64 Facts About Fritz Hollings

Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings was an American politician who served as a United States senator from South Carolina from 1966 to 2005.

Fritz Hollings served alongside Democrat turned Republican Senator Strom Thurmond for 36 years, making them the longest-serving Senate duo in history.

Fritz Hollings sought election to the Senate in 1962 but was defeated by incumbent Olin D Johnston.

Johnston died in 1965, and the following year Fritz Hollings won a special election to serve the remainder of Johnston's term.

Fritz Hollings remained popular and continually won re-election, becoming one of the longest-serving Senators in US history.

Fritz Hollings sought the Democratic nomination in the 1984 presidential election but dropped out of the race after the New Hampshire primary.

Fritz Hollings declined to seek re-election in 2004 and was succeeded by Republican Jim DeMint.

Fritz Hollings was born in Charleston, South Carolina, the son of Wilhelmine Dorothea Meyer and Adolph Gevert Fritz Hollings, Sr.

Fritz Hollings was raised at 338 President St in the Hampton Park Terrace neighborhood from age 10 until he enrolled in college.

Fritz Hollings graduated from The Citadel in 1942, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Fritz Hollings was a member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.

Fritz Hollings was married to Rita Liddy "Peatsy" Hollings from August 21,1971, until her death in October 2012.

Fritz Hollings had four children with his first wife, Martha Patricia Salley Hollings, whom he married on March 30,1946.

Fritz Hollings served as an officer in the US Army's 353rd and 457th Artillery units from 1942 to 1945, during World War II, and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in direct support of combat operations from December 13,1944, to May 1,1945, in France and Germany.

Fritz Hollings received the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with five Bronze Service Stars for participation in the Tunisia, Southern France, Rome-Arno, and Central Europe Campaigns.

Fritz Hollings served three terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1949 to 1954.

In 1950, following the notorious Lynching of Willie Earle, Fritz Hollings authored a law that mandated the death penalty for lynching.

Fritz Hollings was elected Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in 1954, and Governor in 1958 at the age of 36.

Fritz Hollings called for and achieved significant increases in teachers' salaries, bringing them closer to the regional average.

Fritz Hollings sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the US Senate in 1962 but lost to incumbent Olin D Johnston.

Fritz Hollings gained seniority on other newly elected US senators who would have to wait until January 1967 to take the oath of office.

Thurmond and Fritz Hollings generally had a good relationship despite their sometimes sharp philosophical differences, and frequently collaborated on legislation and projects to benefit South Carolina.

Fritz Hollings made headlines the year before when he toured poverty-stricken areas of South Carolina, often referred to as his "Hunger Tours".

Fritz Hollings was accused of drawing unwanted attention to South Carolina while other states, both northern and southern, faced extreme poverty.

Fritz Hollings knew South Carolina was not alone in its struggle and thought that if any politician was going to investigate hunger in South Carolina, it was going to at least be a South Carolinian.

Fritz Hollings said he believed ending the price controls would be a "catastrophe" that would cause "economic chaos".

In February 1970, during a session of debate on federal aid to school districts serving children living in public housing units, Hollings asked New York Senator Jacob K Javits if he would support the anti-busing amendment given that it was based on New York law.

In September 1970, during a speech at the University of Georgia in Athens, Fritz Hollings declared that the United States could not afford such "leadership by political bamboozle", calling on Americans to ignore the voices of discord and unite for "meaningful changes" in society.

Fritz Hollings said President Nixon had led the US down a "clamorous road of drift and division" and criticized the "ranting rhetoric" of Vice President Spiro Agnew.

Fritz Hollings attributed the principal blame for the disunity of the US on special interest groups and "impatient minority blocs" that had shouted "non negotiable demands".

Fritz Hollings linked former President Johnson and President Nixon with having both "attacked the politics of the problem rather than the problems themselves".

In February 1971, Fritz Hollings introduced Ted Kennedy in Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of his remarks calling for an end to the Vietnam War.

Fritz Hollings disclosed that Kennedy had sought his advice on how to answer reporters' questions regarding a possible presidential campaign and that Kennedy believed his visit would spark speculation on the part of reporters about a campaign regardless of what he said.

In November 1971, Fritz Hollings announced his opposition to the nomination of Earl Butz for United States Secretary of Agriculture.

In 1977, Hollings was one of five Democrats to vote against the nomination of F Ray Marshall as United States Secretary of Labor.

Fritz Hollings was one of four members of the committee to oppose Vance's request during the latter's appearance before the subcommittee and Fritz Hollings later sent a letter to Vance declining the request.

