November 11, 1975
Page 35856
THE FIRST LADY OF SKOWHEGAN — AND BEYOND
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, our former colleague, Margaret Chase Smith, was interviewed recently by Mr. Richard Plummer of the Central Maine Morning Sentinel, of Waterville, Maine.
The wide-ranging interview covered her current work with Freedom House, progress on the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine, and her opinions on a variety of subjects of current interest. Those of us who served with her in this Chamber will see her sharp wit and thoughtful analysis of issues reflected in this article. Asked to summarize her current views, she said:
We have to be optimistic and we must not lose our confidence. In urging the regeneration of the American will, it is well to recognize that the majority of people, young and old, are good.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the article on Mrs. Smith from the November 3, 1975, edition of the Morning Sentinel, be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
INTERVIEW WITH FIRST LADY OF SKOWHEGAN — AND BEYOND: MRS. SMITH CALLS ON YOUNG PEOPLE FOR REGENERATION OF AMERICAN WILL
(By Richard A. Plummer)
SKOWHEGAN.— For many years — partisan politicians to the contrary — Margaret Chase Smith has been the First Lady of Skowhegan and beyond.
As we interviewed her last week at the Margaret Chase Smith Library, Inc., we felt the title still applies to this famous woman.
Things on Norridgewock Avenue, as we observed them, hadn't changed that much since she lost her bid for re-election as a U.S. Senator and entered private life.
The telephones rang constantly, and she continued to move swiftly from one end of the house to the other. She opened what seemed like volumes of mail. She conferred many times with her executive secretary, William Lewis — a retired Air Force major general and an attorney — on whether it would be possible to keep this appointment or make that speech.
She is pleased and excited over her Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation appointment as a Senior Fellow. She is entering the third of her three years with this program. So is Lewis.
"I think you could say that our basic message is the regeneration of the American will," she said.
"And this is basic."
Mrs. Smith added: "We are trying to get the young people to spearhead this regeneration.
"It is proving one of the most challenging and fascinating aspects of my career. It gives me the feeling of contributing something to a fine cause. It is completely positive in nature. And you don't have to be defending yourself against petty criticisms."
In the more than two years they have been Visiting Fellows, she and Lewis have done 17 colleges and universities across the country, spending a week at each campus.
Mrs. Smith speaks on such subjects as history, political science, foreign relations, government, women, education, the environment.
Lewis' topics lean toward the military, law, business and economics.
We asked Mrs. Smith if the educators ever proved objective in their introduction and made any references to the fact that she holds only a high school diploma.
"Oh, yes. They have been very fair. Many of them bring out this very fact. I tell them that my education has been a continuing thing; that it has never ended. A great deal of experience has been my education," she stated.
Mrs. Smith explained that the Lilly Pharmaceutical Company gave one million dollars to the Wilson Foundation for the lectures over a three-year period.
"Bill and I started it. They came to me and asked if I would be willing to get the program started. What we usually do is go onto the campus Sunday night. The next morning we go to classes.
"We cover the waterfront in our talks, as you noticed in our list of subjects. None of the other Fellows cover the range of subjects that Bill and I do. The rest are more specialized. There are 60 of the Fellows. I guess one would have to say that I have done the most work and have received top rating for my efforts."
She explained that a purpose of the program is to get people with experience to go to a university or college with the object of obtaining better rapport between the college and the community.
Lewis added that Mrs. Smith is serving as chairman of the board for Freedom House of New York City, which has fought extremism of the left and right.
He said that Freedom House is sponsoring a forum in Indiana during January, the subject to be the Regeneration of America and How to Achieve It. The moderator will be Daniel Moynihan, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and Mrs. Smith will be a speaker. The Lilly Company also is underwriting this forum.
"The largest college which Bill and I have visited is Notre Dame, at South Bend, Ind. The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, trustee of the Wilson Foundation, made a request for his university to have a Wilson Foundation speaker, and he asked that I be sent. After we finished our week there. Fr. Hesburgh commented that it was the finest thing that ever happened on campus. He remarked he would love to have us come back at any time and he would roll out the red carpet."
Mrs. Smith recalled her first job after graduating from Skowhegan High School was to teach school at the Pitts School on the Back Road to Fairfield, the first to the ninth grades.
Referring to her current educational efforts Mrs. Smith said: "I don't say yes to one-tenth of the requests which come in from the U.S. and from Canada. I have finished my political career although I remain a very busy woman."
She reported she is considering an offer from a state university in the south to be a professor in residence. And she does want to do a book. "I make notes all the time and have requests from publishers. One of them has asked me to do my autobiography. The answer was, "Yes, I will give it serious consideration."
What about the Margaret Chase Smith Library, Inc.? Lewis gave us a description of progress, to date, and what is planned for the structure.
"The east wing of this house will be converted to the library. We anticipate a fireproofed addition to house all of Mrs. Smith's records and papers.
"The center or middle section of the house will be the museum and remain exactly as it is. It will include a display of memorabilia, including the 80 hoods which she received with her honorary doctorates.
"The west wing will house the offices," Lewis said as he concluded his outline.
Lewis explained that Arnold Ginsburg of New York City, Bates Manufacturing Co. president, was the first to ask the former senator if she would consider converting her home to a library- museum.
Lewis added: "A group of men asked her if she would agree to maintain her residence here because we needed her help with her records and papers. She would be able to maintain a portion of the house as a residence ... a right of occupancy. That was the situation.
"As to when it will be opened, it will depend on financing. Underwriting the project is going to take time. We wish to be careful and cautious, not overextend in any way. But we are moving ahead. Money is coming in gradually. The papers, records and scrapbooks will be microfilmed. And you will be in them, Dick, with your stories."
I asked the former senator her opinion on Henry Kissinger: "I think he is working very hard on the job. I would want to read the fine print of the agreement he is making before I could make an evaluation — what price we will have to pay for his diplomatic triumphs, what price the American people will have to pay."
On President Gerald Ford: "I am disappointed in his lack of leadership. And I wish he would stay in Washington and mind the store, either in the White House or Congress."But she added: "I am pulling for him on the vetoes. The latest count is Ford, 31, Congress, 7."
On New York City: "If I were still in the U.S. Senate, I would find it very difficult to vote for bailing out New York City."
On the upcoming presidential campaign: "I don't know who is going to make it. Have no idea who might be the next president. But I hope both conventions will be wide open and the candidates not selected ahead of time."
And a final wrap-up of her current views: "We have to be optimistic and we must not lose our confidence. We are wonderful people in every way. In urging the regeneration of the American will, it is well to recognize that the majority of people, young, middle-aged and old, are good. Don't judge a group by the bad actors who are very much in the minority.
"I urge the people of America to have pride in ourselves, not to live beyond our means, to stop wasting our natural resources, make things go further.
"We need a return to self-reliance and self-discipline, and great respect for the law. Let us turn sway from permissiveness and the something-for-nothing notion."
As we drove back down Norridgewock Avenue after interviewing the lady from Maine — said by some to have received the most honorary doctorates of any person in the world — we felt inclined to give her still another title, Woman of the World.