The Perfect Candidate to Represent Ohio

A visit to the Capitol Building almost always includes a trip to Statuary Hall. Who wouldn’t be excited to see which icons were selected to symbolize their home state? From Will Rogers and Robert E. Lee to Helen Keller and Dwight D. Eisenhower, the statues provide a snapshot of America’s rich and diverse history.

Currently, Gov. William Allen and President James A. Garfield represent Ohio; however, a few years ago, the Ohio General Assembly decided that some of Allen’s views make him a poor representative for Ohio. Therefore, the National Statuary Collection Study Committee was created, charged with selecting a new Ohioan for the National Statuary Collection. The committee is currently reviewing Ohioans based on talents, character and contributions.

William McCulloch IS Ohio. He was born in Ohio, earned his degrees in Ohio and built his career in Ohio. His patriotism, determination and dedication made him an excellent Congressman for our state…his accomplishments made him a hero.

So, how can you show your support for William McCulloch and help the Study Committee select him for Statuary Hall? Show your support on Facebook. Become a fan, join the conversation and get others involved.

Cast Your Vote Online

If one of the 36 voting sites isn’t close to you, you still have the opportunity to voice your opinion. Just follow these simple instructions:

1. Download the Microsoft® Word ballot.
2. Complete your information.
3. Email your ballot to ohiostatue@ohiohistory.org.

Adam Clymer

Retired 2003, chief Washington correspondent, New York Times

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice Chairman, members of the Committee, it is an honor to appear before you today. I hope you won't find that my testimony reflects the old joke, "I'm from Washington and I'm here to help." But I am from Washington. As a reporter, I covered the Capital over four decades for the Baltimore Sun and then the New York Times. I covered Congress more than anything else, and that is why I am here. I don't envy you the task of choosing one among many distinguished sons and daughters of Ohio to honor in Statuary Hall. Many of them are better known than the man I am here to urge on you, Bill McCulloch.

So let me tell you about him and his absolutely critical role at a decisive turning point in American history. In 1963, the United States faced a crisis over civil rights. President Kennedy moved slowly. But after Sheriff Bull Connor of Birmingham, Alabama, unleashed dogs and fire hoses on black children, Kennedy decided to act. He proposed a comprehensive bill covering education, voting and equal access to public accommodations -- hotels, restaurants, theaters and stores. He called it a "moral issue." But the proposal went forward before the administration had a strategy to pass it. Simple arithmetic made it clear that Republican votes would be needed to overcome the opposition of the still solidly Democratic South. But Attorney General Robert Kennedy rudely dismissed Republican bills, saying he had not had time to read them.

The administration could learn from its mistakes, though, and twelve days later, while Congress was taking its Fourth of July recess, Burke Marshall, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, flew to Ohio on a pilgrimage. He went to see McCulloch, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, a strong advocate of "equal rights," as he called them, even though his district was only 2.7 percent black. Long before John Kennedy had reached that conclusion, Bill McCulloch considered racial equality a "moral issue."

Adam Clymer

Retired 2003, chief Washington correspondent, New York Times

After McCulloch had Marshall cool his heels for a couple of hours, the assistant attorney general climbed the stairs to his law office to talk about the legislation. McCulloch, who had introduced the Republican bill back in January and was his party's leader on the issue, agreed to help. But on two conditions: First, and the most difficult, was that the administration promise that it would not drop provisions from the House bill in order to pass it in the Senate. That had happened in 1957, when a House provision allowing the Attorney General to sue to halt discrimination had been killed in the Senate.

That move left many House members exposed because they had voted for something many of their constituents didn't care about and some opposed. In fact, exactly that strategy of appeasing the Senate was in the minds of the White House in 1963. But McCulloch warned Marshall that if the bill was weakened in the Senate, House Republicans would vote against it when it came back before them. Without House Republicans, there would be no civil rights law. The Administration understood. It pledged not to support any Senate amendments that had not been cleared with McCulloch.

Second, McCulloch wanted an assurance that the legislation would not be sold to the nation as a Kennedy bill or a Democratic bill, but that Republicans would get equal credit. That was easier. As Robert Kennedy said later "nobody made any effort to take any eredit for it in the Democratic Administration, nobody at the Department of Justice or in the administration, generally." White House press releases mirrored that strategy, citing Republicans equally with Democrats when passing out praise.

As it developed, the final bill was stronger than the measure Kennedy had proposed. It added a section prohibiting discrimination in employment, and a provision allowing the attorney general to intervene in discrimination suits filed by individuals. Getting to that point was not simple. McCulloch thought he had a deal with Marshall and Manny Celler, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee. But Celler let a liberal-dominated subcommittee push the bill beyond what McCulloch (and House G.O.P. leaders) would support. McCulloch was angry, felt he had been doublecrossed. But rather than walk away, he wanted the damage repaired.

The White House sidled with him. As President Kennedy said in the midst of that scrap, "McCulloch can deliver 60 Republicans. Without him it can't be done. He's mad now because he thinks that an agreement that he had with us on the language of compromise has been thrown away by the subcommittee. So now he's sore... To get Republicans, we've got to get McCulloch."

Adam Clymer

Retired 2003, chief Washington correspondent, New York Times

When enough arms had been twisted so that the bill's provisions satisfied McCulloch, Charlie Halleck of Indiana, the House Republican leader, agreed, too. He was promptly condemned by Republicans who said he was helping the Democrats out of a mess their liberals had created and damaging Republican chances in the South. But the bill came out of the Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan vote in late October. In February, 1964, the House passed it with no significant changes (except to add discrimination by sex to the prohibitions in the employment section). The vote was 290 to 130, as 137 other Republicans voted "aye" along with McCulloch.

