An Oral History Interview with MORTON SCHWARTZ Interviewer
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WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY An Oral History Interview with MORTON SCHWARTZ Interviewer: .Anita Hecht, Life History Services Recording Date: September 9, 2009 Place: Silver Spring, Maryland. Length: 3.5 hours Morton Donald Schwartz was raised in New York City and attended the City College of New York, graduating in 1964 with honors in economics. He earned his Master's degree in economics from the University of Michigan, and his Ph.D. degree in economics from Syracuse University. Schwartz taught at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, for five years before moving to Washington, DC, in 1974, to work as a legislative assistant for Sen. William Proxmire. His responsibilities included research, speech and letter writing, and preparing the Senator for hearings on federal programs and legislation in commerce, transportation, international trade, human resources, and economic matters. He also served as Proxmire's liaison to the Joint Economic Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee. Schwartz worked on education, trade, and economic issues, and helped structure hearings and prepare questions for the monthly Joint Economic Committee hearings on unemployment and inflation. Schwartz also headed Sen. Proxmire's Intern Program for several years and helped identify and investigate possible Golden Fleece candidates. Soon after Sen. Proxmire announced his decision to retire in 1987, Schwartz became division Director in the Inspector General's office at the U.S. Commerce Department. Morton Sch wartz In terview Transcript 1 Proxmire Oral History Project PROJECT NAME: PROXMIRE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Verbatim Interview Transcript NARRATOR: MORTON SCHWARTZ INTERVIEWER: Anita Hecht INTERVIEW DATE: September 9, 2009 INTERVIEW LOCATION: Silver Spring, Maryland INTERVIEW LENGTH: Approximately 3.5 Hours KEY: MS Morton Schwartz BP Bill Proxmire AG Alan Greenspan GFA Golden Fleece Award RR Ronald Reagan SUBJECT INDEX HOUR1 Hour 1/00:00 MS Family Background Family Influences MS Educational Background Hour 1/09:35 MS's Interest in Politics Politics in WI in'60s MS's Interest in Working on Capitol Hill Hour 1/20:55 MS Beginning Work for BP MS's Interview with BP Accepting Position with BP Hour 1/30:00 Knowledge of BP Duties as Legislative Assistant BP's Handling of Office Conflicts Hour 1/39:30 BP's Expectations of Staff BP's Opposition to AG/Later Relationship Hour 1/49:50 BP's Positions on Social Issues Morton Schwartz Interview Transcript Proxmire Oral History Project HOUR 2 Hour 2/00:00 BP as Boss Staff Debates Bringing Pork Back to WI Hour 2/10:15 Origin of GFA Specifics of Hutchinson Lawsuit Hour 2/20:00 Hutchinson Lawsuit (cont.) Supreme Court Decision in Hutchinson Hour 2/29:25 Settlement of Hutchinson Effect of Lawsuit on GFAs Specific GFAs Hour 2/40:05 Specific GFAs (cont.) Process of Awarding GFA Effects of GFAs Hour 2/50:00 Continuation of GFAs After BP More Examples of GFAs Colleagues' Views of GFAs HOUR 3 Hour 3/00:00 Effect of Party Change in White House MS's Duties in BP's Office BP's Relaxed Demeanor Hour 3/09:30 BP's Labor Victories in '70s Hour 3/20:25 BP's Position on Bailouts BP's Recognition of RR as Political Threat Changes in BP's Staff with Republican White House MS's Supervision of Interns Hour 3/30:15 BP's Expectations BP's Use of Press Morton Schwartz Interview Transcript Proxmire Oral History Project Hour 3/39:30 Dealing with Lobbyists Limitations in Making Decisions on Behalf of BP Hour 3/50:10 Passing of Genocide Convention Senate Changes in '80s BP's Retirement Announcement HOUR 4 Hour 4/00:00 BP in Today's Political Climate Learning of BP's Alzheimer's MS's Position with Inspector General Inspector General Compared to BP Hour 4/10:20 BP's Influence on MS BP's Support of MS's Running Hour 4/20:40 BP's Legacy Today's Senators who Mirror BP HOUR1 Hour 1/00:00 MS Family Background, Family Influences, MS Educational Background The date is September $ in the year 2009. My name is Anita Hecht and I have the great pleasure and honor of interviewing Morton Schwartz on behalf of the William Proxmire Oral History Project for the Wisconsin Historical Society. We find ourselves in Mort 's home in Silver Spring, Maryland. And thank you very much for agreeing to participate in this project, Mort. Morton Schwartz interview Transcript Proxmire Oral History Project And thank you for coming all the way from Wisconsin to interview me. I'm honored. Well, let's begin with a little bit about you and some of your own background. Tell me when and where you were bom. I was born in New York