New Jersey's Millicent Fenwick is honored and remembered fondly (12/17/95)

New Jersey's Millicent Fenwick is honored and remembered fondly

"Where there is no vision, people will perish. There must be a balance of common sense, humility and vision." - Millicent Fenwick 1910-1992

by Bozhena Olshaniwsky

Millicent Fenwick worked all her life for the promotion of civil rights, consumer interests, prison reform and ecological conservation.

Beginning in 1938 she served on the Bernardsville Board of Education and the Bernardsville Borough Council. In 1970-1974 she served as New Jersey State assemblywoman and as director of consumer affairs.

At age 64 in 1975, she was elected to the United States House of Representatives where, as one of only 16 congresswomen out of 432 members, she served four terms.

President Ronald Reagan appointed her as United States ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome; she served in that post in 1983-1987.

Mrs. Fenwick lived her life with courage and conviction. She said she wanted to be remembered as one who was useful.

An inscription recalling her wish can be found on the plaque next to the life-size bronze statue of Mrs. Fenwick erected in her honor in the middle of the town square in Bernardsville, N.J. The unveiling of this monument took place on a sunny Sunday afternoon, October 15. More than 300 people attended this unveiling, including members of the local, county, state and federal governments. Mayor Hugh Fenwick, the late Mrs. Fenwick's son, led a long list of speakers which included New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and Rep. Marge Roukema.

Speakers reiterated that long before there was women's lib or breaking of glass, there was Millicent Fenwick. They called her the "conscience of Congress," lauded her as an inspiration to all and quoted her many poignant statements, i.e., "Success is not the measure of a human being or of an idea's transcendence. Effort is the measure;" "We are all in this together;" "With years we should be sagging not aging." "I'd like to be remembered as someone who tried to be useful." They also reminisced about personal relationships and encounters with her.

The monument cost $80,000, which was contributed by private donors. To accomplish this challenging task a committee comprising New Jersey citizens, the Millicent Fenwick Monument Association, was organized in June 1994. The group raised the necessary funds and accomplished its goal in one year.

Walter Bodnar and this writer represented Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine (AHRU) at the ceremony, which included a dinner that evening. They also reminisced on the many occasions that they had the good fortune to work with Mrs. Fenwick, especially in the defense of human rights and political prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s. Among AHRU's archives, they have her hand-written letters and notes that they treasure. They reminisced how Mrs. Fenwick always took time out of her busy schedule to see them, talk to them, to personally advise them.

We met Mrs. Fenwick for the first time at the beginning of her congressional career in 1975 when she was running for Congress. While working under the auspices of the Committee for the Defense of Valentyn Moroz, we presented the plight of Ukrainian political prisoners in the Soviet Union and in particular the case of Mr. Moroz to Mrs. Fenwick and then later to Nelson Rockefeller (then a presidential candidate who came to Morristown in his private plane). This resulted in numerous efforts by Mrs. Fenwick on behalf of Mr. Moroz - and in his ultimate release.

Mrs. Fenwick was a feisty warrior for human rights issues. During one of her visits to the Soviet Union she asked to see Mr. Moroz personally. She was told by the authorities that there was no such person. When she challenged this refusal by informing the authorities in which prison and in which cell he was being held, they called her "insane." The congresswoman publicized this on her return to the U.S. and gained much mileage with it.

A special public meeting was held in her honor sponsored by the Morristown Chapter of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. Rep. Fenwick praised the benefits of the Helsinki Accords to a chorus of protests from Ukrainians who deemed it detrimental to Ukraine since it confirmed the post-World War II borders. She admonished Ukrainian human-rights activists and members of the community for being too soft and weak in their protests and actions. She told them to be firm and forthright, and not to take "no" for an answer.

Another one of Mrs. Fenwick's important accomplishments in the field of human rights was her vigorous effort to establish a commission in the United States Congress to monitor and report on adherence to the Helsinki Accords by its 35 signatory states. A need for this agency materialized in the aftermath of the signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975 - 20 years ago - by the United States, Canada and 33 European countries - the Soviet Union being one of them. The late Sen. Clifford Case of New Jersey was instrumental in helping to push this project through Congress.

Objections to the establishment of this commission came from Dante Fascell, a Florida Democrat who in 1976 was the acting chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He claimed that no additional agencies were needed since monitoring human rights could be carried out by his committee.

Realizing the urgency and a possibility of failure, Congresswoman Fenwick turned to human-rights activists Ihor Olshaniwsky, Dr. Ihor Koszman and Daniel Marchishin from New Jersey and asked them to help. Through a concerted grass-roots effort, they contacted many individuals (especially persons in Florida) who, in turn, lobbied Mr. Fascell and helped to convince him to agree to the special oversight commission. Of course, his becoming chairman of the new commission was the carrot for his final approval.

The congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was established in 1976. Commonly referred to as the Helsinki Commission, it can be credited with being the most important agency for the defense of human rights in the international arena - in addition to playing a major role in the fall of the Soviet empire.

* * *

Millicent Fenwick epitomized the word "gentlelady." In spite of her political and career ambitions, forthrightness, human and civil rights activism, hard work, singlemindedness, independence, self-sufficiency, candor, wit, integrity, dedication to principle - plus the fact that she was the butt of jokes for smoking a pipe (in private) or serving as model for Lacey Davenport in the Doonesbury comic strip - she never stopped being a gentlelady.

When a fellow assemblyman gibed at her by saying: "Women were meant to be kissable, cuddly and sweet-smelling," she retorted with a smile: "That's what I thought of men, and I hope, for your sake, you haven't been disappointed as many times as I have been." She never compromised her womanliness, her ladyhood and her gentleness.

Bozhena Olshaniwsky is president of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine.

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