ARTICULATE CONGRESSMAN THOMAS HALE BOGGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100410034-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2003
• Sequence Number: 34
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2003/12/02 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100410034-2
'Articulate; Congressman
Thomas Hale Boggs
speech ever changed. a vote in Associated Press
Congress, but Mr. Boggs and His colleagues often heed
a few others are talking evi-
dence to, the contrary. Col- his advice
leagues not only listen to him, but they also often heed his been fortified by his eleva-
advice.
The elements of his per- tion to the third-ranking
suasiveness include a pro- postethat of, whip---in the
possessing figure (6 feet, 200 House Democratic leadership.
pounds), a resonant voice, Despite his new responsi-
usually pitched in conversa- bilities, Mr. Bongs is expect-
tional tones, an ability to
articulate even the most com ed to continue as the fourth-
plicated point clearly And ranking Democratic member
concisely and a thorough of the House Ways and Means
knowledge of his subject. . . Committee and chairman of
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9-
"When Hale takes the floor,
there's always order in the
House."
That comment by 'a col-
league points up a basic fac-
tor in the political strength
of Representative Thom s
Hale Boggs, the new DeTrl-
cratic whip, or assistant ma-
jority leader, of
Man the,,Jonse. For
in the Mr, Boggs, an
intelligent and.
News urbai}e lawyer
from New Or.-
leans, can command the at-
tention of an audience under
the most trying circum-
stances. He is one of perhaps
a dozen men with the ability
to gain and hold the hushed
attention of the House with-
out so much as a gentle tap
of the presiding -officer's
gavel.
smile to disarm his opponents ""FN? s'" -?-_ ra--....--
in debate and an occasionally shortly alter winning a lave
sharp tongue to deflate them. degree from Tulane Univer-
sity in 1937 as a -leader,of a
Influential In Leglislation New. Orleans reform group
At 47 years of age, Mr. that temporarily broke the
Boggs has won national at- Power of the old Huey P.
tention mainly as an effec- Long machine.
tive spokesman for liberal Mr. Boggs was first elected
foreign trade policies. He has to Congress in 1940 and, at
been equally influential in the the age of 26, was its young-
passage of tax legislation to est member. Defeated in his
finance the Interstate High- bid for a second term in 1942,
way System. lie served as a naval officer
In addition, he has had an in World War II and regained
influential hand in tighten- his House seat in 1946. He
and sugar control legislation. editor in chief of the campus
Although he has always weekly, The Hullabaloo. The
stood with the Southerners on editor for Newcombe College,
civil rights, Mr.-Boggs is not Tulane's women's branch, was
regarded as an extremist. He Corrine Morrison Claiborne.
signed the "Southern Mani- They were married in 1938.
festo" in 1956 against the They have three children,
Supreme Court's school de- Barbara, 22, Thoms.s Hale,
segregation decree but other ne, 18.
wise has been largely- inactive Jr., Mr. 21, and and Corinne,
oggs enter-
in racial controversies. taro frequently at large, po-
Un legislative age issues pit- litically oriented partie$ in
Ling liberals against caa their big Georgia-style white
atives h he e has
voted against t come in near-by Bethesda,
the ~nservative coalition than in Md Mrs. Boggs, long active
1- - Dose more often Democratic political --
lie ~~a, voted with it. fairs was co-chairman of w; ~5 chairman of the Democratic Tae a can eme for President Kennedy's inaugural
olivention in 1960 committee last year.
National `l ed out by the late For relaxation, the Con-
but was Paul M.ril Butler, then Demo- +~ressman grows turnip
aarl M
cratie National Chairman, greens, ,asparagus, beans,
ostensibly N'cause he was a beets, onions, lettuce, broccoli,
Roman Catholic. Mr. Butler corn "everything you can
was said to, have felt that imagine" in Mrs. Bogg's
with two Catholics already Words- in a. huge garden at
in of the con- their Bethesda home.
in the fohimself and John F. He is a prodigious reader
vent Kennedy-it would have been and likes to listen to record-
inadvisable to have had an- ings of classical or,~ popular
music while consuming the
inadvisa erisable ivention chair- ;
other as COI - 1a1r:-1 ;nvol nr political lilo-
nian. ra,hy, Irpueiitly in one sit-
A,lr, Boggs' friends believed 1
tin
in shaping tax revision Dills,
rivers and harbors measures
the real reason was lus ice.- Mr. Boggs was, born at Long
ord on civil rights., Beach, Miss., but spent most
The post of deputy Demo-
cratic whip of the House Xvas of his boyhood in Jefferson
created especially for Mr. Parish, the Louisiana county
Boggs by the late Speaker just west of New Orleans. His
Sam Rayburn in 1954. This parents were William Robert-
was regarded by some col- soil and Claire Josephine Hale
leagues as a gesture in slip- Boggs, cl his
of Mr. Boggs 's long- He woi?kcs way through
e election
e
r
he
inane,
me
c
b
on
o
e
Z`
standing ambition to
th
w
te
t
standing himself some day.
a
? ,.. scholastic society. A
bl
y
Approved For'Releatd'10( 3t1.
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