municipalities. Muskie discusses the growth of federal grants programs and the fact that governments at all levels have become larger as the nation has grown.
Maine County Offers Contrast, County Officer, 21780.
21780: September 9, 1964; Muskie introduces an article about the growth of county government around the nation, based on what is occurring in Cumberland County, Maine, from the magazine of the National. Association of Counties, County Officer.
Urban research projects: review, 22075.
Science Information Exchange, 22076.
MacLeod, Colin M., 22076.
22076: September 15, 1964; [Actually begins 22075; continues to 22076.] Muskie inserts an article by Colin M. MacLeod about the need for more basic study and research into the ways urban regions are developing to gain a clearer understanding of urban growth and thus a clearer guide to policy.
Metropolitan Challenge Commissioners and Governors Conference, by, 23503, 24301.
23503; October 2, 1964; Senator Brewster (D-Maryland) inserts the text of a Muskie speech to the 13th annual conference of Commissioners and Governors on Metropolitan Washington, where he talks about the future of the Washington D.C. metro region and of other large urban conglomerations.
24301: October 3, 1964; Congressman Sickles (D-Maryland) inserts the same speech a day later.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CIVIL RIGHTS, CIVIL LAW
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
This Above All, by Sherry Lee Buxton, Strong (Maine) High School, A3911
A3911: July 28, 1964; Muskie inserts the remarks of the Strong (Maine) High School valedictorian into Extensions of Remarks. All members of Congress at one time or another insert students’ essays or statements into the Record. Muskie did not fill the Record with his constituents’ words, but he would do so for a well-crafted speech or essay, and at times, he would do so on request of a constituent. Most constituents probably do not realize that they can have their students’ essays published in the Congressional Record simply by making the request.
Poll tax: ratification of 24th amendment, 1078.
1078: January 23, 1964; During a discussion of the ratification of the 24th Amendment (the poll tax amendment), it is mentioned that Maine became the 37th state to ratify on January 16, and that the January 23 ratification by South Dakota put the amendment over the top. Muskie speaks briefly saying it is the Maine State legislature and the governor (Reed) who deserve credit for ratification. The following is the entire text of Muskie remarks at this point:
MUSKIE. I thank my good friend the Senator from Florida for his compliments.
I would agree that the principal responsibility of Maine rested with the legislature and was properly discharged.
I should like to add a word of credit to the Governor of Maine, John H. Reed. He, a member of a different party from my own, put his weight behind ratification of the amendment. I am most grateful for the legislative leaders and members on both sides of the aisle in both houses in Maine who were responsive to all approaches made by me and all the approaches made by my distinguished senior colleague in our efforts to get the resolution of ratification adopted.
I believe we ought not to overlook the prodding that we constantly received from the distinguished Senator from Florida last year and this year, which helped us to stiffen our own motivation.
Humphrey, Hubert H . : tribute, 6554.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: bill (H.R. 7152) to enact, 6554, 6740-6742, 7199, 12613-12620, 13656, 13658. 14328.
Civil rights Act of 1964: review of titles, 12613-12620.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: title XII, amendment to establish, 13656, 13658.
6554: March 30, 1964; Muskie commends Senator Humphrey (D-Minnesota) for his lucid exposition of the purposes and limits of the civil rights act, three weeks into the debate. This Humphrey speech has been often cited by opponents of affirmative action who point out that Humphrey gave assurances that the Civil Rights Act would not require quotas in hiring.
6740-6742: April 1, 1964; Muskie, Hart (D-Michigan) and Ellender (D-Louisiana) debate elements of the Civil Rights Act , H.R.7152. By the time this debate took place, opponents of civil rights legislation were claiming to be in favor of nondiscriminatory treatment and instead took refuge in carefully articulated elements of States’ rights to set the qualifications for voters, and the fact that laws on the books allowed people who were wrongfully denied the right to register to vote an opportunity to combat such denials in the courts. In this excerpt from the debate, Senator Ellender argues that the bill would federalize an element of voting which is confined to the States under the Constitution.