Fritz Hollings's opposition was considered unusual given that most requests were approved and State Department officials publicly stated their wishes for Fritz Hollings and his colleagues to drop their opposition in the face of Taiwan's reluctant agreement to setting up "nongovernmental body in Washington" that would serve as the counterpart to the American Institute in Taipei.

Fritz Hollings opposed legislation in 1979 that would admit additional ethnic Chinese refugees amid increased concern regarding moves by the Vietnamese government.

Fritz Hollings's proposal was believed to stir Russian disapproval of the treaty if implemented.

Fritz Hollings made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Senate Budget Committee to add $2.6billion for a recommendation for military spending that would be included in Congress's second concurrent resolution on the budget.

Fritz Hollings unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the presidential election of 1984.

Fritz Hollings dropped out two days after losing badly in the New Hampshire Primary, and endorsed Hart a week later.

On March 24,1981, Fritz Hollings introduced legislation that if passed would restore the military draft with limited deferments and exemptions and stipulating that men aged 18 to 22 years old would be required to spend nine months of active service for basic training that potentially would precede reserve duty.

Fritz Hollings's proposal granted deferments "to people on active duty, in the reserves or in advanced Reserve Officers Training Corps study; surviving sons or brothers of those killed in war or missing in action; conscientious objectors and ministers; doctors and others in vital health professions, and judges of courts of record and elected officials".

Fritz Hollings stated that recruiting for the armed forces had fallen short of requirements by an estimated 23,000 people in 1979 and that he believed the draft applying to women "should be across the board" due to the issue continuing to be debated between the public and the courts.

In 1981, Fritz Hollings apologized to fellow Democrat Howard Metzenbaum after Fritz Hollings referred to him as the "senator from B'nai B'rith" on the floor.

Metzenbaum, who was Jewish, raised a point of personal privilege and Fritz Hollings's remarks were stricken from the record.

On May 1,1985, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation rejected an amendment to a bill reauthorizing the Federal Communications Commission prohibiting public television stations from swapping channels with commercial stations, Fritz Hollings afterward stating that the vote was "a tragic abdication by Congress of its over 60-year-old responsibility to protect the public's interest in broadcasting".

In October 1989, Fritz Hollings announced from his Washington office that he would request the General Accounting Office investigate efforts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide timely assistance and funds to victims of Hurricane Hugo the previous month.

Fritz Hollings charged FEMA with "stonewalling, fretting and filling out forms" and called on the federal government to become more active in trying to relieve areas devastated by Hurricane Hugo.

Fritz Hollings sought a revenue figure which reflected the $36billion tax cut through a rollback of Social Security payroll taxes increases that were scheduled to take effect January1 and confirmed he would ask his colleagues on the budget committee to remove the trust funds from the budget deficit calculation and vote on the 1991 budget including a $300billion deficit.

Fritz Hollings's plan included a five percent value-added tax on goods and services in addition to a ten percent oil import fee as well as an increase in the top income tax rate to thirty-three percent among wealthiest taxpayers.

The goal was considered an uphill battle where Fritz Hollings could be outmaneuvered in committee with parliamentary tactics that would result in the precluding of a straight up-or-down vote on the Social Security tax cut.

In January 1991, Fritz Hollings joined most Democratic senators in voting against a resolution authorizing war against Iraq.

Fritz Hollings remained very popular in South Carolina over the years, even as the state became increasingly friendly to Republicans at the national level.

One of the more heated moments of the race was a newspaper interview in which Fritz Hollings referred to Inglis as a "goddamn skunk".

Fritz Hollings voted for re-authorizing the Voting Rights Act in 1982.

Fritz Hollings later voted in favor of the failed nomination of Robert Bork and for the successful nomination of Clarence Thomas.

On fiscal issues, he was generally conservative, and was one of the primary sponsors of the Gramm-Rudman-Fritz Hollings Act, an attempt to enforce limits on government spending.

Fritz Hollings was referred to as the "Senator from Disney" for his lobbying on behalf of the entertainment industry, including industry groups like the RIAA and MPAA.

In retirement, Fritz Hollings wrote opinion editorials for newspapers in South Carolina and was a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.

Fritz Hollings helped to establish the Fritz Hollings Center for International Dialogue, an organization which promotes dialogue between the United States and Turkey, the nations of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia, and other countries with predominantly Muslim populations in order to open channels of communication, deepen cross-cultural understanding, expand people-to-people contacts, and generate new thinking on important international issues.

Fritz Hollings was on the board of advisors as a distinguished visiting professor of Law with the Charleston School of Law.

Fritz Hollings delivered the commencement address to the first graduating class there on May 19,2007.