Otto Passman
Encyclopedia
Otto Ernest Passman was a conservative Democratic
congressman from Monroe
in northeastern Louisiana
, who served from 1947 to 1977. He is primarily remembered for his detailed knowledge and mostly opposition to foreign aid. He was unseated in the 1976 primary election
by the more moderate challenger, Thomas Jerald "Jerry" Huckaby
of Ringgold
, a town in Bienville Parish.
, the seat of Washington Parish
in southeastern Louisiana. Washington Parish was also the home of another political giant in Louisiana politics, State Senator
Sixty Rayburn
of Bogalusa
. Passman dropped out of school to work odd jobs but enrolled in night school thereafter to complete his high school education. He later studied at Soule Business College in Bogalusa. "He was a smart man, a self-educated man," said Paul Fink, Passman's attorney
for more than four decades.
In 1929, having relocated to Monroe, he formed Passman Equipment Company, which was involved in the manufacture of commercial refrigerators and distributed hotel
and restaurant
supplies and electrical appliances. Passman's nephew
, Charles Stanley Passman (1924–2009), also a Franklinton native, was his partner in Passman Equipment Company. Charles Passman sold the business in 1972 and began a long-term employment with the State of Louisiana, including service as Commissioner of Commerce and Industry under Governor
Edwin Washington Edwards, a friend and colleague of Otto Passman. He was also the owner of Passman Investment Company. During his time in business, friends said that Passman learned the value of money and developed compassion for the poor.
In World War II
, Passman was commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Navy
and served from October 11, 1942, until his discharge as a lieutenant commander on September 5, 1944. He returned to his mercantile business and remained a staunch advocate of a strong U.S. military force.
, 1952
, and 1956
. In 1948, delegates from Mississippi
and Alabama
walked out of the convention in Philadelphia
and supported then Governor
Strom Thurmond
of South Carolina
, who opposed President Harry S. Truman
and instead ran for president as the nominee of the new States' Rights Party
. The Thurmond forces opposed the civil rights
plank inserted in the Democratic national platform. In Louisiana, Thurmond and his running-mate, Mississippi
Governor Fielding Wright, were the official Democratic nominees and hence won the state's ten electoral votes.
In 1952, at the Chicago
convention, Passman supported U.S. Senator Richard Brevard Russell
of Georgia
, who was an unsuccessful conservative contender for the nomination. Passman was a delegate to the 1956 convention, also held in Chicago, where delegates renominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson, of Illinois
, once again to challenge Republican
nominee Dwight David Eisenhower. That fall Stevenson became the first Democratic presidential nominee since Reconstruction to lose in Louisiana.
in 1946, when he unseated two-term incumbent Charles E. McKenzie
in the Democratic primary. In the nationally Republican year, numerous returning veterans, including John F. Kennedy
in Massachusetts
and Richard M. Nixon in California
, were chosen for congressional duty.
Passman held his Fifth Congressional District seat with minimal or no opposition for thirty years. Not once did a Republican candidate oppose Passman in his fifteen terms in office; the GOP
at the time was a mostly moribund institution in Louisiana.
As a representative, Passman concentrated on national defense and veterans' issues as well as his scrutiny of foreign aid programs. He supported the American military in the Vietnam War
under both Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson
and Richard Nixon. He took the "My country, right or wrong" mantra first voiced in the Barbary pirates war by Stephen Decatur
.
Democratic colleague Joe D. Waggonner, Jr., of Plain Dealing
, said that no one in Congress knew more about foreign aid than Passman. According to Waggonner (1918–2007), Passman was "tight with a buck and tight with taxes. He had good fundamental instincts ... He had a sense of compassion for people who were downtrodden. He was worried about the welfare of older people. He was a pretty sensitive man." Passman obtained $900,000 in federal funding to convert the Francis Towers Hotel in Monroe to a senior citizens home.
Passman was active in channelizing the Ouachita River for barge traffic.
He made financial contributions to leprosy
colonies in Hong Kong
and in Carville
, Louisiana. "He saw those poor people, and it just worked on his heartstrings. He was a tough businessman, but a lot of things touched him," said Paul Fink.