In the Senate, the longest filibuster in history was broken after the Republican leader, Everett Dirksen, declared civil rights was an "idea whose time had come." He said he would back the bill with what he said were important amendments but which were actually quite modest changes, all cleared by McCulloch. The Senate passed the bill on June 19, 1964. A few days later - on July 2, the one-year anniversary of Burke Marshall's visit to Piqua -- the House adopted the Senate version after McCulloch said: "To my colleagues in the Congress as well as to people everywhere who believe in equality under the law, who support the Constitution and who love liberty, not only for themselves but for others as well, the civil rights bill now before us for final consideration is in accordance with the best traditions of America." The 1964 Civil Rights Act was the most important law adopted in the Twentieth Century. Despite the old saw that laws cannot change hearts and minds, that law did. It changed America, and how whites and blacks dealt with each other and thought about each other.

The 1964 Act was not the end of the story, nor of McCulloch's central role. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Fair housing legislation followed in 1968. And when the Nixon Administration tried to block renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 1970, McCulloch led the successful fight against his party's president. When a constituent wrote him, worrying that his stand on civil rights could hurt his chances for re-election, McCulloch replied, "I believe the Civil Rights issue was and is an essentially moral as well as legal challenge, and as a member of Congress, I saw no moral alternative but to act accordingly in implementing the Constitution of the United States."

These days the idea of honoring politicians, especially for quiet work inside a legislative body, is not something that leaps to the minds of the American public. But lawmakers like yourselves can understand how the insistence of a proud, lifelong Republican on no amendments and equal credit was essential in bringing his party behind a Democratic Administration's highest legislative priority.

Adam Clymer

Retired 2003, chief Washington correspondent, New York Times

For Bill McCulloch did not look on legislating - as so many in Washington do today - in terms of which party won and which party lost. "The function of Congress," he told the House in 1971 as he was preparing to retire, "is not to convert the will of the majority of people into law, rather its function is to hammer out on the anvil of public debate a compromise between polar positions acceptable to a majority." Unlike direct democracy where the people voted on an issue and there was a winning side and a losing side, he said, "In a republic, representatives vote for the people. There is discussion and debate. There are amendments. There is oppotunity for compromise. It is less clear that there is a losing side."

Many far-sighted Americans, from Martin Luther King to John F. Kennedy to Everett Dirksen and Lyndon Johnson, played vital roles in making the civil rights bill a law. But none of them was more essential than Bill McCulloch. Without his commitment, his savvy, and his determination, it would not have passed. You have the testimony of Nick Katzenbach and the letter from Jacqueline Kennedy to back that judgment; it is not mine alone.

The nation stands in debt to Bill McCulloch and the people of Ohio who sent him to Washington. Please choose to honor him and keep his legacy in the Capitol. He inspires us half a century after his great work. Make a statement to, and for, the nation by enabling Bill McCulloch's memory to inspire Senators and Representatives today and in years, even decades, to come to follow his example and put country before party.

James F Dicke II

Chairman and CEO of Crown Equipment Corporation

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and esteemed members of the Committee. It is an honor to speak with you about William M. McCulloch and to share a perspective on the decision you are making.

My name is Jim Dicke. I am the Chairman and CEO of Crown Equipment Corporation, New Bremen, Ohio. Also, I am Commission Chairman of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a National Board Member of the Smithsonian, and I have a special connection with Statuary Hall.

In the summers of 1966 and 1967, as a college student, I worked as an assistant to Congressman William M. McCulloch. It was a historic time. Each day the office had visits from the likes of Nicholas Katzenbach, Clarence Mitchell, and other important leaders in the Equal Rights struggle. I would drive William McCulloch to the White House for meetings there as well.

Part of my duties included taking constituents on tours of the Capitol Building and Statuary Hall. Usually, these groups would come to the office and I would take them on a tour of the Capitol and Statuary Hall, meeting Congressman McCulloch on the steps of the Capitol for a photograph, or in the Rotunda, or, for a small family, sometimes to the House of Representatives’ dining room. Most often, the groups were high school students visiting Washington D.C. from Ohio. They were wonderful young people, in awe of their surroundings, on their best behavior, and paying close attention.

James F Dicke II

Chairman and CEO of Crown Equipment Corporation

It was quite interesting to experience leading literally hundreds of mostly young people through tours of Statuary Hall, which is, as I’m sure you know, not just the former House chamber itself. The 100 statues representing our 50 states are in the Crypt, in the Rotunda, some in hallways, and more recently in the new, just opened, spectacular, Capitol Visitor’s Center adjacent to the rotunda.

On my recent visit, I saw Ohio Governor Allen's marble statue standing in Statuary Hall, where it stood when I was giving those tours back in the 1960s. Whereas many statues have changed location, Governor Allen has not. When I was giving those tours, the stop by Governor Allen's statue was an awkward moment. Governor Allen was not ageless and his story was not something high school students found relevant to modern times.

I can say from personal experience, when you lead groups through the Capitol Building, and when you reach Statuary Hall and you tell the story, students always what to know which statues represent their state. They want to hear relevance to modern times, and why these particular people are important.

It is what educators like to call a "teachable moment". You have their attention. They are in an impressive surrounding. It is a chance to tell them something they will never forget. It can be a moment to awaken special pride in Ohio. It can be a moment to mention the nobility of public service.

James F Dicke II

Chairman and CEO of Crown Equipment Corporation

William M. McCulloch is such a person, an especially wise choice. He represents victory over the shadow of racism and slavery that hung over the compromises in the initial creation of our Constitution, the Civil War fought to end slavery, the age of reconstruction, the civil rights movement, and finally on to the long needed passage of the great 1964 Civil Rights Act itself. The fact that this man who had nothing to gain personally did such a spectacular job of making this law for our land was an extraordinary moment we celebrate in the history of the United States of America.

You will hear from others about William M. McCulloch, of Ohio. He was born in Ohio, educated in Ohio, had his career in Ohio and would even be buried here were he not buried as a hero in Arlington National Cemetery.