7199: April 8, 1964; During debate on Civil Rights Act, Clark (D-Pennsylvania) and Ervin (D-North Carolina) engage in an elaborate series of insults to the intellect of the others’ side, Ervin suggesting that other Members are boycotting the Senate floor sessions in fear that they will be persuaded by the logic of the opponents of the Civil Rights Act. Muskie intersperses the comment that perhaps Southern Senators are staying away lest they be swayed by the eloquence of Senator Clark, a pro-civil rights Senator.
12613-12620: June 3, 1964; Muskie makes a substantial speech on the Civil Rights Act and engages in debate with Ervin (D-North Carolina), who refuses to acknowledge the disproportionate rates of unemployment between whites and blacks and insists that because 895,000 blacks are jobless while 3,629,000 whites are also jobless, there is no particular civil rights-related issue involved. He also debates with Ellender (D-Louisiana) who tries to make the point that there is discrimination in employment in the State of Maine.
13656, 13658: June 12, 1964; One of the arguments used by opponents of the Civil Rights Act was to claim that the entire bill should be submitted to the nation as either a Constitutional Amendment or a national referendum, because it was claimed that Congress lacked the inherent authority to legislate in such areas as public accommodations. Muskie counters this argument.
14328: June 18, 1964; Muskie sums up the arguments against the Civil Rights bill and gives his view of why they are not persuasive.
Fund raising: legislation to investigate partisan, 11894.
11894: May 26, 1964; There was a Republican effort, led by Senator Williams (R-Delaware) to pass a resolution demanding an investigation by the Justice Department of whether civil servants had been coerced into making donations for a Presidential dinner. Muskie’s action was to state an objection, thus placing the resolution on the calendar, which he did for the absent majority leader.
Under the Senate rules, a bill or resolution must be read three times before it can be voted upon. An objection to the reading of a bill can be made by any Senator, and depending upon the point at which the objection is made, the bill must be placed on the Calendar where it is subject to being called up or not being called up by the Majority Leader. In the Senate, the minority party is frequently forced into expedients such as this to gain the floor time for a debate on their priorities, particularly when the issue is a partisan one, as here. In turn, the majority party routinely brings these debates to a close by objecting to further action. At this time, the Democratic Party had a decisive majority in the Senate.
Der Simonian, Simon, his wife, and children: for relief (see bill S. 2908), 13580.
13580: June 12, 1964; Muskie introduces private bill for the relief of the Der Simonian family. .
Private bills are commonly used to deal with the idiosyncratic problems that can arise when conflicting requirements of the law affect an individual and the law provides no way to resolve the conflict, or such cases when compensation to a citizen from the government may be warranted but is not actually covered by any existing law. Most private bills arise from constituent casework, where the ability of a Senator’s caseworker staff runs up against limits in the law or lack of legal authority covering the particular circumstances of a given case.
Details of private bills are never published in the Congressional Record. The paperwork justifying a private bill is handled by the Committee of jurisdiction, usually the Judiciary Committee, which reviews the facts and law of the case and determines whether or not to report favorably on it. Private bills were more common in past years; the expansion of federal courts of adjudication and other arbitration mechanisms throughout government leaves fewer persons who have legitimate claims without redress. Additionally, past scandals in which individual Members of Congress were found to be selling their ability to introduce private bills have helped reduce the willingness of Members to introduce private bills.
Civil Rights: a Necessity for all Americans, Polish-American Veterans, by 14240.
14240: June 17, 1964; Hart (D-Michigan) inserts a Muskie speech to the Polish-American Veterans in which Muskie talks about the civil rights issue as it affects all Americans. This speech was given just four years before former President Nixon in his 1968 presidential race successfully linked the idea of civil rights with crime and social upheaval. This speech probably could not have been given just four years later to this or a similar audience.
Commission on Ethics in the Federal Government: amend resolution (S.J. Res. 187) to establish, 17203.
17203; July 28, 1964; Muskie is listed as one of several Senators to become cosponsors of a Clark (D-Pennsylvania) resolution, S. J. Res. 187, seeking the creation of a General Committee on the Organization of the Congress as part of the ongoing effort to revamp ethics rules and procedures.
Civil rights: educational talent search, 18842.
Bowdoin College Students Conducted Negro Talent Search, 18842.
