Historic Tidbit: One day as a junior member of the House, Gerald Ford gave a somewhat elongated speech. After, a colleague from Texas came up to him and said, “Jerry, that was the best longhorne speech I ever heard.” Ford stared quizzically. The man explained that a longhorne speech is one that has “two points, far, far apart with plenty of bull in between.”
I received both my Bachelor’s and Master’s from Monmouth University in Long Branch, New Jersey. On campus, there is a building, Howard Hall, that is named for the late Congressman whose pride in Monmouth County is second to none. And 25 years after his sudden death, he is still revered for his tireless efforts, whether beach cleanup or funding projects, on behalf of the communities he represented. It’s why his constituents, who were not simply GOP friendly but GOP heavy, kept sending him back to Washington without fail (sometimes by the narrowest margins), even in the face of national Republican landslides.
The Almanac of American Politics said Howard “approaches problems with honorable intentions&competence.”He was not flashy, nor a back-slapper. His goal was simply to get the job done, and New Jersey’s interests were at the forefront of that.
Howard became Chairman of Public works after the 1980 elections, following the somewhat surprise defeat of “Bizz” Johnson. At first, he resisted the urge to do a gasoline tax but acceded. But he did fiercely protect New Jersey interests, even if it meant roughing up other states. He threatened $100 million for a Boston sewage plant if they were going to follow through with their threat to store trash off the Jersey coastine and he called the Boston Globe to warn them. ”If they’re going to dump that stuff off New Jersey,” he said, ”they don’t need the money. We’ll need it in New Jersey to clean up the beaches.”
And he took on states on other issues. It was Howard who during the energy crisis, proposed legislation that would limit the speed limit to 55. An Appropriations rider raising it to 65 eviscerated that, forcing Howard to state his “outrage” on the fact that “this major policy change happened in an Appropriations bill.” He joined Frank Lautenberg as the House sponsor raising the drinking age to 21. He authored the Child Restraint Law and the Motor Carrier Act which would regulate the trucking industry for the first time in 50 years and provide additional funding.
A teacher and acting principal, Howard was inspired to enter politics by the Kennedys, who like Howard was also part of a large, proud, Irish family.He had won his seat narrowly (1,790 votes), and unexpectedly in a very Republican district on the Johnson coattails in 1964, which was open by the retirement of longtime Republican Congressman James Coats Auchincloss.
Howard hung on 53-47% in 1966 even as the GOP was picking up 47 House seats nationwide. For the next 14 years, he would win fairly comfortably, but never easily, as Nixon aide Bill Dowd twice challenged him, and held Howard to 55 and 53% respectively. Only in 1974 did Howard not have to worry somewhat. He took 69%. His 56% in 1978 set the stage for his near-death call two years later.
Howard, as the New York Times put it, had become “known for his wit, his loyalty to his staff and supporters and his well-honed skills as a politician.” The day before he died, someone mistook him for Republican Governor Tom Kean, who was meeting with Howard at the Capitol. Howard pointed to Kean and called him “the guy with the money.”
Howard’s attributes helped him hold a district that was far from Democratic, most of the time with ease. But by 1980, he needed every last one of those skills.
Marie Muhler was a moderate Republican State Senator who seemed to fit the mold of this fiscally conservative yet fiscally more moderate area, pro-choice and pro-ERA. Muhler vowed to try again in 1982. She had nearly matched Howard’s money. Two other New Jersey Congressman would lose their seats amid the Reagan coattails (Carter would take just a third of the vote in the district) and Howard nearly made it a threesome. is 50-49% win was by just 2,085 votes.
But by the summer of 1982, Howard was using his new found perch to more than double her cash-on-hand. Some criticized Howard’s acceptance of honoraria and for being too cozy to the lobbyists, and traveling on their dime. The LA Times called him “one of the largest House recipients of business-related campaign contributions.” Today, that might be tough to justify. But practices were different back then.
More important, he looked after his district’s interests. That included environmental and shore protection, and bringing home the bacon, said to be in the billions, mostly for construction and infrastructure projects. When he died, his committee was writing a transportation bill.Indeed, Howard had been on the House floor hours before his 1988 death. He long had a bad heart, and it caught up with him without warning that afternoon. He was just 60.
Howard’s official photograph (Govtracks.us)
Howard was mourned by all areas of the political spectrum. The needs of his community knew no partisan boundaries. He was there to listen. He was there to serve. And he was there to deliver. All of that was done with a smile.
Ray Kramer, the former Mayor of Asbury Park and Howard’s neighbor would say “all of us in life are searching for what we were meant to do on earth. He was one guy who found out what he was here to do. He was a great congressman.”
There are many memorials in central Jersey, highways, buildings, etc, that bear Howard’s name. Portions of Highway 195 and for good reason. More than anyone else, he built the infrastructure of Central, NJ.