Category: Commentaries

By ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, former U. S. senator

APRIL 4, 2016 — I was a page in 1940 for the Joe Tolbert faction of the Republican Party. We were committed to Robert Taft and challenged by the Tom Dewey faction. Dewey controlled the Credentials Committee; our Taft group got unseated; but somehow we obtained the badges to get in the convention hall in Philadelphia. I stood at the side door admitting the Taft delegates to the gallery and we sung, “We want Willkie!” I worked closely with the Republican Senators for thirty eight years in the U.S. Senate. The Republican Party that had been headed by Taft, Eisenhower and Dole is today headed by Donald Trump. Amazing.
Continue reading “Amazing”

By ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, former U. S. senator

MARCH 9, 2016 — In 1948, we Democrats (at the time) were taught to be conservative. Rule 22 (Now 5.5) of the House of Representatives required that before any spending bill could receive second reading and presented for debate, it had to be accompanied by a certificate from the Controller that the spending was taken care of. On becoming governor in 1959, I raised taxes, got the state operating in the black, and in 1961, South Carolina received a AAA credit rating from Moody’s and Standard & Poor in New York — the first Southern state to ever receive a AAA credit rating.
Continue reading “Forced spending”