Bowdoin College: "Project '65" of, 18842
18842: August 10, 1964; Muskie inserts an article describing an outreach program by Bowdoin students to black high schools as a means of helping recruit black students to Bowdoin. The article identifies lack of information about scholarships and other assistance opportunities as being one of the major barriers facing black students.
LaMountain, Bernard L.: for relief (see bill S.3195),22215.
22215: September 16, 1964; Muskie introduces a private bill, S. 3195, on behalf of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts). When Senators are incapacitated or unable to be present for any reason, their colleagues can and do carry out routine legislative functions for them. The Senate does not permit staff or other non-Senator personnel to introduce bills, report bills, statements for the record or any other official function.
MISCELLANEOUS
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
Poem: Who Was This Man? by Kathleen D. Wilson, 645.
645, January 20, 1964; Muskie inserts a poem by Ms. Kathleen D. Wilson, of Bath, Maine, about the assassination of President Kennedy. Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963, and the Congress was not in session for much of the intervening period until it reconvened in January, 1964, so this tribute was part of the great outpouring of emotion that accompanied the aftermath of the President’s death.
Memorials of legislature: Maine, 807, 16407.
807: January 22, 1964; Muskie, along with his colleague, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, presented a joint resolution adopted by the Maine legislature on Maine’s ratification of the Poll Tax Constitutional Amendment.
16407: July 21, 1964; Muskie inserts the text of a Maine state Legislature Resolution to abolish futures trading of potatoes on the New York Mercantile Exchange as part of his statement on Maine Potato Futures bill, S. 332, his bill to ban potato futures trading.
Letter: John F. Kennedy, by Wolfgang Thuer, 3406.
3405: February 24, 1964; Muskie inserts a letter from Wolfgang Thuer, a former German foreign exchange student who attended Lewiston High School from Sept. 1962 until his graduation in June 1963, expressing his sense of loss at the death of President Kennedy.
Tribute to President Kennedy, by Norman Cousins, 4392.
4392: March 4, 1964; Muskie inserts the text of Norman Cousins’ Saturday Review article about President Kennedy. Norman Cousins was a well-known and widely respected journalist and opinion maker of this period.
Kennedy, John F.: designate birthday as legal holiday (see bill S. 2603), 4661.
Letter: John F. Kennedy: designate birthday a national holiday, 4662.
Kennedy, John F.: bill (S. 2603) to designate birthday a national holiday, 4662
4661: March 6, 1964; Notice only of the introduction of the Muskie bill to designate the birthday of John F. Kennedy as a legal holiday.
4662: March 6, 1964; Muskie introductory remarks on the Kennedy birthday bill mention that Muskie has received petitions from Maine with 1105 signatures asking that legislation be introduced to designate the late President’s birthday a public holiday. Muskie characterizes this as a bill introduction “by request,” the terminology used to distinguish between something requested by a constituent and a bill the Member personally wishes to see through the process. The “letter” inserted with his remarks is a letter to Muskie from Mrs. Lillian Jensen, one of the persons collecting signatures on the petitions.
White, E. B.: presentation of Presidential Medal of Freedom to, 12303.
Book review: The Burden and the Glory, John K. Galbraith, 12303
12303: June 1, 1964; Muskie relates that he presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to E. B. White, a Maine resident, on behalf of President Johnson, but that the selection of White as honoree was one of the choices made by President Kennedy before his death. E. B. White (1899-1985) is the author of the well-known children’s classic, Charlotte’s Web, the co-writer, with William Strunk, Jr. of The Elements of Style, as well as being one of the most highly respected writers for The New Yorker magazine, then at the height of its influence in American letters.
Muskie also inserts John Kenneth Galbraith’s review of a book of Kennedy speeches edited by Allan Nevins, illustrating the Kennedy qualities of mind. Galbraith served Kennedy as Ambassador to India.
Responsibility of the American Press, by Peter Thompson, 13675.
13675: June 13, 1964; Muskie inserts an article on the importance of the press by a University of Maine student, Peter Thompson. The disappearance of many daily papers was first noticed in this period, and Muskie made the comment that this factor should be a concern to any democracy which values a diversity and range of opinion and comment. He uses the essay by the Maine student to illustrate his point.