One of the special things about Bill McCulloch is that he was not self-promotional. You will see, for example, a letter from Jacqueline Kennedy. Many others would have wanted her praise in wide circulation. To my knowledge, we, and you, ladies and gentlemen of this Committee, are the first people outside Bill McCulloch’s own family to see Mrs. Kennedy's letter.

I would encourage all of you to read the wonderful book "The Longest Debate" written by Charles and Barbara Whalen. It speaks to the legislative history of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Bill McCulloch is its hero. In the new bookstore and shop of the Capitol Building Visitor’s Center, there are materials like this for sale, stories of great people as shown in Statuary Hall. This decision will be about how we want Ohio known for many years to come.

James F Dicke II

Chairman and CEO of Crown Equipment Corporation

It is interesting to see the kinds of decisions states have made to install new state statues. Dwight Eisenhower is there representing Kansas, but it is not President Eisenhower. He is General Eisenhower in uniform on D Day leading the largest army in history. Ronald Reagan is there representing California, but he is not President Reagan. He is the younger Ronald Reagan who first made a transition from movie actor and union leader to become a citizen governor of California. It reminds me of Bill McCulloch as the first three-term Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, voluntarily leaving his Representative role to serve the nation in World War II. His role in the 1964 Civil Rights Act makes him a man for the ages, but there is also a clear vein of honor and selfless service running the entire length of his career.

I want to thank you for your consideration. Others will also speak of Bill McCulloch’s contribution and why he should be in Statuary Hall. For me, however, the important thing is to emphasize Statuary Hall is not just a symbol and a backdrop. It is a teachable moment for Ohio youth in their nation's capital. The statue will be there every day, and there can be no finer "teaching moment" than to talk about the struggle for equal rights laws, the nobility of public service for us all, and the triumph of public service and modest wisdom in the person of William M. McCulloch.

Reverend Walter E. Fauntroy

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1971-1991
Director, Washington Bureau, SCLC, 1961-1971

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Walter E. Fauntroy, for twenty years a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1971-1991). In the decade of the 1960s, it was my great privilege to serve as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s personal representative to the presidents of the United States and the members of the U.S. House and Senate. I have been drawn to this, the capital city of the great state of Ohio, today because of the historic nature of the decision that is yours to make on whether to honor one of your native sons, the Honorable William McCulloch, as Ohio's representative in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.

To paraphrase the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Montgomery at the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, I have come to Ohio because, "When the history of the 20th Century is written, historians will have to say that there lived in the state of Ohio, a great man, a ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives, who injected new meaning into the veins of civilization." That man was the ranking Republican of the House Judiciary Committee, The Honorable William McCulloch.

The world does not yet appreciate the inestimable value of his leadership at a watershed moment in our nation's history and it is high time that the citizens of the great state of Ohio memorialize it for themselves and for our posterity. For Bill McCulloch's career at the command post of power in our nation's Capitol straddled the midpoint of a century that the now legendary William E. B. D. Dubois called "The Century of the Color Line." Representative William McCulloch answered, on his watch, the question that Martin Luther King, Jr. had raised at the Historic March On Washington in 1963: "Will this nation rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal?"

Reverend Walter E. Fauntroy

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1971-1991
Director, Washington Bureau, SCLC, 1961-1971

The Honorable William McCulloch of Ohio stood at the vortex of this nation's answer to that question in the decade of the 1960s. As one who lobbied the Congress of the United States intensely with the Director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP, the legendary Clarence M. Mitchell, I know that to be true. Listen to Mr. Mitchell's words marking the gentleman from Ohio's retirement from the U.S. Congress: "I often think of how you have so stoutly defended human rights and how your courage has made it possible to have a national bi-partisan commitment to civil rights in Congress."

I recall as well the words of Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. as Executive Director of our other truly National Advocacy organization, the National Urban League when he said to Mr. McCulloch

"Millions of Americans have very real reason to salute you for your many and varied accomplishments over the years. Most especially, black citizens owe you a debt of gratitude for your consistent and stalwart defense of our civil rights and for your great leadership in helping to pass landmark legislation that ended the long night of officially-imposed segregation."

The Honorable William McCulloch believed with the Founding Fathers and Martin Luther King, Jr. that there ought to be a place somewhere on this planet where people of every race, creed and color enter a social contract to care for, protect and defend one another, beyond race, beyond creed and beyond color. If ever there were a time when human beings on this planet needed to hear and to heed that founding principle of our great democracy, it is today. Honor Bill and I guarantee you that you will inspire a whole new generation of young people who, like Bill, are technically competent enough and spiritually mature enough to end, on their watch, the barbarism of war, the decadence of racism and the scourge of poverty.

Reverend Walter E. Fauntroy

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1971-1991
Director, Washington Bureau, SCLC, 1961-1971

Our precious young would be inspired not by static doctrine but by a man who often quoted these two lines from James Russell Lowell in his poem "The Present Crisis" when debating with his distinguished colleagues the matter of human rights on the floor of the House: "New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth; They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth."

The Honorable William McCulloch deserves the honor of being selected as Ohio's Statuary Hall for his sterling leadership in our time and for all time. For that leadership we should all be forever grateful. By lifting this fact of history for all to see and recognize in a statue of his likeness will remind all citizens of the great state of Ohio and people of goodwill all over the world of what a "treasure in that earthen vessel" that God blessed all of us to have in the heart of the 20th Century in the person of Representative William McCulloch. This is not true because I say it; I say it because it is true.

Fred R. Harris

United States Senator, Oklahoma (1964-1973)

It was in the really awful summer, hot summer of 1967 that terrible riots broke out in the black sections of so many of America’s cities, Newark, Milwaukee, but many, many others as well. The President eventually, President Johnson, called out the National Guard to try to quell the disorders in Milwaukee and Detroit. Cities were burning and there were all sorts of killings. The National Guard and the police very often overreacted and many people were killed and injured, most of them African Americans and most of those, actually, innocent bystanders. But there was a lot of fear in the country and a lot of hostility and turbulence politically. Nobody knew how big this was going to get. It was terrible already.

