February 22, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2955 THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF could sense the power of his commitment to on many issues, including crime and gun WALTER SHERIDAN justice and honesty in public and private control. He liked to tell of the time he went life. You knew he would go to the end of the into a gun shop, plunked down a couple hun- Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, all of earth to sustain those standards against any dred dollars, and walked out with an anti- us who knew him, respected him, and who tried to undermine them. The cynical tank weapon. He later loaded and fired it on loved him were saddened by the death view that everyone has his price met its camera to demonstrate the shocking laxity last month of Walter Sheridan. Walter match and its defeat in Walter Sheridan. of our gun control laws. He said he couldn’t was the outstanding investigator on As Bobby knew, and as those on the other remember what finally happened to the the staff of the Senate Labor and side learned to their dismay, when the going weapon, but he kept it stored somewhere got tough, Walter Sheridan got going. His Human Resources Committee for near- around the house for a while and thought highly principled convictions about the pub- Nancy finally threw it out. ly two decades, and before that, he had lic trust ensured the criminal convictions of Another of his documentaries dealt with been one of Attorney General Robert those who violated that trust. His book organized crime. Walter persuaded a key in- Kennedy’s most trusted and effective about those years is among his lasting leg- formant to speak on camera for the first aides in the Department of Justice. acies—a call for constant vigilance to pro- time about the activities of one of the crime Walter Sheridan lived an tect the public interest against corruption. families. Later, a few of Walter’s friends who extraodinary life, and all of us who In any fight, my brother said, he would al- had gathered to watch the broadcast at the worked with him have many warm ways want Walter on his side. You wanted Sheridans’ home thought the informant on Walter with you in any foxhole, and that is the screen looked familiar, and he was. He memories of his achievements and his why he always seemed to get the most dif- was sitting on the couch in Walter’s living friendship. ficult assignments. He had been in the serv- room, watching the program too. He told I ask unanimous consent that my ice in World War II, and his exploits re- Walter it was the first time he felt truly tribute to Walter last month at Holy minded me of a famous slogan of those safe, because no one would dare try to harm Trinity Church in Georgetown, an ear- years—the difficult we do immediately; the him while Walter was on the case. lier tribute I made to Walter on the oc- impossible takes a little longer. Of course, all of us who knew Walter un- casion of his final hearing at the Labor In the Senate years, each time we settled derstood something else as well—that we on the subject of a new investigation, Walter Committee in 1990, and other materials would never know everything he knew. Busi- would do his famous disappearing act. He’d ness or pleasure, secrets were safe with Wal- may be printed in the RECORD. be away for three or four weeks. ‘‘Walter’s ter. Whether working on an investigation or There being no objection, the mate- gone fishing,’’ we would wink and say, and planning a surprise party, nothing ever rials were ordered to be printed in the everyone knew what that meant. When Wal- leaked. On that point we all agreed—Walter RECORD, as follows: ter surfaced with his catch, all the networks Sheridan kept his mouth shut. TRIBUTE TO WALTER SHERIDAN, BY SENATOR and reporters were there, ready to record it Genius, it is said, is the capacity for tak- EDWARD M. KENNEDY, HOLY TRINITY at our hearings. ing infinite pains, and Walter passed that Walter knew how to follow a paper trail, CHURCH, WASHINGTON, DC, JANUARY 17, 1995 test with flying colors. No one worked hard- find the unfindable document, and make it er or longer or more effectively. But some- ‘‘Some men see things as they are and say, speak truth to power. Once, when the mine times even that wasn’t enough. One of my ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and owners persuaded the federal agency to dras- brother’s and Walter’s favorite stories from say ‘Why not?’’’ tically weaken protections for health and the McClellan Committee days was about the These words that Robert Kennedy loved safety, it was Walter who uncovered the ir- time they were driving home together after were words that Walter Sheridan lived by. refutable document. The agency had simply working very late one evening. As they drove And what a magnificent life he lived. tried to write the mine owners’ wish list into past the Teamsters Building, they saw the Walter and my brother were exact contem- law—complete with the same spelling and light still on in Hoffa’s office. So they turned poraries, born on the same day, November grammatical mistakes. the car around and went back to work them- 20th, 1925. It