Ernest Hollings

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Ernest "Fritz" Hollings

U.S. Senator, South Carolina
In office December 1966–January 2005
Preceded by	Donald S. Russell
Succeeded by	Jim DeMint

Born	January 1, 1922 Charleston, South Carolina
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Rita Louise Liddy
Religion	Lutheran

Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings (born January 1, 1922) was a Democratic United States Senator from South Carolina from 1966 to January 3, 2005.

Hollings was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He went to The Citadel and received a B.A. in 1942; he later attended the University of South Carolina and received a LL.B. in 1947 and is a brother of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity. He is married to Rita "Peatsy" Liddy and has four children. He is a Lutheran.

Hollings served as an officer in the U.S. Army's 323rd and 457th Artillery units from 1942 to 1945, during World War II, and was awarded the Bronze Star. He was first elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1948; he was subsequently elected lieutenant governor of the state in 1955 and Governor in 1958. He was governor from 1959 until 1963. During his governorship he signed legislation ordering the Confederate Flag to be raised over the state capital to commemorate the 100th anniversary of South Carolina's secession from the union, and to protest the growing civil rights movement. He sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1962, but lost to Olin D. Johnston.

Johnston died on April 18, 1965, however. Hollings' successor as Governor, Donald S. Russell resigned in order to accept appointment to the Senate seat, and Hollings defeated Russell in the Democratic primary for the remaining two years of the term. He then won the November 1966 special election. He was subsequently elected to a full six-year term in 1968 and served for six full terms. For 36 years (until January 2003), he served alongside Republican Strom Thurmond, making them the longest-serving Senate duo ever. The two generally had a good relationship despite their sharp philosophical differences, and frequently collaborated on legislation and projects to benefit South Carolina. Only Thurmond, Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, Daniel Inouye, Carl Hayden and John Stennis served longer in the Senate.

In 1981, Hollings had to apologize to fellow Democrat Howard Metzenbaum after Hollings referred to him as the "Senator from B'Nai B'Rith" on the floor. Metzenbaum, who was Jewish, raised a point of personal privilege and Hollings's remarks were stricken from the record.

He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the presidential election of 1984.

Hollings would become popular for the wrong reasons among fans of Beavis and Butt-Head after he said to Janet Reno; "We've got this...what is it...Buffcoat and Beaver or Beaver and something else. I haven't seen it, I don't watch it, but whatever it is, it was at 7, Buffcoat, and they put it on now at 10:30". Since the quote was made, the act of mispronouncing Beavis and Butt-Head's names became a running gag on the show.

On January 7, 2003, Hollings introduced the controversial Universal National Service Act of 2006, which would require all men and women aged 18-26 (with some exceptions) to perform a year of military service.

On August 4, 2003, he announced that he would not run for re-election in November 2004. Republican Jim DeMint succeeded him.

As a senator, Hollings was noted for his support for legislation that was in the interests of the established media distribution industry (such as the proposed "Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act") and was described by opponents as 'Hollywood Hollings' or the 'Senator from Disney'. Hollings also sponsored the Online Personal Privacy Act (S. 2201).

Hollings was generally considered to be a liberal supportive of many civil rights bills. He voted for re-authorizing the Voting Rights Act in 1982. He was a staunch fiscal conservative, and was one of the namesakes for the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, an attempt to put limits on government spending. As a hard-line supporter of various client-side computer restrictions such as DRM and Trusted computing the Fritz chip (a microchip that enforces such restrictions) nicknamed after him.

With his fellow Southern Democrat Howell Heflin from Alabama, Hollings were one of the two Democratic senators to vote against Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 [1].

Hollings penned a controversial editorial in the May 6, 2004 Charleston Post and Courier, where he argued that Bush invaded Iraq possibly because "spreading democracy in the Mideast to secure Israel would take the Jewish vote from the Democrats."

Hollings started the Hollings Scholarship in 2005. This scholarship gives over 100 undergraduates from around the country a 10 week internship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a monetary scholarship for the school year.

[edit] Trivia

Senator Hollings played a Southern senator, Senator Marquand, who Al Pacino attempts to woo in order to land the Democratic convention in the 1996 film City Hall.

Because of Strom Thurmond's longevity and length of service, Senator Hollings spent 36 years as the junior Senator from South Carolina, despite having seniority over the vast majority of his peers. He was the Senior Senator from South Carolina for only the last 2 years of his Senate service.

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[edit] See also

Preceded by George Bell Timmerman	Governor of South Carolina 1959–1963	Succeeded by Donald S. Russell
Preceded by Donald S. Russell	United States Senator (Class 3) from South Carolina 1966–2005	Succeeded by Jim DeMint
Preceded by Edmund S. Muskie	Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Budget 1980-1981	Succeeded by Pete Domenici