The Kerner Commission, one of the landmark commissions in the history of the country, both in the importance of its report and its impact, began work at once. And we divided up into teams and sort of quietly went around the country ourselves. I went as a part of a team with John Linsdey. McCulloch went with, I think, James Corman, another member of Congress, that one from California. And we walked these what were then called mean streets of the black sections of the cities were these riots had occurred, just to find out for ourselves what had happened.

Nobody worked harder or was more dedicated in this kind of fact finding on the Commission than Bill McCulloch was. And then we held months of hearings, day after day after day, where we heard from everybody from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, and we also commissioned a number of studies ourselves by experts. Bill McCulloch never missed a meeting. He was there every day. And after those hearings, he never missed one of our meetings, which lasted for months also, day after day as we read aloud every word of the drafts of our report. We voted on each of those words. And his principal and his guts, because this wasn’t I’m sure a very popular task for a Congressman from Ohio, as he was. But he was there, and he worked at it diligently. He stood up for the right. And we decided, and he was one of those that made us decide, that we were going to try to tell the truth.

Fred R. Harris

United States Senator, Oklahoma (1964-1973)

President Johnson, I think, thought that there was some conspiracy behind these riots. That some activists, black activists, some how have stirred them up. But we found that that was not true. That hostilities were such in these cities, in the black sections of these cities, that almost any random spark could cause the violence. And that is what had occurred. So we had to make a decision. Are we going to say that these riots were not a result of a conspiracy. There were some on the Commission that didn’t want us to. But Bill McCulloch was one of those who said, look let’s tell the truth. We know that there wasn’t any conspiracy, so let’s just say so. And we did.

Also, we had to face up to the question of racism which had been so endemic in America and so corrosive from the inception of our country. Nobody had used that word really, publically or officially. But we decided that we wanted to use that word. Again, there were some on the Commission that said well couldn’t we use something a little less harsh like intolerance or discrimination or whatever. We voted to say that white racism had to be confronted in this country and ended.

We came to the conclusion, as we said in the famous words of the Commission’s report, that America is moving towards two societies - one white, one black, separate and unequal. We looked at the question of violence, what causes violence, and we decided we couldn’t say for sure why violence had occurred, say, two years earlier in Watts in Los Angeles, hadn’t occurred, at the time of our Commission report, in places like Washington, DC. But we found that we could describe with particularity the conditions that existed where these riots had occurred. Low family income, bad housing, inferior, almost criminally inferior schools, no transportation, no jobs, high unemployment. And about the main contact residents in these black sections had with the general society was with the police. And they were mostly, virtually all, white, living outside the central city, coming in during the day to enforce the law. So we tried to tell the truth. What happened, why did it happen, and what could be done to keep it from happening again and again.

Fred R. Harris

United States Senator, Oklahoma (1964-1973)

Hearings were held, and William McCulloch, in spite of the kind of opposition that our report brought, caused in the country, and some in Congress, and in the White House, never flinched. He stuck to his guns. And as a matter of fact after our report and after the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, he was a leader in the House of Representatives in passing, finally, at long last, open housing legislation.

Bill McCulloch was a man of character. He was a man of strong ethics, he had a lot of courage, he stuck to his principals, and I think that nobody exemplified, exemplifies those characteristics better than he does in the history of Ohio or in the history of the country. And I think that he and those characteristics ought to be recognized.

Nicholas Katzenbach

65^th United States Attorney General

My name is Nicholas Katzenbach. I’m a lifelong Democrat, and I have never voted for a Republican for any office, and I wholeheartedly support the selection of Congressman William McCulloch, a Republican, to be honored by a statue in the Capitol Building. I can think of no one in the Congress, Republican or Democrat, who deserves this honor more. Why? We wouldn’t have a Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Voting Rights Act of 1965 if it were not for William McCulloch. And God knows what would have happened to this country if those bills had not become law.

Let me explain. Through the 60’s, I was first Bobby’s Deputy in the Department of Justice and later Attorney General. And the activity at that time in this country was civil right, civil rights, civil rights. Demonstrations, sit-ins, violence, arrests, unlawful deprivation of the rights of all of our black citizens. And it became more and more intense. And we became more and more frustrated because there was very little we could do to protect people from the violence of officials and mobs in the Deep South.

Not everybody remembers all that happened there with the sit-ins, with the freedom riders riding, and constitutionally protected desegregated buses through the South. And being beaten up by mobs and arrested by police for disturbing the peace -- a joke -- but it wasn’t a joke for them. There was the riot at Ole Miss with people killed, and then the stand in the doorway by Governor Wallace. President Kennedy decided that the country needed a law, and he bit the bullet and introduced a comprehensive Civil Rights Act. The problem was we didn’t know what to do. Courageous as that Act was, which meant the Democrats would in all probability lose the solid Democratic South, we still didn’t know how to get that enacted by both houses of Congress.

Nicholas Katzenbach

Former United States Attorney General

And that was the point where Congressman McCulloch came in. Burke Marshall flew out to Piqua to see him, and he said really a little bit to our surprise, that he agreed that what was going on in the South was wrong, was in violation of the Constitution and that the Supreme Court had stood up for civil rights, now the President was doing it, and it was time that the Congress did so. And what he made clear was that he would support a bill, which was not everything the civil rights workers wanted by any means, but a bill that was reasonable, that he felt he could support in honesty, and it would be up to us to produce that bill. And also that we must not give away any of it in the Senate. He wanted the Senate to act just as the House was acting. And not give away, as had been done in prior years, important provisions to get the South to agree and avoid cloture.

