MR. ANDERSON: Now in connection with the Hoover Dam,
which I know you are interested in, I visited the Hoover
Dam in 1933 and went all through it just about the time
it was ready for completion and just before they turned
the water into the penstocks. I always felt when Roosevelt
and Ickes took down the plaque which dedicated the dam
to Hoover--to whom it was originally dedicated--that
a great injustice had been done to a great American,
so I bided my time, hoping that the opportunity would
arise when I could rectify what I considered a gross
error. Well, in the 80th Congress, as you know--that’s
the only Congress in which the Republicans controlled
the House and the Senate out of the fourteen years that
I served--I decided it was time to introduce a bill
to restore the name “Hoover” to the then
Boulder Dam. I remember the day I left for Washington
my father-in-law said to me, “If it’s the
last thing you do, be sure to put the name ‘Hoover’
back on that dam.” Well, that just reinforced
what I had already decided to do.
MR. HENLE: What was your father-in-law’s name?
MR. ANDERSON: His name was Wilson Griffin, from the
San Joaquin Valley near Fresno. I did introduce the
bill, and after a period of time a meeting was held
by the subcommittee. It was chaired then by Congressman
Rockwell of Colorado. I well recall the morning that
we had the hearing. They had some new congressman there
from Connecticut who wasn’t sure of his facts,
and I had all my facts laid out. I knew all about the
Boulder Canyon compact and the Boulder Canyon project.
I also knew that the then Commissioner of the Bureau
of Reclamation had dedicated that dam “Hoover
Dam” when it was completed, and that when Roosevelt
came to power and Ickes was Secretary of the Interior
that name was removed and was replaced with a plaque
saying “Boulder Dam”, and I felt this was
very unfair. Well, the morning of the hearings before
the subcommittee, the poor fellow from Connecticut got
himself all crossed up, and I stood in the back of the
room frantically motioning to Rockwell to recognize
me, and he finally dismissed the other congressman and
I took the stand. I had my facts, I’m not a lawyer,
but I’ve beaten many a lawyer in debate, because
I like to have the facts--not the law, but the facts.
Well, there were three brand new New Dealers on the
Democratic side of the subcommittee and they tried to
make a political issue out of it. They said this would
smear the name Hoover, drag it through the dirt--and
“Why raise his name now at this late hour?”
and all that. Well, it got the chairman of the subcommittee
so mad that he finally dismissed the witnesses and,
with his prerogative as chairman, declared the meeting
closed, and the Republicans voted the bill out of the
subcommittee. Then it went to the full committee and
was voted out by the full committee. Well, Sam Rayburn
and I were very close personal friends, and I knew the
first thing I had to do was to see him. He was not then
the Speaker--he was the Majority Leader--and I knew
that he was opposed to naming structures for living
individuals, so the minute the bill was reported by
the full committee I went to Sam and told him what I
had done--that I had introduced this bill to restore
the name of Hoover to Boulder Dam. Sam indicated great
sympathy with me and said to me: “Jack, although
I am opposed to naming public structures for living
people, I’m a great admirer of Mr. Hoover and
in this case I’ll stand aside.” That was
all I needed.
I obtained a rule--a one-hour debate--and the day the
bill was reported before the House for debate, I came
up with a dandy case of laryngitis and couldn’t
talk. I remember I seized the microphone and said: “On
this day of all days, with my bill before the House
of Representatives, I have lost a congressman’s
most precious possession--my voice. I am going to have
to depend on my friends to carry this bill.” Well,
they did. It was a wonderful demonstration of friendship,
and Sam Rayburn not only stood aside--he took the floor
and spoke in favor of the bill. That brought along a
lot of other Southern Democrats, and the bill passed
the House with a whoop and a holler--there was not even
a roll call vote--and then it passed the Senate. I contacted
Mr. Truman who was then President, and at that time,
of course, Mr. Hoover was in Europe doing a job for
Mr. Truman. Mr. Truman said, “Why most certainly
I’m going to sign that bill, and I’ll see
that you get the pen with which it is signed.”
So that’s the end of the story. The bill passed
the House and the Senate, was signed by the President,
and after many long years a great wrong was righted,
I feel, when the name “Hoover” was restored
to Boulder Dam. |
|
National
Archives and Records Administration