WHEN HE became chairman of the House Rules Committee, Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., hung Rep. Howard Smith's portrait on the wall.
Smith was the Virginia racist who as Rules chairman blocked civil rights bills in the 1950s and 1960s.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus marched to the Rules Committee office to protest Solomon's tribute, so he took the portrait down. I keep waiting for Barbara Mikulski and her sisters to march to get the portrait put back up.
Smith was a notorious racist, no question about that, but look what he did for women.
The House was heading toward passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. As each title was voted on, a coalition of liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans prevailed. Title VII, forbidding employment discrimination on the basis of race, color or religion, came up. Representative Smith sent an amendment to the clerk, who read: "After the word 'religion' insert 'sex' on pages 68, 69, 70 and 71 of the bill." He thought that would divide the pro-civil rights forces and kill the whole bill.
The House went nuts. The liberal manager of the bill sputtered, "I rise in opposition to this amendment." But before he and his forces could dispose of the Smith trick, Rep. Katherine St. George, R-N.Y., grabbed a microphone and announced, "I can think of nothing more logical than this amendment at this point. Women do not need any special privileges. We outlast you. We outlive you. We nag you to death, but we are entitled to this little crumb of equality."
The crumb passed, 168-133, and then the bill. According to one historian, far from hurting the bill, Smith's ploy "created a broad new constituency that successfully worked for [its] passage."
I covered that civil rights bill debate, and my guess is that it would have passed even without a sexy Title VII. But no one can say for sure.
Now, I don't really think women today should support having Smith's portrait hung in any place of honor, but that legislative history cited above does suggest a good choice for Representative Solomon to put on his committee's wall: Katherine St. George.
She was a first cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but a very conservative Republican. She was a strong supporter of Sen. Joe McCarthy, and during the Korean War she said Gen. Douglas MacArthur should decide on his own, without presidential approval, on using nuclear weapons. She called Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson "liars."
But on one big issue, she was in the liberal camp. Equality for women. She was the leader of the Equal Rights Amendment effort in the 1950s. She was a pioneering woman. She was, among other firsts, the first woman ever to serve on the Rules Committee, and I suggest that would make it perfectly appropriate if Chairman Solomon were to hang his fellow New Yorker's portrait where Smith's was.