Well we got a bill that, the President introduced a bill that, by and large, William McCulloch was satisfied with. But it got out of hand in the Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee, and the civil rights groups got provision after provision put in. Obviously it was not going to get the support of Bill McCulloch. So Bobby Kennedy went down and testified to the Judiciary Committee against many provisions, which, if he had all the votes in the world, he probably would have supported. And McCulloch respected that as an act of courage on Bobby Kennedy’s part because he took all the civil rights groups head on.

The bill was in the House Judiciary Committee, the President called the members over to try and get their votes. It was a very close vote. Why? Because all the Southerners joined with the liberals to put up a bill that the Southerners knew could not be enacted. But we beat it, I think it was by one vote, maybe two, with Bill McCulloch’s support. What that support meant was crucial at that time. Because it meant that, if the senior Republican on a committee supported a bill, the leadership in the House of Representatives supported that bill, and would produce the Republican votes to do it. McCulloch felt that a bipartisan civil rights bill was essential, not for the Republican Party, not for the Democratic Party, not for the President, but for the country. And as he always did, he put the country first. And in fact, there was never a second when he put the country first.

Nicholas Katzenbach

Former United States Attorney General

So the bill got through and it was passed in that form, and it went to the Senate. And because of Bill McCulloch getting the support of the House leadership, it was a Republican bill as well as a Democratic bill. And it put a lot of pressure on the Senate Republicans. McCulloch thought it was possible for us to get cloture. There were very few of us who did. But we succeeded in getting cloture of the ’64 Civil Rights Act, and that was passed and became law. And later the next year, the same was true of the Voting Rights Act. Again, gotten through because Bill McCulloch supported it as a necessary law to bring peace to the country.

What I want to emphasize is that there was no one, no one at all, as important in the enactment of those two pieces of vital legislation, the most important legislation of the twentieth century, than Bill McCulloch. He is a modest man. He never took the credit he deserved. He never blew his own horn. But I think it is time we blew that horn for him, and honored him as the great patriot and great Congressman that he was.

Colleen McMurray

Resident of Piqua and Columbus, Ohio

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, presenters, distinguished guests. It is an honor to share with you some memories of my childhood and adulthood in Piqua, Ohio and how our family's relationship with Mr. William McCulloch has influenced my life.

You have heard and seen previous presentations on the outstanding accomplishments of Mr. McCulloch and his life long work. Now what I have to share is a very personal perspective that includes facts and experiences that I remember vividly. Think on this information as they represent on black woman's journey toward the promises and dreams of this country.

I was born in Piqua in 1930. My parents, Emerson and Viola Clemens were special people who were nurturers and teachers in the strong values of family, church, education and community. Throughout their entire lives they were very active in community affairs. I have two sisters - Wanda, who lives in McLean, Virginia and Rebecca, who continues to reside in Piqua. We lived in an integrated neighborhood. I attended Piqua public schools where excellence was expected by parents and teachers. I achieved in academics assisted by supportive faculty at every school.

Colleen McMurray

Resident of Piqua and Columbus, Ohio

I participated in plays, musicals, marching choir. I was a class officer, reporter for the high school paper, cheerleader; inducted into the National Honor Society and Quill and Scroll; attended school dances, slumber parties. My close friends were black and white. I did not "feel different" at school. In the community, however, I was told in many ways that I was "different."

1) We attended separate churches.
2) We participated in a black only club at the YWCA (ironic with mission).
3) We could not swim anywhere in Piqua, or play tennis, golf or go to skating rinks.
4) We could not stay in hotel facilities.
5) We could not eat in any local restaurant or lunch counter. In 1945, with local NAACP members including my parents, we staged a sit-in at the bus station lunch counter which changed that policy.
6) We were required to sit in the back three rows at the movie theatre on the right side only. Also about 1945, the same group of activists entered the theatre in pairs and scattered throughout the rows of seats, thus forcing the manager to relent after a white male stood up and demanded that we be allowed to sit anywhere.
7) We were only allowed to work as domestics, elevator operators and waitresses at the country club during our teenage years.
8) My father was denied work in any local manufacturing plants, thus forcing him to work as a chauffeur, custodian and hospital cook.
I was "different."

I graduated from high school at age 16, and was very challenged to move to Columbus and The Ohio State University at that young age. It was 1947 and the same negative situations or discrimination existed in Columbus even more harshly. Black students could not eat in restaurants near campus; we could only attend matinees in separate sections at the movie theatres. We could not live in campus housing until 1950. I was allowed to move into a dormitory that year after three years of denied applications. My roommate was Gloria Owens, the eldest daughter of Jesse Owens. There were no black athletes on the basketball team and only one on the football team. In spite of all these obstacles my goal was to attain a degree in social work, which I did in 1951. Again, I was "different."

Colleen McMurray

Resident of Piqua and Columbus, Ohio

My career years as a professional social worker mirrored the discrimination in the nation. Separate offices, separate case loads and difficulty to act as an advocate for children of color. This continued until the late 1960's. After working in human services for 32 years, I retired as the director of Ohio Medicaid Services for all children under 21 years old in the 88 counties of the state.

Now let's talk about Mr. McCulloch and my memories of him and his family. While at the Ohio House of Representatives and later as a United States Congressman, he visited my parents' home numerous times to discuss different issues, learn about American racism and how it affected us, and conversed on what should be. It was such a personal and caring approach to understanding our separate worlds rather than relying on national polls as politicians do today. This relationship continued from 1945 to while he was in Washington and beyond. He contacted my parents regarding minority issues, not just about basic civil rights but also voting rights, fair housing and equal education for all. Before I left for college he asked me to be a companion to his two daughters, Nancy and Ann, in their home when he and Mrs. McCulloch attended local events. He regularly shipped Congressional record volumes to our family. He always talked about what should be, and how improving the quality of life for all people is the responsibility of Congress.