William J. "Bill" Dodd, a long-time observer of Louisiana politics, mentions his relationship with Passman in Dodd's memoirs Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics. There is a humorous discourse that occurred in 1947, when Passman tells Earl Long and companions that he paid $4,000 for new dentures, as if the friends were to be impressed with Passman's wealth. According to the Dodd narrative:
In 1951, Passman spoke out against Dodd's gubernatorial candidacy and accused Dodd of having enriched himself while in office. Dodd said that Passman "got hyped up during the campaign and said things he wouldn't even think about under normal circumstances." As Passman's attacks continued, Dodd confronted him on the mezzanine
of the Virginia Hotel in Monroe. There, Dodd claimed to have given Passman "a good old-fashioned whipping."
Thereafter, Passman sent Dodd an apologetic letter: "I have always considered you one of my best friends ... Bill, I am sorry that the unpleasant incidents of the last gubernatorial campaign had to mar our long friendship. I hope that our differences have been resolved, and we may now renew our friendship." Passman also issued a public statement saying that Dodd had not enriched himself while in public office, despite contrary reports presented to Passman. Such reports had come from Earl Long, who was then temporarily estranged from Dodd, but Passman never mentioned the source.
, a former scholar with the Cato Institute
, that foreign aid involves "taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries." He claimed that foreign aid is often harmful because it propped up despotic regimes that might otherwise have collapsed from corruption, failure, or unpopularity. Passman could not remove foreign aid from the budget, but he frequently was able to cut the program wherever he could.
For several years on the subcommittee, Passman clashed with Congressman Walter Judd
, a Minnesota
Republican and a former medical missionary to China
, who was frequently the point-man to argue for expanded foreign aid to needy countries. Judd had even been considered for the vice presidency by Richard Nixon in 1960. Passman also disliked the Peace Corps
, which was championed by President Kennedy. Passman's critics, mostly within his own party, claimed that the Monroe Democrat was trying to "bleed" the Peace Corps of sufficient appropriations to make the program work. Passman said at the time, "If I had three minutes left to live, I'd kill the Peace Corps."
An intraparty critic, Representative Jack Brooks
, from Beaumont
, Texas
, noted that Passman succeeded in cutting foreign aid by some 25 percent during the early 1960s.
decision, Brown v. the Board of Education. Like most of his constituents, Passman supported segregation
. By 1970, however, all of the public schools in Louisiana had been desegregated, and the issue quickly waned.
Park, a South Korean businessman, described himself as an "American success story," when he came to the attention of the FBI. Park lavished valuable gifts to prominent politicians in an influence peddling
scheme known as Koreagate
. The scandal involved alleged bribery of over a hundred sitting or former members of Congress, including Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. In April 1978, Park sat before television
cameras in a U.S. House hearing and listed a long list of payments—mostly in cash—to some thirty members of Congress. He said that he had given the money in little white envelopes. Only ten members of Congress were seriously implicated. Three avoided prosecution through the expiration of the statute of limitations
. Passman was not immediately prosecuted because of illness.
Thereafter, the Justice Department in 1978 indicted Passman, the biggest recipient of Park's largess – $213,000. He was charged with conspiracy, bribery, and accepting an illegal gratuity. The indictment was expanded to include tax evasion
. Because of the tax evasion charge, Passman was able, through his Alexandria
attorney, Camille F. Gravel, Jr.
, to get the case transferred to Monroe. While Passman had been defeated for reelection two years earlier, there was still a reservoir of good feeling for him in many quarters of Monroe.
Attorney William G. Hundley (1925–2006) offered these observations of the Passman trial:
Passman lived another nine years after the acquittal.
in Minden
in Webster Parish
, which was outside the Fifth District, had no previous political experience but had been a dairy farmer in Bienville Parish
. As an ally of Jimmy Carter
, who was running strongly in Louisiana at the time, Huckaby upset Passman in the Democratic primary, largely because of charges of influence peddling that had engulfed the congressman in his last term in office but which had not yet led to indictment.
Passman was so incensed over his primary defeat that he "threatened" to endorse Republican congressional nominee Frank Spooner, a Monroe oilman who challenged Huckaby in the general election. However, the endorsement never materialized. Years later, Huckaby said that Passman never spoke to him after the 1976 primary. Huckaby went on to defeat Spooner and to hold the seat until 1993, having been defeated in 1992 by Republican James O. McCrery, III
, of Shreveport, as a result of reapportionment.
Passman's friend Garland Shell said that the loss of the congressional seat was the turning point in his life. "When the old gentleman was defeated, that was it. He's been inactive since."
