Bill Bennett: “Mr. President, I hold the seat from the State of Utah that was held for 30 years by Reed Smoot. Senator Smoot rose to be…”

“Mr. President, I hold the seat from the State of Utah that was held for 30 years by Reed Smoot. Senator Smoot rose to be the chairman of the Finance Committee and was one of the leading powers of this body. He did many wonderful things. He was an outstanding Senator in almost every way. However, he had the misfortune of being branded in history because of his authorship of the Smoot-Hawley tariff, which stands in American economic history as something of a symbol of the isolationist-protectionist point of view. I have said to Senator Smoot's relatives, who are my constituents, with a smile on my face, that I have to do my best as a militant free-trader to remove the stigma of protectionist from this particular seat. I can say that all of Senator Smoot's relatives are equally as excited about free trade as I am, and they have indicated that they approve of that. I rise to talk in that vein because I think much of the debate that has gone on here would be debate that might go all the way back to Reed Smoot.”