Pete Stark: “it is often as the dean of the California delegation a sad duty to report the passing of a colleague, but I have to say…”

“it is often as the dean of the California delegation a sad duty to report the passing of a colleague, but I have to say today that I want to announce and celebrate with you the life of a distinguished former colleague who died last Saturday at 100 years of age. Augustus Freeman Hawkins had a 28-year career in this body, and I just briefly want to celebrate with you the accomplishments of this gentleman. Gus, as we all knew him, was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on August 31, 1907, about the same time my dad was born in California. He moved to Los Angeles. He was elected to the State assembly in 1935. He was elected to Congress in 1962, and served here 28 years. During that 28-year service, he chaired the House Administration Committee, he chaired the Committee on Education and Labor, a whole host of joint committees, Printing, the Library Committee, and decided not to run for reelection in 1990. But among his many accomplishments, and Gus authored more than 300 State and Federal laws in his career, but what he will be most known for, I think, is authoring title VII of the Civil Rights Act which created the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. He was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He sponsored and was noted and will be remembered most perhaps for the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act that he sponsored with Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota at that time.”