took them a little over thirty Walter was also a hero to workers in the selves. years to find each other. But it was inevi- many industries he investigated. I especially It has been said that all men are dust, but table that they would, and now they have think of his coal mine safety investigations. some are gold dust. And that was true of found each other again. Miners and mine safety officials who testi- Walter. In those great years with my brother I suspect some grand investigation is under fied in our Labor Committee hearings would on the McClellan Committee and in the Jus- way in heaven, and that Bobby and Carmine continue to call up Walter for many years, tice Department, he was a regular for touch Bellino finally decided last week, ‘‘We need eager to tell him about the new births and football at Hickory Hill. Everyone wanted to Walter up here on this one.’’ marriages and grandchildren in their lives. be on Walter’s team, including Bobby. To My brother loved to tease Walter about his They knew Walter never stopped caring new friends there, he was always ‘‘Walter,’’ mild demeanor and quiet manner. But as about them, and they loved him for it and never ‘‘Mr. Sheridan,’’ even though they felt Bobby wrote in ‘‘The Enemy Within,’’ Wal- made him part of their family too. the first name was somehow disrespectful ter’s angelic appearance hid a core of tough- For all his warmth and wit, Walter was after reading about Mr. Sheridan in ‘‘The ness. As any wrongdoer well knew, the an- rightly feared by certain kinds of industry Enemy Within.’’ Walter made sure that ev- gelic quality also represented the avenging leaders and government officials—by anyone eryone got to play, no matter how young or angel. misusing their position or abusing their high unathletic. He also mastered the most im- All the Kennedys have lost one of the fin- office. His mission in many of his Senate in- portant rule for those games, which was that est friends we ever knew. Walter Sheridan vestigations was to see that federal regu- there were no rules. was an extraordinary investigator and an ex- lators did not become captives of the indus- And in the sad months and years after traordinary human being. He had a heart as try they regulated. June of 1968, Walter continued to be a fixture large as his ability, and his courage and dedi- Once, a mine worker who worshipped Wal- at Hickory Hill, helping Ethel, helping all of cation to justice and the public interest were ter told us that an official of the Mine Safety us, to carry on. We loved you, Walter, as a unmatched by anyone. Everything he and Health Administration had walked into brother and as a member of our family. touched he left better than he found it. his agency office one day and resigned imme- In a sense, Bobby lived on through Walter. Walter was also family, far and wide. His diately—when he saw the pink message slip In the nearly 20 years that he worked with wife, Nancy, his daughter Hannah, his sons with the notation that ‘‘a Mr. Walter Sheri- me in the Senate, I never met with Walter or Walter, John, Joseph, and Donald, and all dan’’ had called. talked with Walter or laughed with Walter their families and all his fourteen grand- His unique combination of high intel- that I didn’t think of Bobby. As the poet children know how much Walter loved them ligence, low-key manner, and warm person- wrote: ‘‘Think where man’s glory most be- and how deeply he cared for them. The Sheri- ality was an irresistible asset in all his work, gins and ends, and say my glory was I had dan home was always warm and welcoming, and he loved to tell his war stories. During such friends.’’ Our glory is that we had Wal- a continuously open house and gathering his investigation of the pharmaceutical in- ter as a friend. place for the legions of friends he made dustry, two drug company executives told In so many ways, he lived up to the ideals across the years. him extensive details they never intended to of dedication to family, country, and service Everyone Walter worked with loved him disclose about their company’s operations. to others. His contributions to integrity in too. He lit up every room he entered, and They said Walter just kept asking simple, government and the private sector are im- there was an obvious mutual affection that understated questions and nodded politely at mense. His achievements are proof that each made people not only want to work with their responses. As one of the officials later of us can make a difference—and what a dif- him, but work harder because of him. He had said, ‘‘It took us about ten minutes after we ference Walter Sheridan made. a famous and well-deserved reputation from walked out of the room to realize that Wal- His life is symbolized in the inspiring the Hoffa years for ability, integrity and loy- ter Sheridan had just picked both our pock- words my brother used: ‘‘Each time a man alty—and he was a legend for his modesty ets clean.’’ stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the about it. He had a flair for the dramatic too. For lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, He lived up to the Sheridan mystique all several years, he served as a Special Cor- he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and his life and in everything he later did. You respondent for NBC and made documentaries crossing each other from a million different

VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:21 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S22FE5.REC S22FE5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS S2956 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 22, 1995 centers of energy and daring, those ripples traordinary investigator and an extraor- Hannah Shorey of Dallas, John Sheridan of build a current which can sweep down the dinary human being.’’ Germantown, Joseph Sheridan of Lansdale, mightiest walls of oppression and resist- By 1960, years of contentious investigation Pa., and Donald Sheridan of Harrisburg, Pa.; ance.’’ and dramatic, nationally televised hearings and 14 grandchildren. You left us too suddenly and too soon, Wal- had made celebrities of the Senate sub- ter, and we miss you all the more. committee’s lawyer, Robert kennedy, and [From the New York Times, Jan. 15, 1995] Hoffa. Hoffa had become one of the best- WALTER J. SHERIDAN IS DEAD AT 69; HELPED LOSING TATEMENT OF ENATOR DWARD C S S E M. known labor leaders of the postwar era. BUILD CASE AGAINST HOFFA KENNEDY, HEARING ON ADVERTISING, MAR- After John Kennedy became president in (By David Stout) KETING AND PROMOTIONAL PRACTICES OF THE 1961 and his brother became attorney gen- PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY, SENATE COM- eral, Robert Kennedy asked Mr. Sheridan to Walter J. Sheridan, a Federal investigator MITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES, become his special assistant. In that job, he who was an associate of the Kennedy family WASHINGTON, DC, DECEMBER 12, 1990 and a small group of lawyers were made re- and pursued the teamsters’ union leader The testimony in these hearings raised sponsible for prosecuting federal crimes as- James R. Hoffa, died on Friday at his home troubling questions about the marketing sociated with the Teamsters. in Derwood, Md. He was 69. practices of the pharmaceutical industry and The lawyers in the unit described them- The cause was lung cancer, friends said. their corrupt relationship with physicians. selves as the ‘‘Get Hoffa Squad,’’ and Mr. Mr. Sheridan worked closely with Robert Commendably, as the committee investiga- Sheridan, though himself not a lawyer, was F. Kennedy in the 1950’s when Mr. Kennedy tion began to uncover these abusive relation- their chief, Arthur A. Sloane wrote in was chief counsel to the Senate rackets com- ships, both the AMA and the PMA endorsed ‘‘Hoffa,’’ his 1991 biography of the labor lead- mittee and John F. Kennedy was a com- new guidelines on the eve of the hearings, in er. In his 1971 book ‘‘Kennedy Justice,’’ Vic- mittee member. Mr. Sheridan and Robert order to correct these problems and ensure tor Navasky also described Mr. Sheridan as Kennedy spent much time investigating the confidence of patients and the public. the unit’s chief. labor corruption, especially in the Inter- The committee intends to monitor these In 1962, Hoffa was brought to trial in Nash- national Brotherhood of Teamsters. reforms closely, in order to determine ville. The chief prosecutor and his assistants, When Robert Kennedy became Attorney whether the abuses covered by the guidelines accoring to Sloane’s book, operated ‘‘under General, he recruited Mr. Sheridan as a spe- are truly corrected. the overall direction of . . . Walter Sheridan cial assistant to investigate Federal crimes, Finally, I want to pay tribute to the person . . . who himself was in daily telephone con- particularly involving the teamsters. who deserves the real credit not only for tact with Attorney General Kennedy.’’ In March 1964, a Federal Court jury in these hearings—but a thousand other con- In a brief interview last night, Navasky Chattanooga, Tenn., convicted Mr. Hoffa of tributions to the Senate, the country, and said Mr. Sheridan ‘‘knew the worst things tampering with a Federal jury two years ear- the public interest. there were’’ about Hoffa and ‘‘devoted those lier, and he went to prison. He was released In a sense, these hearings are his swan years to doing something about that.’’ in 1971 when his sentence was commuted by song. But he’ll never really retire. He was The trial, on a misdemeanor charge, ended President Richard M. Nixon. also our chief investigator in the initial in a hung jury. Mr. Sheridan was the author of a 1972 book, committee hearings on this issue in the But that trial led to a second trial on a ‘‘The Fall and Rise of Jimmy Hoffa.’’ Mr. 1970’s. And I have no doubt he’ll come out of charge of jury tampering, based at least in Hoffa disappeared in 1975. retirement in the year 2000, or whenever the part on evidence gathered and investigated Mr. Sheridan was an agent for the Federal industry steps out of line again. by Mr. Sheridan, according to Sloane’s book. Bureau of Investigation for four years but re- There’s a famous saying that there’s no In 1964, Hoffa was convicted of jury tam- signed, he said later, because J. Edgar Hoo- limit to what you can accomplish in this pering and began serving a prison term three ver’s fierce brand of anti-Communism made town if you’re willing to give someone else years later. him uneasy. He was also an investigator for the credit. That may be the secret of how In 1960, Robert Kennedy published a book the National Security Agency for three he’s been able to accomplish so much. called ‘‘The Enemy Within,’’ based on his years. We’ve known each other for over 30 years, Senate committee investigations into labor As a principal aide for the Senate Judici- and worked together for nearly 20. Robert matters. In it, he described Mr. Sheridan this ary and Labor and Human Resources Com- Kennedy discovered him in the 1950’s in the way: ‘‘A slight, quiet friendly-faced man’’ mittees in the 1970’s and 80’s, Mr. Sheridan McClellan Committee investigations. It who ‘‘was one of our best and most relentless led investigations into drug companies that turned out they were both born on the same investigators.’’ tampered with data submitted to the Food day in the same year. ‘‘His almost angelic appearance hides a and Drug Administration, working condi- My brother took him with him to the Jus- core of toughness and he takes great pride in tions in mines and exploitation of farm tice Department in the 1960’s. He may well his work,’’ Kennedy said. workers. have been the best and most tenacious inves- ‘‘In any kind of fight, I would always want Mr. Sheridan was a regional coordinator tigator the Senate or the Department ever him on my side.’’ for John F. Kennedy’s 1960 Presidential cam- had. I inherited him from my brother, and Mr. Sheridan was born in Utica, N.Y., paign. He also worked in the senatorial and he’s been the same way ever since. served in the Submarine Service during Presidential campaigns of Robert and Ed- As Robert Kennedy once said in the 1950 in- World War II and later graduated from Ford- ward M. Kennedy. vestigations, ‘‘Investigators are the back- ham University. He was an FBI agent for From 1965 to 1970, he was a special cor- bone of the hearings. Without their work, four years and spent three years with the Na- respondent for NBC, producing documen- we’d have nothing.’’ Those words are still tional Security Agency. taries on crime, gun control and other true, and all these years he has continued to He was a regional coordinator for John issues. make them true. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential campaign He is survived by his wife, Nancy; four We’ll have a chance to pay a proper tribute and had key roles in the political campaigns sons, Walter, of Gaithersburg, Md., John, of to him at another time. But I wanted to of Robert and Edward Kennedy. Germantown, Md., Joseph, of Lansdale, Pa., make at least these few remarks now. As a Senate investigator in the 1980s, he and Donald, of Harrisburg, Pa.; a daughter, He’s also a beautiful human being. His helped show that clinical data submitted to Hannah Shorey of Dallas, and 14 grand- family and some of his children and grand- the Food and Drug Administration had been children. children are here today, and I think they tampered with, which led to new safeguards. know how much we admire him and love He also led investigations into improper pay- [From the Utica Observer-Dispatch, Jan. 14, him—Walter Sheridan. We’ll miss him. ments to physicians to influence how they 1995] prescribed medicines. His investigations into SHERIDAN, FORMER FBI AGENT DIES AT 69 [From the Washington Post, Jan. 14, 1995] mine and on-the-job safety and health and into exploitation of farm workers also were Utica native Walter Sheridan—once listed WALTER SHERIDAN DIES; HELPED TO credited with leading to new federal protec- among possible successors to J. Edgar Hoo- INVESTIGATE HOFFA tions. ver to head the FBI and a close friend of the (By Martin Weil) From 1965 to 1970, he was a special cor- Kennedy family—died yesterday. He was 69. Walter Sheridan, 69, a prominent federal respondent for NBC and his unit received a Sheridan worked side by side with the late investigator for many years who played a Peabody Award for a documentary on the Sen. Robert Kennedy to fight racketeering, key role in the epic struggle between the 1967 Detroit riots. particularly to bring James R. Hoffa to jus- government and Teamsters union leader He was the author of ‘‘The Fall and Rise of tice. His career as an investigator included Jimmy Hoffa, died of lung cancer Jan. 13 at Jimmy Hoffa.’’ four years as a special agent with the FBI, his home in Derwood. In his statement yesterday, Edward Ken- three years each with the National Security He was a staff member of the Senate rack- nedy said Mr. Sheridan ‘‘had a heart as large Agency and the Senate Rackets Committee. ets subcommittee of which Robert F. Ken- as his ability, and his courage and dedication Sheridan died at his home in Derwood, nedy was chief counsel and on which John F. to justice and the public interest were un- Md., of lung cancer. He was born in Utica, Kennedy served as a senator. He was also an matched by anyone.’’ Nov. 20, 1925. associate of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D- Survivors include his wife, Nancy; five ‘‘He was one of the finest men I ever met Mass.), who lauded him yesterday as ‘‘an ex- children, Walter Sheridan of Gaithersburg, in my life. He was sincere, honest, upright,’’

VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:21 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S22FE5.REC S22FE5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS February 22, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2957 said Michael McGuirl of Ballantyne Brae, the race is to the swift and the poker pot to For months, after Walter sent me the Utica. the swift at hand. Rackets Committee material, I immersed ‘‘I can’t tell you the grief I feel’’ over his Left behind to fight the network of graft- myself in the testimony of thousands of wit- death, said McGuirl, who has maintained a organized greed that has infected our profit nesses who talked (or balked) about pension friendship with Sheridan’s family. system are the Walter Sheridans of this land, funds looted of millions of dollars, with a Through his career—which included work- unlikely Don Quixotes who tilt not at wind- majority of those six- and seven-figure loans ing five years as a special correspondent for mills but at syndicates and are willing to going to notorious Mafiosi, of ‘‘sweetheart’’ NBC and publishing a book on Hoffa—Sheri- take on single-handed an army of hoodlums, contracts arranged between greedy company dan kept his links to Utica. fixers, purchasable politicos and business op- executives and union officials on the take McGuirl, who worked 14 years as commis- portunists, to go it alone if their leaders are (including, as this book makes clear, Presi- sioner for Oneida County Social Services, shot down and a Mitchellized Justice Depart- dent Hoffa himself), of once respectable in- said Sheridan helped the county receive the ment moves to deliver them and their wit- dustries and unions infiltrated by a blatant country’s first Work Experience Program, nesses to the enemy. army of extortionists and enforcers, terror- which helped put people in jobs. I first came to know Walter Sheridan in izing the would-be honest into silence or con- Sheridan returned to Utica to speak at his the early sixties when I went to Washington nivance. It was material, I realized, that class reunion in 1973 and the the Knights of to discuss with the then Attorney General, made waterfront crime-evil as that was— Columbus in 1977. Robert Kennedy, the possibility of adapting seem like very small potatoes. ‘‘He was a fine assistant to Robert Ken- his book, The Enemy Within, as a motion picture. Our irrepressible producer, the late Now I understood more clearly the conclu- nedy and a very intelligent and capable indi- sion Bob Kennedy had reached in his book— vidual,’’ said Vincent J. Rossi, Sr., a Utica Jerry Wald, had called me in Mexico to say that Kennedy had chosen me from a list of that the real enemy within was the increas- lawyer who worked with Sheridan on Demo- ingly effective alliance of big money, labor cratic politics in Utica. film writers Wald had submitted. Kennedy had been impressed with On the Waterfront racketeers, the mob, and dishonest prosecu- In response to his death, Sen. Edward Ken- tors, judges and government officials, with- nedy said yesterday ‘‘all the Kennedys have and The Harder They Fall and felt that I would be particularly responsive to the job out whom billions could not be stolen from lost one of the finest friends we ever had. our economy—and that this nationwide con- Walter Sheridan was an extraordinary inves- of dramatizing corruptive power in America. It is true that the subject had fascinated spiracy was poisoning the wellspring of the tigator and an extra-ordinary human being. me from my high school days. And The nation. From my talks with Bob Kennedy, He had a heart as large as his ability and his Enemy Within, a hard-hitting account of Walter Sheridan and their colleagues in the courage and dedication to justice and to the Kennedy’s experiences as chief counsel for Justice Department, I was convinced of their public interest were unmatched by anyone.’’ the Senate Rackets Committee, would give passionate devotion to this theme—and to Sheridan graduated from Utica Free Acad- me the chance to write not merely a sequel the conviction that we could never defeat an emy in 1943, was president of the senior class to Waterfront but a significant extension of external enemy unless we first cut from our and a quarterback on the football team. that film on a national scale. Kennedy’s body politic the growing cancer of corrup- Sheridan is survived by his wife, Nancy, book presented startling evidence of the col- tion that would finally destroy our society and five children, Walter, of Gaithersburg, lusion between Jimmy Hoffa (plus other as Rome was eaten away from within two Md., Hannah Shorey of Dallas, Texas, John, crooked union leaders), Mafia racketeers and thousand years ago. of Germantown, Md., Joseph of Lansdale, their ‘‘respectable’’ allies in the world of When I returned to Washington with all Pa., and Donald, of Harrisburg, Pa. and 14 business. grandchildren. fifty-nine volumes of testimony buzzing in At Kennedy’s home in McLean, Virginia, it my head, I outlined