Poem: for John Kennedy, of Harvard, E. Pole, 21220.
21220: September 1, 1964; Muskie inserts a poem about President John F. Kennedy, written by Edward Pols, then the chairman of the Philosophy Department at Bowdoin College. .
Caleb Lewis, by Gene Letourneau. from Portland (Maine) Telegram, A3917.
A3917: July 18, 1964; Muskie inserts an article from the Portland Telegram about a long-time Maine reporter, Caleb Lewis, who has recently died. Caleb Lewis was the editor-emeritus of the Waterville Sentinel and in his half-century of active professional life campaigned for air service to Maine and historical markers to highlight the state’s history.
Editorial: Public Service Newspapers, Lewiston (Maine) Sun, A4402.
A4402: August 20, 1964; Muskie enters a news editorial from the Lewiston Daily Sun about Senator McIntyre’s (D-New Hampshire) understanding of the role of the media, exemplified by McIntyre’s article in the Congressional Record.
POLITICAL, CAMPAIGN REFORM
1964 88th Congress, 2nd Session
Wallace, George: Wisconsin primary results, 7198.
7198: April 8, 1964; In a discussion about the Wisconsin primary vote, in which Governor George Wallace of Alabama took twenty-five percent of the vote, running as a Democrat, Muskie interjects that the way to win a Wallace-type media “victory” is to claim for weeks on end that one expects only to win 1% of the vote, thus making a 2% vote seem to be a striking victory. Muskie was a canny politician who understood the role of “spin” long before it became a standard element of campaign reporting. The “Wallace vote” was used by opponents of civil rights laws to buttress their claim that Northern whites were not much more ready than Southerners to embrace full civil rights.
Editorial: L.B.J. Campaigns With an Object, Times-Picayune, 14418.
Cool Mr. J., San Francisco Chronicle, H. Brandon, 14418.
14418: June 19, 1964; Muskie inserts articles about President Johnson’s campaign from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Louisiana Times-Picayune. The former article discusses Johnson’s increasing grasp on Presidential power, the latter on the disaffection of southern Democrats and their potential defection to the Republican party. Johnson won an overwhelming victory in the November elections, helped in part by his association with President Kennedy and in part by the decision of the Republican Party to nominate Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was seen as a dangerous extremist at the time, but his nomination began the process that culminated in the conservative takeover of the Republican Party.
SENATE RULES, PROCEDURES, ASSIGNMENTS, HOUSEKEEPING
1964 88th Congress, 2nd Session
Appointed to read Washington's Farewell Address, 807.
Designated to read Washington's Farewell Address, 3281.
Washington's Farewell Address: reading of, 3314.
Tribute in Senate, 3318.
807: January 22, 1964; Muskie is designated to read Washington’s Farewell Address on the Friday before Washington’s Birthday Weekend in February. The reading of Washington’s Farewell Address remains a live tradition in the United States Senate, and each year a Senator is chosen to do the reading while the Senate is in pro forma session, meaning that no one is present and no Senate action takes place.
In this case, Senator Mansfield (D-Montana), the Majority Leader, announced that Muskie would read the address.
3281; February 20, 1964; Mansfield asks that the Senate recess until noon the following day when Muskie will read Washington’s Farewell address.
3314, 3318: February 21, 1964; Muskie reads the full text of Washington’s Farewell Address to the Senate, and Senator Mansfield compliments him on doing so afterwards.
Agriculture: bill (H.R. 6196) to revitalize cotton and wheat industries, 4640.
4640: March 6, 1964; On a vote during debate on the Agricultural Act of 1964, Muskie announces he has a pair with Sen. Fulbright (D-Arkansas). There is no substantive Muskie statement in connection with this vote or this debate.
A “live pair” is a mechanism by which Senators who are forced to be absent from votes can indicate the implications of their votes by pairing with a Senator who is present and who would vote the opposite way and is prepared to abstain from casting a formal vote, usually to do his colleague a favor. The point of such a pairing is to be able to demonstrate that the Member’s absence on a particular vote would not have affected the outcome of the vote. Senators are sensitive to the appearance of missing too many votes, because their voting records are often a subject raised in their reelection campaigns. Live pairs are rarely given, even when the vote margin is broad, because the Senator who is present but abstains from the vote is marked as “absent” which affects his own vote count negatively.
