April 17, 1973
Page 12674
MARGARET CHASE SMITH
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, on March 22 I placed in the RECORD several items relating to the present activities of Senator Margaret Chase Smith. In the Maine Sunday Telegram of April 8, 1973, Bill Caldwell reprinted a letter which he had received from Senator Smith's former administrative assistant, Maj. Gen. William G. Lewis, Jr. For the benefit of my colleagues who have expressed an interest in Mrs. Smith's active schedule, I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Caldwell's article be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
WHAT'S MARGARET DOING?
(By Bill Caldwell)
Not a week goes by without half a dozen people or more asking me "What is Senator Smith up to these days? When is she coming home to Maine again?"
Well, for openers, there was a fine spread about Maine former's senior senator in the Congressional Record of March 22. It covered more than six pages, and included a number of articles from this newspaper.
Perhaps the nicest part of this spread in the Congressional Record – which is the daily bible in Washington – is that the whole thing was inserted by Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, the man who is now the senior senator from Maine.
On the more personal side of what Margaret Smith is doing these days, I recently received a letter from Major General William G. Lewis Jr., the man who has long been the senior assistant to Sen. Smith. It tells what Margaret Smith has been doing of late – and will be doing in the near future. (She plans to be in Maine at the end of May).
Here is Bill Lewis' letter:
DEAR BILL: As one of Senator Smith's friends interested in her doings, I think you would have enjoyed her past ten days. We left Washington early the morning of March 3rd on what turned out to be a 2600-mile trip through Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. That night we arrived in Kimball, Tennessee at about 6:00 p.m. after a 600-mile drive.
Kimball is 27 miles west of Chattanooga on the way to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Senator Smith was scheduled for a three-day residency at the University of Alabama Law School. We stopped there because it is my mother's birthplace and I had never been there before. It is a very small village and after having driven throughout it and walked through the cemetery we left the next morning and drove to Birmingham, where we had lunch with Doctor and Mrs. Abraham Russakoff. His family comes from Skowhegan and the entire family is an amazing success story (his parents having come to Skowhegan from Russia). He is one of the leading doctors of Birmingham and Mrs. Russakoff an outstanding leader in social welfare work.
After lunch we drove on to Tuscaloosa and had dinner that night with the Dean of the Alabama Law School and Mrs. Thomas Christopher. The next two days were spent in a series of rap sessions with the law students and meetings with the law faculty. It was truly a most rewarding experience and thoroughly enjoyed by the Senator. As for the students, Dean Christopher told me that she was a smash hit, that she has far exceeded her predecessors which include a Supreme Court Justice and a former Supreme Court Justice and that they are anxious to have her back for a long period.
On Wednesday March 7th, we drove to Florida and on the way Senator Smith talked to Governor George Wallace as we went through Montgomery. She thanked him for his very warm telegram to her last November. We had car trouble early that morning (break in water hose) and early that evening (a mini-hurricane on the Florida Expressway drowned the motor). We drove to Palm Beach where we were the guests of former Representative Frances Bolton Thursday through Saturday at her beautiful home on the Atlantic. We left there Sunday morning for Jacksonville and on the way stopped at New Smyrna Beach to see the glamorous condominium that Laura and Spike Bernier (Senator's sister and brother-in-law) recently bought. Then on to the Bill Mills' in Jacksonville that late afternoon (he is Peter's brother, former member of the Federal Reserve Board, DuPont executive and MCS Library Trustee). The next morning we left for Washington.
Among the interesting experiences were the reactions of the students at Alabama. Some told Senator Smith that they wished she would visit as many universities and colleges as she could and let a little of herself rub off on the students. Several students and members of the law faculty expressed great surprise at her physical condition and mental attitude. They referred to Mike Shanahan's AP story reporting that she was a bitter recluse who had spent the past two years in a wheelchair – they were almost incredulous at seeing her walk fast without a limp and be so outgoing and cheerful. It illustrated what a false image erroneous news media reports can create.
Next month we have two trips scheduledin the early part to northern New York for an address in one place and for induction into a Hall of Fame at another place – and on April 23rd to Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia for a lecture and rap session with the students there that day and the 24th and then on to Columbus, Ohio on April 25th to address the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs.
In May we will probably be driving to Michigan and Indiana where Senator Smith will give commencement addresses and receive her 73rd and 74th honorary degrees. In June she will give commencement addresses at the high schools in Winslow and Harrington (she has been unable to accept other Maine school invitations during this period because of previous commitments). She has regretted an invitation to give a commencement address to a California college because of Maine commitments. On May 31st she will give the commencement address to the graduating nurses at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and on June 2nd be at Westbrook College in Portland to receive an award.
Thus far, she has refrained from accepting overtures of lecture bureaus, book publishers, and television. However, she is seriously considering purchasing an interest in a major television enterprise.
Frankly, I can't keep up with her although I am in good health (and not dying of cancer as was rumored in the October days of the campaign) having been given a clean bill of health by the Air Force after the exhaustive so-called "executive physical examination" given to Generals.
Our best to you.
Sincerely,
WILLIAM C. LEWIS, Jr.
And that's the kind of "retirement" that Margaret Chase Smith is enjoying these days!