a possible story line to took time to break the ice, but gradually we Bob Kennedy and his staff. But now I felt a FROM ‘‘THE FALL AND RISE OF JIMMY HOFFA’’ established good rapport. Then, characteris- (1972) further step in research was necessary: to tically, young Kennedy asked me when I move on from the transcripts to the people (By Walter Sheridan and Introduction by could begin and how soon my screenplay behind the transcripts, those who had en- Budd Schulberg) would be ready. I told him that I had re- dured the pressure of belonging to a union searched the New York waterfront for more A specter is haunting America. No, it is whose dictatorship they despised and whose than a year before I had begun that script; I not communism. Despite Wallace, Goldwater goon-squad violence they feared. and the right-wing doomsday criers, it is not would not feel ready to plunge into the writ- When I discussed this request with Ken- even creeping socialism. It is, as readers of ing of Enemy until I had fully absorbed this nedy he again passed me on to Walter, who, this book will find alarmingly documented, even more complicated material. ‘‘But it’s in his calm, cautious way, put me in touch an altogether different sort of creeping dis- all in the book,’’ Kennedy said with an au- with a fascinating union leader, a highly ease. Creeping, hell, it’s now boldly up on thor’s pride. I told him I would like to read placed officer who had been secretly cooper- two feet and running. Toward what goal? the entire hearings of the Senate Committee. ating with the Kennedy investigation be- More. More houses? More schools? More ‘‘That’s fifty-nine volumes,’’ Kennedy cause he had lived his life as an honest trade daycare centers? Forget it. More money. warned. ‘‘Millions of words.’’ When I held unionist and had become disgusted with the More power. Power to do what? Enjoy life, out, he passed me on to his lieutenant in wholesale looting of union funds, the terror- liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Not as charge of the Hoffa investigation, Walter izing of union members who protested, the Jefferson and our eighteenth-century ideal- Sheridan. Sheridan turned out to be the most un- Mafia leaders allowed to pass themselves off ists imagined it in those simpler times. likely of G-men. Television and movie fans as union leaders. The roster of Teamster vice today it is the high life, the deal that brings accustomed to Lee Marvin or Rod Steiger presidents read like a Who’s Who in Amer- liberty in the form of ‘‘commutation’’ from and Efrem Zimbalist as their gangbuster he- ican Crime, and ‘‘Max,’’ as we shall call our the federal pen and the pursuit of the easy roes would be badly let down by Mr. Sheri- inside contact, had had a bellyfull. buck—be it at the gangster Xanadus of Las dan. So quiet-spoken you literally have to Vegas, or at millionaire retreats built with Here, through Walter’s sensitive liaison, I lean forward to hear him, on the surface a Teamster money like Moe Dalitz’s La Costa was to get a one-on-one insight into the on- diffident, even shy and eminently gentle Country Club, or at the various White going drama—the tension that runs through man. Houses, Dicknixon style. There the Big so much of Walter’s book—a man’s con- But Kennedy’s book had indicated the science struggling to keep afloat in a sea of Money, that unholy alliance of over-and- tiger that lurked within the deceptively under-the-table, has enjoyed the friendship fear. For the next few months I was to meet bland exterior, praising Walter as tireless Max under conditions that reminded me of of the man who grasped early in his check- and unbendable, committed to the principle my World War II days in the O.S.S. We met ered career the sharp-edged triangle of of integrity in government and labor-man- in Los Angeles, in a small town in Florida, money, power and politics. agement. Outraged by the labor racketeering and in Mexico—using pseudonyms and even Throughout our history Big Money has encouraged by political and business conniv- taking the precaution of meeting in a third, been decried, by Andrew Jackson, William ance, he would work around the clock day neutral room in case we were being followed Jennings Bryan, both the Roosevelts.... after day to stitch together a collar of evi- or bugged. His nerves were shot and he was There are periodic appeals to our idealism, dence to fit even the thick, tough necks of drinking himself through the day, terrified compassion and sense of community. Reform the Jimmy Hoffas. movements rise and fall like the tides. Until the Kennedy investigations, the rob- of Hoffa and his henchmen, yet driven by the Today our children’s crusade turns its back ber barons of the labor movement had carved gut-conviction that mobsters like Johnny on the sources of wealth and power and wan- up their million dollar pies with impunity. It Dio and Red Dorfman and Joey Glimco and ders into the desert to smoke its pot and live is one thing merely to dream the impossible Tony Provenzano and all the rest of the tribe the good life to the music of Led Zeppelin, dream, quite another to gather together for were poison to the labor movement