Senator EAGLETON. No questions. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Mathias? Senator MATHIAS. I want to thank Mrs. Jenkins for being here and for doing double duty. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Bruce Terris, chairman of the District of Columbia Democratic Central Committee. We are delighted to welcome you, Mr. Terris, to this committee. STATEMENT OF BRUCE TERRIS, CHAIRMAN, DISTRICT OF Mr. TERRIS. I am Bruce Terris, chairman of the District of Columbia Democratic Central Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to present the views of the Democratic Central Committee. The central committee has taken no position concerning confirmation of the three gentlemen nominated by President Nixon. However, I will present the position of the committee concerning the procedure for choosing nominees for the City Council. I will then present my personal position concerning the nomination of Gilbert Hahn as chairman of the Council. STATEMENT OF CENTRAL COMMITTEE It is important to remember what this committee is doing today. Once again the U.S. Senate is asked to consent to selections by the President of men to administer the government for more than threequarters of a million persons. The 800,000 residents of this city have no free choice in determining those persons to represent them in establishing policies and programs for the city. While the rest of the country is self-governing, Washington is still a colony. While nearly every former colony throughout the world has won its independence, the capital of the free world continues to be governed by outsiders. The three nominations today reemphasize the urgency of home rule. A President, who received the votes of less than one-fifth of the residents of this city, is now deciding who should govern us. Two of his three appointments are from a party which represents only a tiny minority of our residents. He has failed to consult with either the majority party or with significant segments of the black community. It is therefore not surprising that these appointments have aroused considerable opposition. Citizens cannot be expected to welcome appointments imposed from the outside. The result is that a city which already is deeply divided will be even more difficult to govern. The Democratic Central Committee and the overwhelming majority of citizens of this city believe that members of the city council and the mayor should be chosen by the people in an election. We therefore once again strongly urge home rule and call for immediate congressional hearings. We pledge our support and cooperation to the President, the mayor, the council and the Congress in this effort. We are asking for no more than the right of all free men, the right to selfgovernment. Even without home rule, which I hope we will get shortly, there is no need for any President to make appointments ever again to the city council without involving the citizens of this city. As the late Robert Kennedy proposed last April, the President can agree to abide by the result of advisory elections. We strongly urge President Nixon to pledge immediately to adopt this procedure before next year's appointments to the council. PERSONAL STATEMENT OF BRUCE TERRIS Now let me add a personal note concerning the nomination of Gilbert Hahn as chairman of the council. This committee must consider these nominations on the basis of the law as it exists today, even if the law in fact is illegal and immoral. The President clearly decided to choose a member of his own party to be chairman of the City Council, which is his right under present law. Once this determination was made, Gilbert Hahn was the most appropriate choice. While Mr. Hahn was not chosen by the people of this city as a whole, he was, in effect, the choice of Republicans. He was recently elected by the Republicans of the District to be their chairman. He is an able lawyer, an articulate spokesman, a strong leader. While we doubtless disagree on some issues, I am convinced that he cares about the problems of this city. Perhaps most important of all, his desire to build a strong District Republican Party will require that he listen seriously to the people of this community. I therefore support his confirmation. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Eagleton? The CHAIRMAN. Senator Prouty? Senator PROUTY. Mr. Terris, I can understand the statement which you issued on behalf of the central committee. I apply equally the statement that you made as an individual. I think it is a very fairminded statement and I appreciate it greatly. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Mathias. Senator MATHIAS. You say that you represent 80 percent of the people of the District of Columbia. How did you arrive at that statistic? Mr. TERRIS. We had an election. Senator MATHIAS. One hundred percent of the people didn't vote. The turnout was less than 100 percent. Mr. TERRIS. In this country we assume the people who did not vote somehow breakdown similar to those who do vote. Otherwise, I take it it would be very difficult for the President to go to Europe and say he represents the country. The CHAIRMAN. Unfortunately, I think generally those who don't vote are Democrats. Senator MATHIAS. I just wanted to get on the record the basic assumption upon which that statistic is made. Mr. TERRIS. It seems to me that is the best way to find out who represents whom. Senator MATHIAS. I assume that includes all sorts of people who under the law could not vote, so I would say at least you have awarded yourself the benefit of all of the doubts. Mr. TERRIS. There is a sufficient margin of error there, so I think one could say that the overwhelming majority of the people in the District are Democrats. Senator MATHIAS. We are continuing to hope that they may improve their outlook as the years go by. We may differ as to statistics, and as to figures, but I think we are in total agreement on the very urgent need for prompt action in bringing about home rule for the District. We probably share the hope that this is the last time the Senate will ever have to consider at the beginning of the new administration this kind of appointment, this kind of nomination on the part of the President. I am sure the President himself shares the feeling that he will not have to continue making these appointments. I am wondering if you and the committee which you represent have any current recommendations which you are going to present to the Congress in the area of home rule, in the terms of specific legislation. Mr. TERRIS. We are going to. Senator MATHIAS. When do you expect to present that to us? Mr. TERRIS. To be very frank about it, Senator, this administration can produce home rule in the District of Columbia if it fully supports and vigorously supports home rule. It can get it, so I think that is probably the place where we will go first. Senator MATHIAS. I was a Member of the House of Representatives during your efforts to get home rule. You came pretty close a couple of times. If those 80 percent of the District's population who may be Democrats can prevail upon that majority in the Congress which is also Democratic, I don't think you have to go any further. Mr. TERRIS. Á majority of Democrats, as you know, have always supported home rule, and the real questions is whether a majority of Republicans can be gotten in the Congress to support it