. He once served as grand master of the Louisiana Masonic Lodge
. He was also a member of the American Legion
. A tall, lanky, ectomorphic man who wore dark-rimmed eyeglasses. Passman was twice married. In 1931, he wed the former Willie Lenora Bateman (1900-1984). After Willie's death, he quickly moved out of their home and sold it. In the latter part of 1985, he married his secretary, Martha.
He died of an apparent heart attack
in Monroe. Services were held in the First Baptist Church of Monroe. He and Willie are interred at Mulhearn Memorial Park in Monroe. His congressional papers, minus some of the sensitive Tongsun Park material removed by his staff, are in the archives of the University of Louisiana at Monroe
.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
congressman from Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
in northeastern Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, who served from 1947 to 1977. He is primarily remembered for his detailed knowledge and mostly opposition to foreign aid. He was unseated in the 1976 primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
by the more moderate challenger, Thomas Jerald "Jerry" Huckaby
Jerry Huckaby
Thomas Jerald Huckaby, usually known as Jerry Huckaby , is a retired businessman who served as a Democratic U.S. representative from the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana between 1977 and 1993...
of Ringgold
Ringgold, Louisiana
Ringgold is a town in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,660 at the 2000 census. Ringgold is named for United States Army Major Samuel Ringgold, the hero of the battle of Palo Alto near Brownsville, Texas, in the Mexican-American War. Ringgold, the son of a U.S...
, a town in Bienville Parish.
Early years and military service
Passman was the son of sharecroppers from FranklintonFranklinton, Louisiana
Franklinton is a town in and the parish seat of Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,657 at the 2000 census. It is an average of above sea level....
, the seat of Washington Parish
Washington Parish, Louisiana
Washington Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its parish seat is Franklinton. In 2000, its population was 43,926....
in southeastern Louisiana. Washington Parish was also the home of another political giant in Louisiana politics, State Senator
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
Sixty Rayburn
Sixty Rayburn
Benjamin Burras Rayburn, Sr., known as B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn , was a veteran politician from Bogalusa, an incorporated city in Washington Parish in southeastern Louisiana in the United States...
of Bogalusa
Bogalusa, Louisiana
Bogalusa is a city in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 13,365 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Bogalusa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Washington Parish and is also part of the larger New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa...
. Passman dropped out of school to work odd jobs but enrolled in night school thereafter to complete his high school education. He later studied at Soule Business College in Bogalusa. "He was a smart man, a self-educated man," said Paul Fink, Passman's attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
for more than four decades.
In 1929, having relocated to Monroe, he formed Passman Equipment Company, which was involved in the manufacture of commercial refrigerators and distributed hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
and restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
supplies and electrical appliances. Passman's nephew
Nephew
Nephew is a son of one's sibling or sibling-in-law, and niece is a daughter of one's sibling or a sibling-in-law. Sons and daughters of siblings-in-law are also informally referred to as nephews and nieces respectively, even though there is no blood relation...
, Charles Stanley Passman (1924–2009), also a Franklinton native, was his partner in Passman Equipment Company. Charles Passman sold the business in 1972 and began a long-term employment with the State of Louisiana, including service as Commissioner of Commerce and Industry under Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Edwin Washington Edwards, a friend and colleague of Otto Passman. He was also the owner of Passman Investment Company. During his time in business, friends said that Passman learned the value of money and developed compassion for the poor.
In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Passman was commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and served from October 11, 1942, until his discharge as a lieutenant commander on September 5, 1944. He returned to his mercantile business and remained a staunch advocate of a strong U.S. military force.
Attending Democratic conventions
Passman became politically active as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 19481948 Democratic National Convention
The 1948 Democratic National Convention was held at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 12 to July 14, and resulted in the nominations of incumbent Harry S Truman for President and U.S. Senator Alben W...
, 1952
1952 Democratic National Convention
The 1952 Democratic National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 21 to July 26, 1952, which was the same arena the Republicans had gathered in a few weeks earlier for their national convention...
, and 1956
1956 Democratic National Convention
The 1956 National Convention of the Democratic Party nominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois for President and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for Vice President. It was held in the International Amphitheatre on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois August 13–17 1956. Unsuccessful...
. In 1948, delegates from Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
walked out of the convention in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and supported then Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, who opposed President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
and instead ran for president as the nominee of the new States' Rights Party
Dixiecrat
The States' Rights Democratic Party was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States in 1948...