to which James Taylor and Joe Cocker. They have a convincing indictment all the little jigsaw he had dedicated his life. Through Max, I chosen to abandon the system rather than facts buried by professional deceivers. How met other Teamster dissidents, all hating reshape it. The old system, their gypsy life- Walter Sheridan persevered in this quest, de- Hoffa’s guts and all afraid to face his wrath. style is telling us, is a rat-race is a money- spite bribes, threats and government road- Thanks to Max, I was able to personify in game is a war-machine conceived in mate- blocks, provides an encouraging lining for an my script a reluctant, tormented thorn in rialism and dedicated to the proposition that essentially discouraging story. the tough hide of the composite labor boss I

VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:21 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S22FE5.REC S22FE5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS S2958 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 22, 1995 call Pete Bonner. Alas, the film for reasons tions and sensational disclosures, corruption 104th Congress, to announce to the Sen- that bring me very close to the spirit of this flows on. George Jackson rotted in jail for ate that 14 people were killed by gun- uncompromising book, has never reached the nearly a decade for heisting $70. Jimmy shot in New York City this past week, screen. Jerry Wald, who alone had had the Hoffa cops a million, bribes juries, runs with courage to produce it, died suddenly, at a the most dangerous gangsters in America bringing the total for 1995 to 89. time when 20th Century-Fox was fighting for and, thanks to the intervention of his good Mr. President, in an introduction to survival after its spendthrift Cleopatra. A friend Dick Nixon, does an easy five. This, a published series of editorials on labor tough walked right into the office of after the parole board had rejected Hoffa’s America’s gun epidemic, Los Angeles appeal three times in a row. This, in an elec- the new head of the studio to warn him that Times editorial writer and research di- if the picture was ever made drivers would tion year when Nixon has become anathema refuse to deliver the prints to the theaters. to the legitimate labor movement and the rector Molly Selvin, writes: And, if they got there by any other means, Teamsters wind up as his only big-labor sup- People do kill people—but they can do it stink bombs would drive out the audiences. port. more efficiently, more potently and more The Nixon-Hoffa friendship, beginning With Bob Kennedy’s encouragement, I massively with guns. And guns, these days, when Nixon was Vice President, was empha- tried to produce the film myself. One film are killing more people on the streets and in star phoned to say he loved the script, then sized again by his recent attendance at the the homes, schools and workplaces of Amer- came to my house drunk to tell me he was executive board meeting of the Teamsters. ica than ever before***We can let the gun afraid he might be killed if he did it. There And his Secretary of Labor gave fulsome violence continue unabated, or we can do have been ever-increasing ties between the praise to that gang-ridden union at its most something and do something dramatic, effec- mob and some of the film studios and, of recent convention. ‘‘A strange love affair,’’ tive, historic. course, those studios rejected it out of hand. The New York Times has described it. One Finally, I had firm interest from Columbia, might call it something even stranger. Sheri- Ms. Selvin is quite correct. It will dan doesn’t go in much for adjectives. He’s the company that had released On the Water- take dramatic measures to bring an front. On the eve of the meeting with Colum- fact man and his step-by-step account of the bia executives to which I had been invited, Hoffa-Nixon romance will make you want to end to the plague of gun violence. But every one of the people who was to attend weep for an America that is now chal- the Senator from New York is com- that conference received a letter from Wil- lenged—as Bob Kennedy had begun to chal- pelled to point out that the solution liam Bufalino, whose activities on behalf of lenge her—to reach deep down and rediscover proposed by the editorial series—a Hoffa are a matter of record (as Sheridan’s her soul. near-total ban on ownership and pos- Will the dry rot of moral decay leave the book confirms). Bufalino is, among other session of guns—is simply not plau- things, a lawyer, but this letter was disturb- field to the Hoffas, the J.T.T. and the Syn- ingly extra-legal. It stated flatly that 20th dicate? The enemy within seems to grow sible. We have a two-century supply of Century-Fox had wisely abandoned the stronger every day. Whether or not a Jack guns. Unless abused, guns last almost project as soon as all the possible Anderson, a Ralph Nader, a Walter Sheridan indefinitely. Even if we could succeed eventualities had been pointed out to them, can arouse our people from their compla- in banning further production and sale and he felt confident that Columbia would be cency is the question on which the future