City, in the borough of the Bronx on June 26 , 1942. And your family background? My family background was very typical for the New York City of that era. My grandparents came over. They were Russian, Polish, Hungarian Jewish, who came over at the turn of the century. Both my parents were born in the United States. My dad graduated from college and I lived in the San Francisco Bay area late in World War II while he served as a pharmacist mate basically a male nurse, on Treasure Island, which was one of the major naval hospitals during the Second World War. And then we moved back and I lived in upper Manhattan - Washington Heights - a few years younger than Kissinger and Alan Greenspan, but that was the neighborhood. A lot of Jewish-German refugees lived in that area. I was, of course, one generation removed, my parents having been born here. What did your father study in college? Morton Schwartz Interview Transcript 5 Proxmire Oral History Project Interestingly, they say the military doesn't have you follow through on what you majored in. My dad had a biology degree from City College of New York. Was he the first generation in your family to get a higher education? Yes, yes. How about your mother, did she study? No. She graduated high school. I think did a little secretarial work. And again, like young women of that era, within a couple years was married to my dad. What would you say were the influences on you of their either politics or their religious upbringing or your Jewish heritage? Could you identify some of those influences? Grew up in New York City. We just had a funeral of the wonderful Ted Kennedy. You know, it means automatically you were a Democrat. They had the Truman era, the Roosevelt era, social security, all the social legislation; so I was influenced very positively that way about being involved in the community and service and actually, you know, being a Democrat. Education being very important - we were what would be called reform Jews in the sense of we followed the holidays, but did not keep all the kosher laws and, you know, went out on Saturday and ate all kinds of food. But what is always interesting in our generation, even though we were not kosher, you just didn't mix milk and meat at a table. But with my parents, my memory was the Morton Schwartz Interview Transcript 6 Proxmire Oral History Project liberalism, the equality, with my dad, particularly, long before there was a civil rights movement of people being treated equally and having fair opportunities and education. And he had been a basketball player and talked about the integrated teams that he played on. And the other impression was going in the south and seeing the other world. What I still remember about, you know, you couldn't bring dogs in and you couldn't bring "Negroes" in. And the discussions we would have about whether we'd go into the restaurant. And I remember one comment by my dad in the '50s in which he said, "Mort, you're absolutely right. But if you want to eat in an integrated restaurant here in South Carolina," I think it was, "we're going to go hungry for lunch." Interesting. Were they politically active, either one of you parents? No, not really, no. But they were Democrats in that they followed politics by reading and voting? My dad did. Oh, they never -1 mean, that was his belief, you know, that family had served in the Second World War and there was Hitler and all of this that, you know, "This is your duty, you're privilege. You're lucky enough to live in a country - " And that has followed through to today about, you know, we've traveled and we've lived overseas. And that, again, came out of my parent's notion that, "Of course you vote! You know what our family and others have gone through to be in a democracy and have a chance to have your voice heard." Absolutely, never missed a vote. Morton Schwartz interview Transcript 7 Proxmire Oral History Project What about his occupation after World War II? After World War II when he came back, he was thinking of being a bio [biology] teacher, but he went into the fur processing with his father-in-law which was, at that time, successful. It was the second most important cleaning and processing of quality furs in the New York City area, which really means the country. And they did that for a number of years. And my dad wanted to modernize the business and do more appropriate things and my grandfather didn't, and my uncle - and they said, "Okay. We're going to go our separate ways." And they did. And, of course, luckily, my dad having his college education, thought to do other things with his life, including joining the Labor Department of the State of New York, where he became a supervisor in the unemployment insurance.