. The Thurmond forces opposed the civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
plank inserted in the Democratic national platform. In Louisiana, Thurmond and his running-mate, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
Governor Fielding Wright, were the official Democratic nominees and hence won the state's ten electoral votes.
In 1952, at the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
convention, Passman supported U.S. Senator Richard Brevard Russell
Richard Russell, Jr.
Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. was a Democratic Party politician from the southeastern state of Georgia. He served as state governor from 1931 to 1933 and United States senator from 1933 to 1971....
of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, who was an unsuccessful conservative contender for the nomination. Passman was a delegate to the 1956 convention, also held in Chicago, where delegates renominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson, of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, once again to challenge Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nominee Dwight David Eisenhower. That fall Stevenson became the first Democratic presidential nominee since Reconstruction to lose in Louisiana.
Thirty years in Congress
Passman was first elected to the 80th United States Congress80th United States Congress
The Eightieth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1947 to January 3, 1949, during the third and fourth...
in 1946, when he unseated two-term incumbent Charles E. McKenzie
Charles E. McKenzie
Charles Edgar Mckenzie was a U.S. Representative from Louisiana.Born in tiny Pelican in De Soto Parish in northwestern Louisiana, McKenzie attended the public schools of Monroe, and Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. He volunteered for service on the Mexican border in 1916 with the...
in the Democratic primary. In the nationally Republican year, numerous returning veterans, including John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and Richard M. Nixon in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, were chosen for congressional duty.
Passman held his Fifth Congressional District seat with minimal or no opposition for thirty years. Not once did a Republican candidate oppose Passman in his fifteen terms in office; the GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
at the time was a mostly moribund institution in Louisiana.
As a representative, Passman concentrated on national defense and veterans' issues as well as his scrutiny of foreign aid programs. He supported the American military in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
under both Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and Richard Nixon. He took the "My country, right or wrong" mantra first voiced in the Barbary pirates war by Stephen Decatur
Stephen Decatur
Stephen Decatur, Jr. , was an American naval officer notable for his many naval victories in the early 19th century. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland, Worcester county, the son of a U.S. Naval Officer who served during the American Revolution. Shortly after attending college Decatur...
.
Democratic colleague Joe D. Waggonner, Jr., of Plain Dealing
Plain Dealing, Louisiana
Plain Dealing is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States best known as the birthplace of former U.S. Representative Joe D. Waggonner, Jr. The population was 1,071 at the 2000 census...
, said that no one in Congress knew more about foreign aid than Passman. According to Waggonner (1918–2007), Passman was "tight with a buck and tight with taxes. He had good fundamental instincts ... He had a sense of compassion for people who were downtrodden. He was worried about the welfare of older people. He was a pretty sensitive man." Passman obtained $900,000 in federal funding to convert the Francis Towers Hotel in Monroe to a senior citizens home.
Passman was active in channelizing the Ouachita River for barge traffic.
He made financial contributions to leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
colonies in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and in Carville
Carville, Louisiana
Carville is a neighborhood of St. Gabriel in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States that is 16 miles south of Baton Rouge on the Mississippi River. Carville is the hometown of political personality James Carville and was named after his grandfather, the postmaster. It is also the location of...
, Louisiana. "He saw those poor people, and it just worked on his heartstrings. He was a tough businessman, but a lot of things touched him," said Paul Fink.
Dodd and Passman come to blows
Passman did not run for any statewide office, but he became involved in the 1951–1952 gubernatorial campaign as a supporter of outgoing Governor Earl Kemp Long.William J. "Bill" Dodd, a long-time observer of Louisiana politics, mentions his relationship with Passman in Dodd's memoirs Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics. There is a humorous discourse that occurred in 1947, when Passman tells Earl Long and companions that he paid $4,000 for new dentures, as if the friends were to be impressed with Passman's wealth. According to the Dodd narrative:
-
- Passman went into a long and very detailed discussion about his new teeth. He explained how the dentist had manufactured them to look just like his original teeth – had duplicated the defects and had even copied the eroded tobacco stains and chips of those being replaced. As he talked, he would pull his lips back and show us how perfect the imperfect teeth were. And they did look natural, not even and pearly white as most false teeth are... Otto said that he could eat anything, bite through the toughest steaks and toughest celery... [When Earl made a profane remark in the discussion], Otto, who always tried to be formal and correct, acted like he was shocked, and scolded Earl for injecting vulgarity into the session...
