XXVIII HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON s< UNCI- AND TECHNOLOGY 



to develop a basic chronological report of the committee's activities, 

 preparatory to the final manuscript. He also instructed other members 

 of the staff to cooperate in every possible way with Mrs. Seefeldt's 

 efforts At a meeting of the whole committee on September 20, 1977, 

 Chairman Teague informed its members — most of whom already were 

 aware and cooperating that he had taken that responsibility, and he 

 requested the advice and assistance of the members. Chairman Fuqua 

 has likewise advocated publication of the history, and the committee 

 members' consensus support for that goal has been evident throughout 

 its preparation. 



Who should the author be? One of the chairman's first assignments 

 to me- when I returned to this committee temporarily as staff director 

 in September 197' was that of proposing the general character, shape. 

 and thrust our history should take, and to identify the best available 

 talent to write it. The latter task proved most difficult, taking more 

 time than expected. While Bonnie Seefeldt continued her background 

 research, for over three months we explored further our options for 

 producing the final product. After a tentative start or two that proved 

 inadequate, we became convinced the final manuscript must be written 

 by one author rather than by several of us collaborating, and it was 

 imperative that the author have a firsthand knowledge of the Congress 

 and its committee process. 



I confess to being somewhat hesitant when 1 first suggested that 

 we try to persuade Ken Hechler to write our history. But in his typi- 

 callv decisive way, Chairman Teague immediately reached for his 

 phone to learn whether our former colleague would consider the task 

 As we feared, though interested, he was not immediately available. 

 We waited, exploring other options, then returned to Hechler and it 

 finally was our great good fortune to obtain his consent. He began 

 this work on June 30, 1978. 



All of us recognize Ken Hechler's superb qualifications. He was 

 by profession a scholar, a product of Swarthmore and Columbia Uni- 

 versity (A.B., 1935, Ph. D., 1940), long before he became a politician. 

 He had taught successfully political science and history at Columbia, 

 Barnard College, Princeton, and Marshall Universities. He had assisted 

 in the preparation of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public papers, had 

 held important posts in the Truman administration, including speech- 

 writing for the President and later for Adlai Stevenson, he was experi- 

 enced as a radio-TV commentator, he had authored successful histories: 

 The Bridge at Remagen; Insurgency: Personalities and Politics of the Taft 

 Era; and West Virginia Memories of President Kennedy. He was first 

 elected as Representative to Congress from West Virginia's Fourth 

 District in 1958, and then in each succeeding election for nine con- 

 secutive terms. 