Cloture petition, 12860, 12922.
12860: June 6, 1964; Muskie is one of the Senators signing a cloture petition to bring debate on the Civil Rights Act to an end.
12922: June 8, 1964; Muskie is listed as one of the Senators signing a cloture petition to close debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Cloture is the term used to describe the process by which a filibuster can be ended in the Senate. At the time of this vote, the requirement was that a cloture petition, signed by no fewer than 16 Senators, be presented to the Senate, by being formally presented to the desk where Senate business is filed, and that a cloture vote, a vote on the petition, be held no sooner than 48 hours thereafter.
A successful cloture vote in 1964 required the affirmative votes of two-thirds of the Senators in the Chamber at the time, a high hurdle to overcome. Signing a cloture petition was a way for a Senator to indicate stronger-than-average support for a position in favor of or against the pending legislation.
Many Senators who may have sympathized with the purpose of the Civil Rights Act held to a principled idea that they would never, under any conditions, vote for cloture, which is to say, they would never vote to shut down another Senator’s right to speak. Although the reasons for this principle are not difficult to see, it nonetheless led to embarrassment for Senators who ended up appearing to support positions they did not, in fact, support, such as segregation in public life.
It is fair to say that the exploitation of the right of unlimited debate for unprincipled reasons that Senators didn’t want to discuss in the full light of day led ultimately to the change in the filibuster rule, by which today it is only necessary to get three-fifths of those elected and sworn to vote to cut off debate, a much less stringent standard. The use of the filibuster to delay justice for black Americans was in no sense a principled use of the right of unlimited debate and the transcript of the debates on civil rights makes it clear that those who supported segregation had no principled reasons for their stance. All the argument is by innuendo. The fact that bigotry did play a large role in American life at the time and thereafter in no way endows this stance with principle.
19601: August 14, 1964; Muskie is appointed as a conferee on S.3049, the Housing Act of 1964.
Because both Houses of Congress must agree on all elements of a bill before it can be placed before the President to be signed into law, temporary committees of conference are created to meet and iron out differences in the two versions of the bill as passed by each House. Service on a conference committee can be extremely significant to the final shape that a law takes. Conferees are usually chosen from the Committee which reported out the bill, and Muskie, who was very active on the housing issues of this time, served on many such conference committees.
BUDGET, TAXES, FISCAL POLICY
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
Taxation: amend bill (H.R. 8363) to reduce individual and corporate income taxes, 2373.
Taxation: bill (H.R.8363) to reduce individual and corporate income taxes, 1833, 2375
2373: February 7, 1964; During debate on H.R. 8363, the Revenue Act of 1964, Muskie’s name is mentioned as a cosponsor of a Ribicoff (D-Connecticut) amendment doubling the investment tax credit for pollution control equipment and for his work in pushing through clean water and air legislation. There is no Muskie text at this location.
2375: February 7, 1964; Later in the debate on the 1964 Revenue Act, H.R. 8363, Muskie speaks in support of the Ribicoff amendment which would raise from 7 to 14 percent the tax credit for pollution-control investments.
TRADE, EXPORT SUBSIDIES, TARIFFS
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
Progress on Shoe Imports, by Senator Kennedy, before New England Shoe and Leather Association, 1040.
1040: January 23, 1964; Muskie inserts the text of a speech by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) in Boston to the Shoe and Leather Association, discussing the condition and outlook for footwear manufacturing and a rise in imports of foreign-made footwear products.
10133: May 6, 1964; During a Senate discussion of a Washington Post editorial which attacked a number of Senators for raising parochial questions on wool textile imports which (the paper claimed) jeopardized the Kennedy round of free trade talks, it is pointed out that the newspaper manages to avoid mentioning that countries which oppose a bilateral U.S.-Japan agreement on wool textiles nonetheless have their own bilateral agreements with Japan on precisely the same issue.