In 1951, Passman spoke out against Dodd's gubernatorial candidacy and accused Dodd of having enriched himself while in office. Dodd said that Passman "got hyped up during the campaign and said things he wouldn't even think about under normal circumstances." As Passman's attacks continued, Dodd confronted him on the mezzanine
Mezzanine (architecture)
In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building, and therefore typically not counted among the overall floors of a building. Often, a mezzanine is low-ceilinged and projects in the form of a balcony. The term is also used for the lowest balcony in...
of the Virginia Hotel in Monroe. There, Dodd claimed to have given Passman "a good old-fashioned whipping."
Thereafter, Passman sent Dodd an apologetic letter: "I have always considered you one of my best friends ... Bill, I am sorry that the unpleasant incidents of the last gubernatorial campaign had to mar our long friendship. I hope that our differences have been resolved, and we may now renew our friendship." Passman also issued a public statement saying that Dodd had not enriched himself while in public office, despite contrary reports presented to Passman. Such reports had come from Earl Long, who was then temporarily estranged from Dodd, but Passman never mentioned the source.
Opposition to foreign aid
Passman chaired a pivotal House subcommittee that ruled on foreign aid appropriations. He took the view of Doug BandowDoug Bandow
Douglas Bandow is a former columnist with Copley News Service and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He resigned from Cato in 2005 due a scandal involving payments for columns from lobbyist Jack Abramoff and wrote about it in the Los Angeles Times. As of March 2009, Bandow is again working at...
, a former scholar with the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
, that foreign aid involves "taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries." He claimed that foreign aid is often harmful because it propped up despotic regimes that might otherwise have collapsed from corruption, failure, or unpopularity. Passman could not remove foreign aid from the budget, but he frequently was able to cut the program wherever he could.
For several years on the subcommittee, Passman clashed with Congressman Walter Judd
Walter Judd
Walter Henry Judd was an American politician best known for his battle in Congress to define the conservative position on China as all-out support for the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-sheck and opposition to the Communists under Mao...
, a Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
Republican and a former medical missionary to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, who was frequently the point-man to argue for expanded foreign aid to needy countries. Judd had even been considered for the vice presidency by Richard Nixon in 1960. Passman also disliked the Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
, which was championed by President Kennedy. Passman's critics, mostly within his own party, claimed that the Monroe Democrat was trying to "bleed" the Peace Corps of sufficient appropriations to make the program work. Passman said at the time, "If I had three minutes left to live, I'd kill the Peace Corps."
An intraparty critic, Representative Jack Brooks
Jack Brooks (politician)
Jack Bascom Brooks is a retired Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Texas, who served for more than 40 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was defeated for reelection in the 1994 election...
, from Beaumont
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, noted that Passman succeeded in cutting foreign aid by some 25 percent during the early 1960s.
Segregationist in his time
Like nearly all of his southern colleagues, Passman in 1956 signed the Southern Manifesto to voice objection to the U.S. Supreme Court's desegregationDesegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
decision, Brown v. the Board of Education. Like most of his constituents, Passman supported segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
. By 1970, however, all of the public schools in Louisiana had been desegregated, and the issue quickly waned.
Charged with sexual discrimination
In 1974, Passman dismissed a female employee from his office, Shirley Davis, because he preferred a man to hold her position. Davis sued Passman and won a judgment, affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1979 (Davis v. Passman), which held that Passman's action constituted sexual discrimination. The case remains an important precedent in holding that there is an implied right of action against U.S. congressmen for such discrimination. As such, it recognized a citizen's right to bring a suit against elected federal representatives for violation of constitutional rights.Legal troubles
Passman was legally implicated in the Tongsun Park scandal in 1978, by which time his congressional service had already ended. Media reports, however, of the scandal began in 1975–1976, and they worked to sink Passman's reelection.Park, a South Korean businessman, described himself as an "American success story," when he came to the attention of the FBI. Park lavished valuable gifts to prominent politicians in an influence peddling
Influence peddling
Influence peddling is the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Also called traffic of influence or trading in influence ...
scheme known as Koreagate
Koreagate
"Koreagate" was an American political scandal in 1976 involving South Korean political figures seeking influence from 10 Democratic members of Congress. An immediate goal of the scandal seems to have been reversing President Richard Nixon's decision to withdraw troops from South Korea...