In 2009, as I cleared my deceased parents' home, I found most of the Congressional records and gave them to the Piqua Public Library. My sister, Wanda, worked as a volunteer in his Washington office in the 1950's. He was a giant for right and decency. He did not make me or my family feel "different." Because of his leadership, diligence, skills in negotiation, commitment to unifying the country, and belief in all people, my life today is so much better. There is still work to do, but he was so instrumental in the country's transition. Now, as we review his contribution to this nation, I think of our special President, Barack Obama, facing current challenges and those ahead for him, and how glorious it would be if Mr. McCulloch could work by his side and in concert arrive at sensible solutions. With that partnership, no one would be made to feel "different" again in this great country. Thank you for listening and Godspeed in your deliberations.

Colleen McMurray

Resident of Piqua and Columbus, Ohio

About Coleen McMurray

Colleen Clemens McMurray, a 1951 graduate of the College of Social Administration (now Social Work), has been a leader in the recruitment and retention of African-American students at Ohio State University, receiving the Distinguished Service Award in 1995.

McMurray is retired from a long career as a social worker, during which she worked with the Franklin County Juvenile Court, Boys Industrial Correctional Institution, Franklin County Welfare Department, and the State of Ohio Department of Human Services.

She has kept close ties to the College of Social Work, serving two three-year terms as the college's representative to the university's Alumni Advisory Council. She served on the university’s Student Loan Association Board of Trustees for six years.

She and her husband, Charles McMurray, Jr., are one of only three couples to have each received the Ohio State University Distinguished Service Award. The two other couples are John and Ruth Mount; and Anne and Wayne Woodrow Hayes.

James Oda

Director of the Piqua Public Library and Piqua Historian

William McCulloch 1901- 1980

Born November 24, 1901, raised on the family homestead in Holmes County, Ohio
He worked on the family farm from his earliest years through college. He embodied the work ethic of his pioneer ancestors. His family stood firmly as abolitionists prior to the
Civil War.

Educated in the local public schools, the College of Wooster, Ohio, and was graduated from the Ohio State University College of Law
He literally represents a self-made man who rose from the constraints of small rural schools to graduation from the Ohio State University College of Law in 1925. McCulloch took his education very seriously and was an outstanding student and scholar without ever leaving the State of Ohio. He gave back to Ohio's schools after graduation by teaching for one year in the Holmes County system.

Law practice established in Piqua, Ohio with George Berry in 1928
McCulloch completed his legal education in Columbus and moved to Florida and hung out his law shingle. It was his time in Florida that exposed him to the racial issues and ignited his fervor for constitutional rights. But his heart was in Ohio and he returned to his small town rural roots to establish a local law practice in Piqua, Ohio.

Elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1932
In his first election, McCulloch ran against three other candidates including the incumbent and the son of the county Republican Central Committee chairman. This was his first political victory and set the stage for his remarkable record of never losing an election from 1932 until his retirement from public service in 1973. He served in the Ohio House for six terms.

James Oda

Director of the Piqua Public Library and Piqua Historian

William McCulloch 1901- 1980

Minority leader in the Ohio House from 1936 to 1939
His ability to deal with the leadership of both parties led him to be called "the red headed lion". Speaker of the Ohio House for three terms from 1939 to 1943 McCulloch was the first Speaker in the modern era to be elected to an unprecedented third term. He was one of the most influential politicians in the state following the Great Depression and the first years of World War II. During his tenure as Speaker, the Ohio legislature passed balanced budgets in 1939 and 1941, an almost impossible task during those depression years. He worked to improve conditions around the state, but never forgot his home constituency. He made an almost daily commute from Piqua to Columbus

Service in the U.S. Military from 1943 to 1945
In a decision indicative of his character, he left the center of political power in Columbus to serve his country by enlisting in the army in 1943. He served twenty months in the European theater of operations during World War II. Prior to his active duty service McCulloch served in the Piqua unit of the Ohio State Guard.

Local Civil Rights activist in 1946-1947
Returning from his military service in Europe, McCulloch came back to Piqua and supported the local NAACP Chapter in its drive to end segregated seating in local restaurants. One of the earliest sit-ins in the area held at the Union Bus terminal lunch counter was the beginning of the end for segregated accommodations in the Piqua area. This was a politically risky stand to take in this rural and conservative stronghold.

Elected to the Ohio Fourth Congressional seat in the 80'" Congress in 1947
He was the "farm boy" who came from modest beginnings to serve in the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. McCulloch was re-elected and served 12 successive terms in Congress, a record unmatched in the history of the Fourth Congressional District. He served on many committees, including the select committee on small business and the joint committee on atomic energy. He sponsored legislation consistent with the needs and concerns of his district including small business and anti-crime bills. His passion and philosophy, however, concerned issues affecting the entire nation, those involving civil rights legislation.

James Oda

Director of the Piqua Public Library and Piqua Historian

William McCulloch 1901- 1980

Ranking Republican member House Judiciary Committee in 1959
McCulloch was at the forefront of Congress in the area of civil rights legislation. He had a steadfast belief in the Constitution of the United States and the rights that it guarantees to all of its citizens. His conviction allowed him to rise in the ranks of the Judiciary Committee, becoming its ranking Republican member at a time when the most important civil rights issues of our nation were being debated.

Pivotal figure in the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Bill of 1964
The Kennedy administration sent one of its top Assistant Attorneys General, Burke Marshall, to Piqua, Ohio in July of 1963 to meet personally with McCulloch to discuss strategies for supporting the civil rights bill. President Kennedy stated that "Without him it can't be done". His support of the bill insured the essential votes of the Republican leadership in the House and led the Senate Republicans to break the filibuster to pave the way for its passage.

Recognition by the ALF-CIO for his work in Civil Rights presented by union president Walter Reuther in 1964
This award highlights McCulloch's ability to reach out to all segments of the American political spectrum. This came about despite the fact that he was often opposed by district candidates who used strong union contributions to run against him. McCulloch was a man of principles who used consensus and persuasion rather than partisan pressure.