Muskie points out that the countries which are responsible for import growth are themselves beginning to consider a need to share the market rather than compete against each other for it.
Muskie believed strongly that an orderly form of international trade, based on bilateral agreements with exporting countries, would serve both developing counties by expanding their markets and the market countries themselves, by giving workers a chance to adapt to changing trade patterns that directly affected the profits of their employers and, therefore, their jobs.
Agriculture: bill (H.R. 1839) to restrict meat imports, 17122, 17124, 17128.
Imports: problems of , 17122, 17123, 17128
Letter: Shoe industry meeting In Milan, by, 17125.
Report: Impact of Italian Imports of Shoes, National Shoe Manufacturers, 17125.
Text of proposed agreement between shoe manufacturers, 17126.
Table: footwear imports, 17128.
Shoe industry: effects of Imports on, 17128
17122: July 28, 1964; H.R.1839 was a tariff bill providing for the importation of animals and birds for exhibition purposes. The meat import issue and related issues arose in connection with it although they had no direct bearing on the importation of living creatures for exhibition purposes.
At the same time, Senators who felt their states’ trade woes had been ignored took the occasion to raise non-meat import questions.
Muskie notes that the reason for considering trade legislation is that it will get the attention of importers and encourage them to negotiate more orderly trade. He says he has considered adding a shoe quota to the pending bill. He inserts the text of his Dear Colleague letter reporting on his meeting with certain Milanese shoe manufacturers. The letter was sent to Senators with significant shoe manufacturing employment in their states.
Muskie summarizes the impacts on employment and jobs of footwear imports which have risen steadily from 1955. At this time, about one-third of the industry operated out of Maine.
Shoe Industry: effect of imports from Czechoslovakia, 22108
Dumping of Shoes on U.S. Market, Senator Symington, 22110.
22108; September 15, 1964; Muskie speaks about the dumping of Czech-made footwear products in the American market, pointing out that the net effect of this trade is to undermine profitable and efficient shoe making companies in the U.S.
At the time he spoke, more than 300,000 Americans worked in the industry and thirty-eight states had some element of shoe manufacturing within their borders. What is seen today as inevitable – the entry of lower-wage countries into a field where the threshold of technology and worker training was both low and affordable – at the time was causing dislocation and economic distress to American workers and their families around the country. The nation has still not devised a way to deal with trade competition from lower-income nations in a way that does not penalize workers in the affected industries.
HOUSING, URBAN RENEWAL, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1964 2nd Session, 88th Congress
National bank real estate loans: raise limitation on appraised value of property offered as security (see bill S. 2576), 3950.
National banks: legislation to provide limitations on real estate loans, 3951.
Letter: Real estate loans by national banks, by Douglas Dillon, 3952
3950: February 28, 1964; Notice only of Muskie introduction of S.2576, a bill to increase the supply of mortgage funding available by raising the limits on the value of property that could be used as security for a loan. There is no text at this location.
3951: February 28, 1964; Muskie makes introductory remarks on S.2576, a bill to raise the limit on lending from 75% of appraised real estate value to 80% and to extend the life of a mortgage loan from 20 to 30 years for national banks so as to allow national banks to compete fairly for mortgage lending business. The bill is an administration bill, in other words, a bill requested by the Johnson Administration which Muskie is introducing as a courtesy, as a Committee member, and it is accompanied by a letter from Douglas Dillon, the Treasury Secretary setting forth the rationale for the change in lending standards.
Reader's Digest: reply to article on urban renewal program, 10174.
Report: Reply to Allegation made by Reader's Digest, W. L. Slayton, 10174.
Urban renewal: criticism by Reader's Digest, 10174, 10177.
10174: May 9, 1964; Muskie disputes claims made in a Readers’ Digest article critical of urban renewal programs, points out that this article seems to be part of an organized assault on urban renewal programs, timed to coincide with the congressional action on the Housing Act of 1964. He makes the point that urban renewal projects proceed only with local approval, to counter the common opposition claim that “outsiders” were forcing unwanted changes in local communities around the nation. Muskie inserts a report by the Urban Renewal Commissioner which contains a point-by-point rebuttal of the Readers’ Digest piece.