. The scandal involved alleged bribery of over a hundred sitting or former members of Congress, including Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. In April 1978, Park sat before television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
cameras in a U.S. House hearing and listed a long list of payments—mostly in cash—to some thirty members of Congress. He said that he had given the money in little white envelopes. Only ten members of Congress were seriously implicated. Three avoided prosecution through the expiration of the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
. Passman was not immediately prosecuted because of illness.
Thereafter, the Justice Department in 1978 indicted Passman, the biggest recipient of Park's largess – $213,000. He was charged with conspiracy, bribery, and accepting an illegal gratuity. The indictment was expanded to include tax evasion
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...
. Because of the tax evasion charge, Passman was able, through his Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
attorney, Camille F. Gravel, Jr.
Camille Gravel
Camille Francis Gravel, Jr. , was a Louisiana, Democratic politician.Gravel spent much time and money supporting the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII honored Gravel with the "Order of St. Gregory" for his outstanding service to the church.-Education:Gravel graduated in 1935 from the University...
, to get the case transferred to Monroe. While Passman had been defeated for reelection two years earlier, there was still a reservoir of good feeling for him in many quarters of Monroe.
Attorney William G. Hundley (1925–2006) offered these observations of the Passman trial:
-
- I went there for the trial and I'd go into restaurants with Park and people would get up and leave. I called the defense lawyer, who happened to be a pretty good friend of mine, and said, "What do you think a Monroe, Louisiana, jury is going to think of Tongsun Park?" He said, I don't know. I was taken aback. What do you mean you don't know? You've tried a million cases here. "I don't think they've ever seen a Korean before," he said.
-
- I thought the prosecution presented a pretty good case. But when the defense attorney got up to cross-examine Tongsun Park, he carried a big map of Korea. He didn't even touch the merits of the case. He identified South Korea and noted that it's right under North Korea and next to China. Then he pointed out that North Korea and China are totalitarian communist states. The jury was out less than 90 minutes, and they [sic] acquitted Passman on every charge.
Passman lived another nine years after the acquittal.
Anger over primary defeat
After 30 years in office, Passman faced an unexpected challenger, who seemed unlikely to pose a problem for the veteran congressman. Jerry Huckaby, a Jackson Parish native and a 1959 graduate of Minden High SchoolMinden High School (Minden, Louisiana)
Minden High School is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana...
in Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
in Webster Parish
Webster Parish, Louisiana
Webster Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Minden. In 2010, its population was 41,207....
, which was outside the Fifth District, had no previous political experience but had been a dairy farmer in Bienville Parish
Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....
. As an ally of Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, who was running strongly in Louisiana at the time, Huckaby upset Passman in the Democratic primary, largely because of charges of influence peddling that had engulfed the congressman in his last term in office but which had not yet led to indictment.
Passman was so incensed over his primary defeat that he "threatened" to endorse Republican congressional nominee Frank Spooner, a Monroe oilman who challenged Huckaby in the general election. However, the endorsement never materialized. Years later, Huckaby said that Passman never spoke to him after the 1976 primary. Huckaby went on to defeat Spooner and to hold the seat until 1993, having been defeated in 1992 by Republican James O. McCrery, III
Jim McCrery
James Otis "Jim" McCrery, III , is an American lawyer who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1988 to 2009; he represented the 4th District of Louisiana, based in the northwestern quadrant of the state.McCrery was a ranking member on the House Ways and...
, of Shreveport, as a result of reapportionment.
Passman's friend Garland Shell said that the loss of the congressional seat was the turning point in his life. "When the old gentleman was defeated, that was it. He's been inactive since."
Passman's obituary
Passman was a BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
. He once served as grand master of the Louisiana Masonic Lodge
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
. He was also a member of the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
. A tall, lanky, ectomorphic man who wore dark-rimmed eyeglasses. Passman was twice married. In 1931, he wed the former Willie Lenora Bateman (1900-1984). After Willie's death, he quickly moved out of their home and sold it. In the latter part of 1985, he married his secretary, Martha.
He died of an apparent heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in Monroe. Services were held in the First Baptist Church of Monroe. He and Willie are interred at Mulhearn Memorial Park in Monroe. His congressional papers, minus some of the sensitive Tongsun Park material removed by his staff, are in the archives of the University of Louisiana at Monroe
University of Louisiana at Monroe
The University of Louisiana at Monroe is a coeducational public university in Monroe, Louisiana and part of the University of Louisiana System.-History:...
.