Led the passage of the Voting Rights act of 1965
McCulloch fought vigorously and tirelessly for an effective Voting Rights Act and regarded that piece of legislation as one of his most significant legislative achievements.

James Oda

Director of the Piqua Public Library and Piqua Historian

William McCulloch 1901- 1980

American Bar Association honored McCulloch in 1966 for his work in assuring the passage of the 25th Amendment to the Unites States Constitution
The award was presented to the four members of Congress deemed most responsible for the 1965 legislation that led to the formal adoption of the 25th Amendment. This amendment dealt with the potential disability/vacancy of the president and the filling of a vacancy in the office of the vice president.

Appointed to the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders in 1967
President Johnson appointed McCulloch to serve on this commission following the riots in Detroit and Newark. The "Kerner Commission" findings were among the most significant by a presidential commission in the 20th century.

Appointed to the National Commission on Causes and Prevention of Violence in 1968
The Congressman was appointed to the commission by President Johnson after the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy rocked the nation

Recognition by the 60th Annual Convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1969
Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP, sent McCulloch a telegram announcing this honor. He stated that the convention appreciated his firm support on extending the key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 despite strong pressures from the Nixon administration that would have weakened it. Wilkins stated that "Once again you have demonstrated your long standing commitment to the cause of equal justice under the law".

James Oda

Director of the Piqua Public Library and Piqua Historian

William McCulloch 1901- 1980

The Centennial Award and the Governor's Award for the Advancement of the Prestige of Ohio in 1970-1971
McCulloch received The Ohio State University's Centennial Award for Distinguished Achievements and Notable Service to the University in December, 1970; and he was honored with the Governor's Award for the advancement of the prestige of Ohio by John J. Gilligan, Governor, in February, 1971 for his integrity, honesty, and outstanding work ethic.

Distinguished Ohioan Award in May, 1972.
The diversity of awards presented to McCulloch is truly staggering. They include this award in recognition of his leadership and accomplishments on behalf of Ohio, its business and all its citizens presented by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Distinguished Alumnus Award from The Ohio State University College of Law in October, 1972
Presented by the Dean of the College of Law, this award was presented to McCulloch in appreciation of "his service to his profession, his State and his Nation; for his rare combination of qualities of intellect, statesmanship and unselfish service, and for the honor and pride he has brought to The Oho State University College of Law".

United States, Judicial Conference Award in 1972 for valuable contributions to the Federal Judicial Branch
This award was presented to the Congressman by Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger. It was presented in part for his work and support for the 24th (poll taxes) and 25th (presidential and vice presidential vacancies) Amendments to the United States Constitution.

Retired from public service in January of 1973 due to ill health
Congressman McCulloch died Feb 22, 1980 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery

Peter Schramm

Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.

The statesmanship of Abraham Lincoln is often admired, in part, because of the respect he demonstrated for the consent of the governed. Lincoln recognized that however noble or just his own sentiments might be, he could not simply-and never justly-force them upon another man and certainly not upon the country. Without first securing the consent of the governed, the justice and goodness of his efforts on behalf of justice would be compromised. First and foremost, this meant that Lincoln had an uncompromising respect for the organizing principle of our Republic-the equality recognized in our Declaration of Independence. But this central fact of human equality also carried with it a demand that the just man recognize the right all men have to consent in government.

Because of this, Lincoln's respect for the Constitution and laws-the embodiment of our most solemn consent-was equally unwavering; even when to follow the law felt like a violation of some higher principle of justice. A statesman should champion this higher form of justice but if, in the end, he expects to uphold justice in the here and now he cannot do the injustice of forcing it on friends and fellow citizens not yet equal to the task of recognizing it. He must secure their consent to enforce justice; and it is his purpose to help make his constituents equal to that cause of justice in their own minds. It is his purpose to raise them to that level of equality with justice through persuasion, his own good example, respect for laws and, of course, respect for the free and independent minds inspiring those laws.

William McCulloch-perhaps more than any Ohioan before or since-understood that principle of American government and is, therefore, worthy of the honor for which he is being considered today. Moreover, he is worthy of careful study, imitation, and the enduring regard of his fellow Ohioans and, indeed, all Americans. A statue of him in the National Statuary Hall will be a permanent reminder to all who visit there of his great act of statesmanship on behalf of true recognition of human equality-the highest of all American causes.

Peter Schramm

Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.

The National Statuary Hall in our nation's Capitol building was created in 1864 near the end of the Civil War and, sadly, near the end of Lincoln's Presidency. It is fitting and proper that an Ohioan such as Bill McCulloch, whose life was a testament to the noble purposes both of Lincoln and the Civil War, should be immortalized inside that chamber. Formerly the meeting place for the House of Representatives (1807-1857), it is also the place where a young Representative Lincoln once labored in relative obscurity. It was the backdrop for the monumental debates between Clay and Webster, and it was the place where John Quincy Adams-by then a former President-would return to take his seat as a humble representative of the people, from whence he would defend the freedom of the men aboard the slave ship Amistad, and in which he would suffer his final collapse in service to his country.

It is a place saturated with some of the best and with some of the worst dramas of American history-but it is now a place in which the American memory ought to be reminded to reflect upon that which is best in us. From the Northwest Ordinance, to the Underground Railroad, to the first colleges in the nation to admit black students, Ohio's role in the saga of freedom and the drama of establishing equal rights before the law is long established.

Although there are many good Ohioans whose devotion to this effort cannot be questioned, Bill McCulloch may be Ohio's most refined and effective representative of that fine tradition. The efforts of William McCulloch on behalf of equal rights for all Americans are a case study in stunning and effective statesmanship. He was sometimes unflatteringly described as "conservative" by those who advocated a swifter course of action in Civil Rights-as they somehow forgot the better sense in which this term-which can suggest considered and firm judgment as much as it can suggest an unwillingness to change.

Peter Schramm

Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.