of guns, it is unrealistic to think that smart enough to do likewise. On the morning course of America may depend. we could reclaim the 200 million guns of the meeting, a studio secretary called to f already in circulation today. tell me that it had been canceled, indefi- nitely. Apparently Hoffa and Bufalino had TRIBUTE TO MR. ELLAND ARCHER On the other hand, we have a very decided what the American people could and Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I limited supply of bullets—perhaps only could not see. And the Hollywood ‘‘front of- am pleased to pay tribute to the exem- a four-year supply. I have repeatedly fice’’—notorious for its vincibility—had plary life of Mr. Elland Archer of Mes- attempted to make the case that it is meekly complied. quite, TX. Mr. Archer was born on De- But that was only a taste of the frustra- here we should focus our attention. By tion that Walter Sheridan had suffered over cember 17, 1932 to Frank and Jimmie banning or taxing out of existence the years as he battled against the invisible Archer of Van Zandt County. His early those calibers of bullets used most empire. The jury tampering in Nashville years were spent in Terell and Van often in crime, the millions of guns al- reads like Police Gazette fiction, but it’s all Zandt Counties during the Depression. ready in the hands of criminals would too true. The Chicago trial, in which Jimmy In order to assist his family, he quit soon be rendered useless. Hoffa was finally convicted of stealing more school in the eighth grade and later re- To date, I have had difficulty con- than a million dollars from his Teamsters ceived his GED in the U.S. Army. Pension Fund, is the stuff of high social He served our Nation honorably in vincing the Congress and past and drama. And the trials and tribulations of Ed the U.S. Army from 1953 until 1955 and present administrations of the merits Partin, the big and tough Teamster from of ammunition control. But as we sit Baton Rouge who turned on Hoffa, helped to completed his Army Reserve obligation in 1961 in the rank of private first idly by and watch bullets take the lives convict him, and then was offered a million of nearly 40,000 Americans each year, I dollars if he would perjure himself and re- class. He graduated from Baylor Uni- tract his testimony—or be destroyed if he re- versity Law School in 1963. urge my colleagues to consider this fused; all of this must be read, and then Following his work for the Dallas sensible approach. reread and digested, to be believed. And re- County attorney and district attorney, membered. The incredible cast of those he served as city attorney for the city f working to gain a pardon for Hoffa, and a of Mesquite from 1970–87. From 1989–93, buy-off or conviction of Partin, includes gov- he was the city manager and attorney ernors, federal judges, Louisiana Mafiosi, U.S. ARMY 2D LT. CURT Chicago gangsters, Pension Fund lawyer- for the city of Balch Springs. He was SANSOUCIE—A NEW HAMPSHIRE grafters, senators, congressmen, administra- married for 35 years to the late Vir- HERO tion officials, con-men, sleazy go-betweens. ginia Lois Archer. Even Audie Murphy and George Murphy get Elland Archer passed away on Sep- Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise into the act, not to mention gun-totin’ Wil- tember 1, 1994 and is survived by five today to salute U.S. Army Second liam Loeb and his infamous Teamsters-fi- children and two grandchildren in addi- Lieutenant Curt Sansoucie, from Roch- nanced Manchester Union Leader. tion to his mother and six brothers and ester, NH, who died February 15, 1995, Here is the enemy within, in all its star- sisters. during a training exercise at Eglin Air spangled unglory. The enemy walks among us, not as an un- Mr. Archer will be remembered by his Force Base Ranger School in Florida. derworld fugitive but as an adornment of family and friends for his dedication to The accident that took the life of cafe society, enjoying the best tables in New our Nation, our State, and to the many this fine young man was a terrible York and Miami, Las Vegas, Hollywood and citizens he served during his career. In tragedy for his family and for the State Acapulco. You’ll find him chumming with setting high standards during his pub- the celebrities at Le Club or ‘‘21’’ or the of New Hampshire. Curt is the son of lic service, his life was a model for oth- Gary and Theresa Sansoucie. He grad- Sands, or in the Polo Lounge at the Beverly ers to follow. Hills Hotel. Instead of fearing government uated from Somersworth High School pressure, he’ll boast of his in with the White f where he was a member of the National House. And the ‘‘cream’’ of our society don’t HOMICIDES BY GUNSHOT IN NEW Honor Society and a varsity football shun him, they invite him to their parties. YORK CITY player. And they hope he will return the favor. In this painstaking book, Sheridan faces Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise I had the privilege of nominating up to the reality that, after all the convic- today, as I have done each week of the Curt to West Point in December 1989.

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