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The body of former U.S Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings lay in\u00a0repose at the S.C. State House Monday. He died last week at the age of 97.<\/p>\n
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Bright. Bold. Blunt.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how former S.C. Rep.\u00a0James Felder remembers Ernest \u201cFritz\u201d Hollings, the former U.S. senator and South Carolina governor who died April 6 at the age of 97.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember him as a great statesman; he spoke his mind,\u201d said Felder, president of the SC Voter Education Project. \u201cSouth Carolina is better today because of Fritz Hollings, singlehandedly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hollings\u2019 body\u00a0lay in repose Monday on the second floor of the S.C. State House, where his Democratic colleagues along with ordinary South Carolina citizens passed by his flag-draped coffin\u00a0to pay their respects and remember a man known for his progressive, bipartisan politics and loyalty to South Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the way it ought to be. A man who lived the kind of life he did and did the kind of things he did needs to be remembered,\u201d said Gov. Henry McMaster, who unsuccessfully challenged Hollings in 1986 for the U.S. Senate seat Hollings won in a special election in 1966.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hollings, a native Charlestonian, served as a state representative, lieutenant governor and governor at the mid-point of the 20th century\u00a0before being elected to the U.S. Senate. He won six full terms, retiring in 2005 after 38 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed in government, and making the government work for the benefit of the people,\u201d Jerry D. Pate of Columbia said of Hollings.<\/p>\n
Pate worked as a lobbyist for years, and said he \u201ccalled upon Senator Hollings\u201d often during the Democrat\u2019s time in the Senate. Pate, who is also a former State House reporter, emphasized Hollings\u2019 willingness to work across the aisle.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe [Hollings] worked across the aisles. He thought that it was important to talk with everyone in order to get projects done, unlike today where there is so much partisan bickering,\u201d Ralph Everett of Alexandria, Virginia, said. Everett was the former chief counselor and staff director of the Senate Commerce Committee, of which Hollings was the chair for 13 years.<\/p>\n
Aubrey Davis, who worked as a staffer for the Senate Commerce Committee with Everett, said Hollings\u2019 brand of politics is a rarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a bit of a vanishing breed, in that he had the capacity to work with Republicans as well as Democrats. Unfortunately, things have become more polarized since he was in the Senate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hollings used his time in the Senate and as governor to promote industry, tourism and education in South Carolina. Hollings is credited with creating and advocating for the South Carolina technical college system. He embarked on a hunger tour of his native state in 1968, finding pockets of such deep poverty and malnutrition that he created a national war on hunger, instituting such programs as the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC program.<\/p>\n
Don Fowler, a USC professor and former Democratic National Committee chairman, said Hollings\u2019 hand in technical education was one way he helped to \u201ctransform South Carolina from a pre-World War Two state to a modern state.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll always remember him as a senator who put education first,\u201d Felder said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Hollings, who began his career as a segregationist, evolved in his politics, insisting that South Carolina turn its back on the old segregationist past and integrate without violence.\u00a0When a federal court ordered Clemson University in 1963 to admit Harvey Gantt, a black Charlestonian,\u00a0<\/span>Hollings told the legislature, \u201cWe have run out of courts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe went on to explain that we would not have, here in South Carolina, the kind of violence and disturbances that they had in Alabama and other places,\u201d Fowler said.<\/p>\n Felder worked with Hollings to register black South Carolinians in the 1960s, and got Felder\u2019s blessing to vote \u201cno\u201d on Thurgood Marshall\u2019s nomination to the Supreme Court in order to win reelection.<\/p>\n \u201cHe [Hollings] reminded me that a majority of white South Carolinians had not forgotten Marshall\u2019s role in Briggs v. Elliott,\u201d Felder said. Briggs v. Elliott was a 1952 South Carolina case that challenged segregation in the public schools. The Briggs case was joined with four others to become the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned segregation in public schools. Marshall argued the case in South Carolina and before the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n \u201cHe won his reelection and became a progressive voice for South Carolina,\u201d Felder said.<\/p>\n Hollings\u2019 legacy morphed from a conservative Democrat to a progressive one during his nearly 40 years in the Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cHe made decisions based upon his conscience, not politics,\u201d Katrina Riley of Summerville said.<\/p>\n Hollings was known as an outspoken family man, who enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n \u201cI would talk to Senator Hollings at least once a month after he retired,\u201d Everett said. \u201cWe always laughed, talked about family, children, grandchildren. And that was very important to him.\u201d<\/p>\n McMaster remembered Hollings\u2019 commitment to family.<\/p>\n \u201cPolitics is a part of life, but it\u2019s not all of life,\u201d McMaster said. \u201cHe\u2019s among the best of us.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/hollingszoew3.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.20.1″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n U.S. Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings served in the U.S. Senate for 38 years. As of noon on Monday, several hundred people visited the State House to pay their respects to the lifelong Democrat.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Screen-Shot-2019-04-15-at-4.25.07-PM.png”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Carolinians on Monday remembered the contributions of the late U.S. Sen. 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