COLUMBIA, S.C. — “That's why I came to the Senate, is to get things done for South Carolina,” said Ernest ‘Fritz’ Hollings on the Senate floor years ago.
Those who worked around the six-term senator and former governor of South Carolina said they’ll remember him for a lifetime of public service.
Dorothy Walker, a former Hollings intern, emphasized his work on hunger and poverty with the Women, Infant, and Children federal aid program.
“A child that's hungry may not grow up and develop in the right way where they can take care of themselves later in life, so it was much more forward thinking to help a child so they can grow up and become their full potential,” Walker said.
The program provides food assistance to pregnant women, new mothers, and children in need up to the age of five, according to its website.
Walker, now Political Collections Director in UofSC’s library system, said Hollings' work creating the technical college program was just an example of his focus on education.
“In addition to donating his personal collection to the library of course, he's always been a supporter of education and the University especially, there were other programs that he was involved in that helped students like the Hollings NOAA scholars,” Walker said.
The South Carolina Political Collections branch of the UofSC library exists due to Hollings. He donated thousands of pieces of material to the library and garnered the funds to pay for the branch.
In the lower levels of the library archives, several rows of boxes contain donated documents, all relating to Hollings' lengthy political career.
The Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, gives students financial aid for some schooling and an internship, according to the website.
The former and first Political Collections Director, Herb Hartsook, said Hollings used his last speech to the General Assembly as governor to usher in desegregation.
“He had earlier in his career spoken in favor of segregation, you couldn't get elected in South Carolina in the 50s if you weren't for segregation, but we indeed had gone through all the courts and desegregation was coming. Let's do it as South Carolinians, let's be proud of it and do it right, and do it peacefully and show the country what can be done,” Hartsook added.
Hartsook spent more than 30 hours working with Hollings on an oral history of his career.
Hartsook and Walker say Hollings was an inquisitive mind, loved to read newspapers and informative books, and spent a lifetime trying to learn about each new issue that came his way.
Hartsook explained that while researching, he asked former staff-members if Hollings had a cabinet of close advisors. Instead, he was told the Senator had staff call the experts directly, anytime he had questions.