Congresswoman Helen Bentley: FEB 27 2010
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INTERVIEW with HELEN D. BENTLEY U.S. Representative from Maryland's 2nd district, 1985 through ‘94 Recorded 2/27/2010, and this version reflects mark-up by her in August Helen Delich Bentley was born in Ruth, White Pine County, Nevada, on November 28, 1923; attended the University of Nevada, and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.; and received a BA from the University of Missouri in 1944. During the next three and a half decades she was a journalist, television producer, chair (during 1969‐75) of the Federal Maritime Commission, and then an international business consultant. Bentley was a candidate for election to the 97th Congress in 1980 and the 98th in 1982; she was elected as a Republican to the 99th and to the four succeeding Congresses (serv‐ ing from January 3, 1985, to January 3, 1995). She was not a candidate for reelection to the 104th Congress in '94, but instead sought the GOP nomination for Governor of Maryland. In 2002, she ran for election to the 108th Congress. Throughout her career, Bentley has tirelessly advanced America’s industrial/manufac‐ turing base as well as its maritime community. In 2006, Bentley served as Chairman of the Port of Baltimore’s Tricentennial Committee, which oversaw a year‐long celebration honoring the Port’s 300th anniversary. During a Tricentennial Committee dinner gala on June 1, 2006, Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich announced that he had officially renamed Baltimore's port as The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore. “There has been no one,” said Ehrlich in making the announcement, “who has championed the vital role the Port plays in both the global economy and our everyday lives more than Helen.” Also see "doing business with" Helen Bentley & Associates From the "Women in Congress" website Able to attract blue‐collar and traditionally Democratic voters, despite remaining relatively conservative, Bentley’s gruff style and raspy voice seemed the very embodiment of her decades of experience spent on the city docks and plying the oceans. “I am a woman who worked in men’s fields for a long time. I insisted on working on the city side of the paper and not the women’s pages,” Bentley once explained. “I did it all on my own. Women have to be willing to work and produce and not just expect favors because they are women." Other Maryland officials who figure prominently in this transcript: Clarence "Doc" Long ‐‐ U.S. Representative (D) from 1963 through '84 Senator Charles A. "Mac" Mathias and Governor Theodore McKeldin 1 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gregorsky: What kind of a kid were you? Bentley: I was the youngest of a family of seven children, two of whom died young. We grew up in a copper-mining town -- 8,000 feet above sea level -- out in Nevada. It was a town of 1,500 people where you walked everywhere you went. It was mountainous country. We lived through the Depression there. There were railroad tracks in front of our house. The immigrants had to live in certain sections of the town. Only the "white folk" could live in company houses and there were three sections of the town that were company houses. Immigrants lived on Main Street, which is where we lived, with the railroad tracks running right in front of our house connecting the mined copper and the pit copper together to go down to a smelter about 15 miles away. During the Depression we went out on those tracks to pick up coal remnants so we would have heat in our house. Two older brothers were about six and eight years older than I and another was two years older, but he died when he was eight years old from tonsil poisoning. My dad was a copper miner. My mother kept boarders, which were the men who immigrated [and] came to work in the mines. And they lived on what we called "slip sheets" -- when one shift would come, they would use the beds; and then the sheets would be changed and the next group would sleep. And that was my beginning. We worked hard. We had a lot of snow every winter 'cause we were 8,000 feet above sea level. Gregorsky: Your father also died when you were eight? Bentley: He died when I was eight, right -- he died in 1932. Two brothers and I were the three left at home; my two older sisters had married and left home before my dad died. They had their families. My mother kept boarders so we would be able to live. I have a great picture of her somewhere with her mop in her hand. Gregorsky: Were you glad to get out of there after high school? Bentley: Well, I left. Gregorsky: That’s what people did, but -- Bentley: I left. I still go back once in awhile. I was back there last July and became very upset because all the copper is being mined -- the place had been closed down for years because of the EPA -- and now the copper is going to China. That disturbs me a great deal because I see this country’s resources 2 being sucked up by China. We will have nothing left to produce anything in this country -- and I think that’s wrong. Gregorsky: When was your first interest in politics? I guess it’s managing that campaign for the fellow who ran for Senate? Bentley: Yeah, basically. While in high school, I worked on a weekly newspaper called the Ely Record. The owner of that paper was a Republican State Senator -- Charlie Russell. And I guess whatever interest I had emanated from that. When Senator Scrugham -- at this point he was candidate Scrugham -- came looking for campaign help accompanied by a retired Army Colonel (Colonel Tom Miller). They were Democrats. Charlie was a Republican. They asked Charlie who might be able help them. Out in a remote area like that, the parties helped each other at that time. Gregorsky: [Makes a noise indicating mild surprise] Bentley: I knew nothing about politics. But Charlie recommended me. And so they put me in charge of White Pine County and Eureka County. Senator Scrugham won -- and he carried both counties. Gregorsky: And then you heard: “Come to Washington -- ” Bentley: To work there. At that time, there were five people on a [Senator's] staff. Five people total. To my knowledge they did not have an office in Nevada -- out in the district. But, back then, the Senate closed down on June 30th every year, and then the staff members who worked closest to the Senator would travel west with him. From the 1950s to the '70s: Maryland and the Port Gregorsky: What kind of a guy was [two-term GOP Governor] Theodore McKeldin? Bentley: Very affable -- I guess you’d call him [pause] gargantuan? Gregorsky: [Chuckling] Bentley: He was a big man. Big man. But he was a man who'd bend down and listen to you -- and he’d listen. He was Governor in 1955 when we were fighting to change the Port here -- out of the hands of the railroads. He set up a committee to lead the fight in Annapolis. And, although I was with the Sun paper [and not] officially on the committee, I was on the committee -- because the paper granted me freewheeling authority. We went to Annapolis; we lost in that year of ’55. McKeldin set us back up in power for the next year, and we won. And that’s when I really learned about politics: The way you win votes is to (a) educate the Members and (b) make them feel important in enacting the legislation. 3 Gregorsky: Okay, so that -- Bentley: I also had a television show -- every Sunday afternoon -- called The Port that Built a City and State. It ran from 1950 to 1965. And between the ‘55 General Assembly and the ’56 [session], I invited various members of the state legislature on my show. We talked about the Port and they became much more involved and appreciated the Port. Gregorsky: So, in the early days, that would have been live television -- no video, right? Bentley: It was live television. Totally live. Gregorsky: You make a mistake, it just goes out. Bentley: That’s right. It was all live. Gregorsky: Did you come close to running for office at all before the Maritime Commission? Bentley: No, but during the Maritime Commission I did -- in ’74. The conservatives were very unhappy with [Senator] Mac Mathias; they were urging me to run. They promised that one would raise $300,000 and one would raise $100,000 -- etc. And when we came down to nuts and bolts, the $300,000 evaporated to $30,000; the $100,000 evaporated to $10,000; and another guy was running in the primary -- Ross Pierpoint. He ran in many, many campaigns in Maryland. And Ross would not get out of the race, ‘cause he said he was the only one who could beat Mathias -- in his opinion. One Sunday afternoon before filing time -- filing time at that time in Maryland was around July 1st -- we had a long session talking with him. It was George Russell, Lyn Nofziger and Walter Moat (who was then very active in the Republican party). Did no good. Ross would not get out of the race -- no matter what. So -- I didn’t quite make up my mind then, but I didn’t feel I was going to run. A three-way race? You knew Mac was going to win it. Gregorsky: And that was the first year that Barbara Mikulski ran statewide.