and I believe the administration can achieve that kind of a majority if it wants to. The CHAIRMAN. I would comment if we can get a majority of the Republicans in the Congress and the President to have home rule, we will have home rule. We shall endeavor to see that the opportunity is afforded. Senator PROUTY. May I suggest you already have a majority in Congress in each House, so it would seem to me you can go right along any time. Senator MATHIAS. Mr. Chairman, I think Mr. Terris has been extremely generous and Senator Tydings has been extremely generous in suggesting this. While there is an overwhelming Democratic majority in the House and Senate, we Republicans are going to do better. We are like Avis, we are going to try harder. Mr. TERRIS. There are some liberal measures which in fact Democratic Presidents cannot produce, because they cannot get a majority of Republicans to support them and I think this is one of those proposals. I think if the Republican Party, and that means the President, if he is willing to put his full support behind home rule, we will have it. The CHAIRMAN. I concur. If the President will send down a message putting his full weight behind home rule, we will get it. Senator MATHIAS. Let me say from my experience in working with home rule, I would suggest that you begin, if you have a plan, with very early liaison with Senator Tydings. It is not the big difficulties that block this kind of thing, it is not the disagreement over the principle of home rule, it is the disagreement over the details of home rule. If a plan crystalizes at one end of Pennsylvania Avenue which is not acceptable at the other and, and this can be in either direction, there can be a fatal flaw which prevents it ever coming about. I would suggest that this be a model of diplomacy and coordination because it is going to take all of that. Mr. TERRIS. We will try our best. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Terris. We appreciate your being with us. Senator Mathias, do you wish to introduce the next witness? Senator MATHIAS. Mr. Chairman, it is a great pleasure to introduce the next witness, Mr. Gilbert Hahn, the nominee for Chairman. I had planned to say a number of things about him. I think Mr. Hechinger pretty well stole my act, as did Mrs. Jenkins, and the statement submitted on behalf of Carl Shipley. I would like to say before Mr. Hahn testifies that his vital statistics are already before every member of the committee and substantially before the community. But one area of public service that he has rendered deserves some special notice, and that is the Washington Hospital Center. I call attention to this more than to his war record, more than to his service in the political wars, and the other things he has done. I call attention to this because it seems to me that anyone who serves a great hospital is indeed showing an interest in people and in humanity. It is a nonpartisan type of service, it is a nonsectarian type of service, it is a service in which there can be very little self-glorification, and certainly no profit. I think if this exemplifies the man, then the record speaks for itself, Mr. Chairman, and I am very pleased to present Mr. Hahn to the committee. The CHAIRMAN. We are delighted to welcome you before this committee, Mr. Hahn. I might add my own knowledge and my family's knowledge of Mr. Hahn. Mr. Hahn and his family have made great contributions to this city for three generations, to my personal knowledge. We are glad to have you with us. STATEMENT OF GILBERT HAHN, NOMINEE FOR CHAIRMAN, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL Mr. HAHN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Your own family's enormous contribution to the Washington Hospital Center is historic. Thank you, Senator Mathias, for your friendship and the introduction. Chairman Tydings, members of the committee, I wish also to express my appreciation to Mrs. Jenkins, my vice chairman for her kind statement and that of Mr. Shipley. I am very indebted to my old friend and City Council member, John Hechinger, for his humorous account of our lives. I am particularly pleased to have the support of my opposite number, Bruce Terris. He has done a distinguished job as Democratic leader in this city. The support of your competitor is as much praise as a man could ask for. I should also like to thank those people who wrote to the committee on my behalf, particularly Joe Rauh, formerly Democratic chairman, and former Judge Bazelon of the court of appeals. Their statements recognize the position of the Chairman of the City Council is not political. If confirmed, I certainly intend to conduct myself within that spirit. We have, of course, heard some criticism today, and this is in some ways a healthy sign of an awakening interest on the part of the citizens of the District. I naturally understood when I was nominated that criticism was part of the job, and I accept the comments as not being personal but being addressed in large part to the disenfranchised status of the District residents. About all I can say is I hope to demonstrate by my deeds if the Senate confirms me that I will act in the interest of all people in this city. Mr. Chairman, I believe that urban problems present the largest challenge facing the United States today, yet I do not believe terms such as "liberal" and "conservative" or "Republican" or "Democratic" are relevant to the city's problems. There is no conservative or liberal solution to the problem of picking up the garbage or repairing the streets, just as there is no Democratic or Republican way of dealing with the District's needs for improved health facilities or housing or welfare or making our city free from fear. I am committed to this city. The District, in common with other major cities across this Nation, constitutes today's frontier. If the Senate confirms me, I will do my best, together with my colleagues on the Council and with the help of Congress and the White House, in cooperation with Mayor Washington, to solve the city's problems. All of the members of the first City Council deserve a "well done" from the city. Their effort has been historic in participating in the creation of a new government. A special thanks is due to Chairman John Hechinger, who led that Council. Through his patient understanding, warm good humor, and firm resolve to make a bold start, he has created a council that I believe the people of Washington could call theirs. He honored me by appearing today in my behalf. Mr. Chairman, if the Senate favors me with confirmation, I shall do my very best in close cooperation with others in the spirit of nonpartisanship to help make our Nation's Capital the outstanding community that America deserves and that the residents of this city so deeply desire. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Hahn. You heard the testimony of a number of the earlier witnesses. The thrust of that testimony, as you so wisely observed, was not personal. It related not to individual nominees but the manner of selection and the area of residence of the nominees. Do you have any thoughts or ideas about establishing better communication or representation of that large area there which at least has no nominee living in the area? Mr. HAHN. In terms of an elected city government, I would agree that some method such as is used in the newly elected School Board |