Burns Online Exhibits | A Congressperson’s work is never done

A Congressperson’s work is never done

Boland’s Congressional Identification card and case.

Box 124, Folder 24, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland’s 1960 Democratic Convention Delegate Pin.

Box 149, Object 19, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Duties

What does a congressional representative in the House actually do to serve the people of their district? One of their main roles is to introduce bills and resolutions as well as offer amendments on legislation that serve the people. In Eddie’s case, the 2nd District was central and western Massachusetts, including Springfield. The most famous pieces of legislation that Boland sponsored were the Boland Amendments in the 1980s. At the time President Reagan was trying to overthrow the pro-communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua by supporting rebel Contras with money approved by Congress. Congress decided to take action following several CIA operations that were kept from congressional intelligence committee members. The Boland Amendments sought to limit U.S. governmental assistance to the Contras by cutting off the cash flow and closing the remaining loopholes from the original legislation.

Boland presides over a House Calendar with gavel.

Box 131, Folder 30, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Highlighted explanation of Boland Amendment, April 7, 1983.

Box 20, Folder 25, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

HR 2760 To Amend the Intelligence Authorization Act…sponsored by Boland, April 27, 1983.

Box 20, Folder 25, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Letter to Boland from Barbara B. Kennelly (D-CT), July 29, 1983.

Box 20, Folder 25, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

A large part of Boland’s job was remaining informed on various legislative efforts, offering remarks on legislation, meeting with Congressional colleagues, and attending events. It was common to create legislative files on specific issues, which contained research, tracked meetings, and provided strategy about votes. One example is the acid rain legislation in which Boland’s staff compiled research and other information for the Acid Rain Hearings in 1986, about the effects of acid rain. The collection also contains photographs of Boland working during the hearings, and even a ‘Stop Acid Rain’ button that a colleague was wearing.

Acid rain legislative files.

Box 16, Folder 20, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

‘Stop Acid Rain’ button.

Box 149, Object 1, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland with two colleagues at acid rain hearings, April 1986.

Box 133, Folder 1, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland speaking with a panel of Congressional colleagues.

Box 131, Folder 20, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland’s house floor remarks on HJ Res 192 (A joint resolution to designate April 24, 1985, as ‘National Day of Remembrance of Man’s Inhumanity to Man’) , June 4, 1985.

Box 12, Folder 1, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland in headphones, listening to the Watergate tapes, August 5, 1974.

Box 131, Folder 29, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland speaking with a U.S. Air Force Major General.

Box 131, Folder 29, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Committees

Members of Congress serve on committees and Boland was no exception. Early in his career he was appointed as chairman of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, which funds the activities of the federal government. Throughout his many years on appropriations, Boland administered the funding of housing and urban development, education, improvements to the interior, transportation, public works, and even space exploration.

In 1975 the Select Committee on Intelligence was formed to investigate the U.S. Intelligence Agency’s activities domestically and abroad. In 1977, Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill appointed Boland as the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence with a mandate to continue providing oversight on intelligence matters. This committee was quite different from others in that it restricted information to committee members only. Many of the topics were classified and often documents were not allowed outside specific secure rooms in which the committee met.

Boland’s Chairman of the Appropriations Committee Identification Card, 1957.

Box 124, Folder 4, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Chairman Boland during a House Permanent Select Committee meeting.

Box 132, Folder 3, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland, with two colleagues, indicating Nicaragua on a map of Central America.

Box 132, Folder 3, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Complaint from Matthew G. Martinez (D-CA) about theft in the House gym, March 28, 1994.

Box 1, Folder 8, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland was known to regularly lift weights at the House gymnasium and was also on the informal House Gymnasium Committee, which consisted of three white males. In the 1980s, California Congresswoman Barbara Boxer led the charge demanding that women be allowed to use the House gym instead of the separate Ladies Health Facility. Boland’s blustery response to the initial request of updating the women’s facility equipment was “I don’t know why you want machines. You know, those machines only build muscles.” After more pressure from Boxer and other female colleagues, the House gymnasium opened to women in 1985.

Travel

Representatives from the House are often sent to other countries for diplomacy, to further global initiatives, or participate in conferences and fact-finding trips. Some of the countries that Boland traveled to during his time in Congress were Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, China, Japan, and the Philippines. Boland was also part of a U.S. congressional delegation that traveled to South Korea in 1969.

Boland with Chang Kyung Soon, Vice-President of Republic of Korea (center), and colleague, 1969.

Box 156, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Boland with Congressional Delegation in South Korea, 1969.

Box 156, Edward P. Boland congressional papers, CA1998-003

Over the course of the trip Boland went to meetings, attended cultural events, and even had a little fun singing and doing the limbo. The delegation also traveled to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) , the border set at the end of the Korean War. When Boland visited with his colleagues in 1969, it was nearing the end of Korean conflict along the DMZ. The United States committed itself as a South Korean ally in 1953 and remains an economic and strategic partner today.