If Bill McCulloch was "conservative," he was conservative in the sense of seeking to conserve the best of America's original purposes. Also forgotten in this attempt at slight, is the fact that McCulloch's version of a Civil Rights bill was presented four months before the Kennedy administration decided to take up the matter. Moreover, McCulloch--as far back as the Eisenhower Administration-had been working to secure something like it. McCulloch was not a foot-dragger. He was in the vanguard-though his heavy-lifting thoughtfulness assured that his would be the effective vanguard.

Even as he was stung, at first, by the lack of recognition for his proposed legislation in a Congress where he was seated with the minority, this did not prevent McCulloch from over-looking personal or mere political slights and joining forces with the Kennedy administration and Democratic leaders in the House to create a bill that was workable, uncompromising in principle, and faithful to the American political tradition. Once that bill was drafted, he worked tirelessly within his own party and in the face of mounting public pressure-on all sides-to assure its passage.

When the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 was finally signed into law by Lyndon Johnson, on July 2 (the same day as the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence) Johnson could not help remarking that none of it would have been possible without the work of William McCulloch. No single man was responsible for that legislation, to be sure. But it is also true that no single man did more to bring it about than did William McCulloch. In the words of then Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, McCulloch's "vital assistance and leadership was of singular importance in securing passage of this historic measure."

Peter Schramm

Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.

When speaking of his role in this landmark legislation, however, McCulloch-a man many had then dubbed, "King of the Hill"-was high-minded and thoughtful, at the same time that he was humble: "Mr. Speaker," he said in response to a standing ovation delivered him on the floor of the House, "I shall try to paraphrase the Englishman Sir Winston Churchill ... 'Never have so many of such ability worked so hard, and so effectively, for which so few received the credit.'"

This Representative from Piqua, Ohio-a country lawyer, as people were then pleased to call him and McCulloch, himself, was pleased to be called-retained the decent, common-sense ways of his Midwestern upbringing, He could not, for example, bring himself to spend all of his office allowance in Congress, He did not have elaborate office machinery, an excessive staff, or extravagant ways, What he did not spend, he returned to the Treasury, What he did do is work hard himself. He read, he engaged, he thought, he considered, He took seriously his role as Representative, to deliberate and choose, and, in Madison's formulation, "to refine and enlarge the public views," And he took on causes that he considered just, even when there was no obvious profit for him in the matter.

Journalists at the time of McCulloch's national prominence frequently remarked that McCulloch did not come from a district with a significant black population, It was their way, I suppose, of remarking that McCulloch had principles and was not simply pandering in a crass attempt to buy votes, But there was always a hint of surprise in their reporting-as if one shouldn't expect this kind of thing from a politician, and certainly not from a politician who was, after all, just a back-woods Ohioan, How was it that this ordinary American, this Ohioan, could come to these high-minded conclusions about equality without the assistance of his betters? And how could this country lawyer successfully represent a place like Piqua-where we must imagine some reporting believed the people were unlikely to grasp equality-if he kept that up?

Peter Schramm

Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.

But Bill McCulloch did not think that way, He knew that if he could understand the justice and importance of the Civil Rights Act, he should not presume that his constituents were any less capable, After all, his own sense of justice was awakened in this very place-as it had been in many great men before him and has been in many great men since his passing, It was less courage that moved him-though there was some of that, surely but, rather, it was faith, He had faith in the good people of Ohio.

As McCulloch was busy representing the best of what Ohio had to offer the nation, both his courage and his faith would be tested, But he would not be cowed by those who threatened violence-whether they grew violent in rebellion against equality or whether they suggested violence should equality not be immediately and in all cases perfectly acknowledged, "Not force, or fear, then, but belief in the inherent equality of all men induces me to support this legislation," he said on more than one occasion when racial tensions resulted in violence erupting on the streets of America, His appeal to reason as well as to justice never wavered, He sought to ease tensions by looking for the rational points of agreement on all sides of the question, but he would not respond to threats from any.

Peter Schramm

Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.

In closing, let me offer some more fine words from Rep, McCulloch on the question of representation and what compromise and bipartisanship rightly understood means in our republic, These words were offered upon another occasion when Bill McCulloch eased tensions and sought a just resolution to a question of equality; the debate in 1971 over the Equal Rights Amendment:

We are a nation of many people and many views. In such a nation, the prime purpose of a legislator, from wherever he may come, is to accommodate the interests, desires, wants, and needs of all our citizens. To alienate some in order to satisfy others is not only a disservice to those we alienate, but a violation of the principles of our Republic. Lawmaking is the reconciliation of divergent views. In a democratic society like ours, the purpose of representative government is to soften tension-reduce strife-while enabling groups and individuals to more nearly obtain the kind of life they wish to live. The function of Congress is not to convert the will of the majority of people into law, rather its function is to hammer out on the anvil of public debate a compromise between polar positions acceptable to a majority. In a democracy, the people themselves vote "yes" or "no" on the issues and there is less opportunity for compromise. When a referendum is taken, no amendments arc allowed; there is quite clearly a losing side. In a republic, representatives vote for the people. There is discussion and debate. There are amendments. There is opportunity for compromise. It is less clear that there is a losing side."

I hope that this committee will recognize the justice of honoring the author of those fine words-words worthy not of a mere Democrat or of a mere Republican, but rather of a great American and statesman-with a place of recognition in that fine hall. To such a place we should be able to recur for instruction about the principles that our nation holds dear, and from such a place we should return with inspiration to understand those principles better and to work harder to be equal, in our own thinking, to them. Who better for that purpose than William M. McCulloch-a man whose life and example was the essence of these lessons? Thank you for your consideration.

• 
• Adam Clymer
  
• James F. Dicke II
  
• Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy
  
• Fred R. Harris
  
• Nicholas Katzenbach
  
• Colleen McMurray
  
• James Oda
  
• Peter W. Schramm
  

• 
• The Longest Debate
• Congressional Record 10/18/1972