Former US Sen. Charles Mathias of Maryland dies

By Baltimore Sun staff
January 26, 2010

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Reviewing his last year in the Senate, the American Conservative Union gave him a grade of zero, based on his voting record on 20 key issues involving foreign policy, budgetary matters and social legislation.
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"It is not well remembered," wrote New York Times columnist Tom Wicker, "that when President Kennedy failed to submit a promised civil rights bill during his first Congress, three Republicans introduced one before Kennedy sent up what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"The three were John Lindsay of New York, William McCullough of Ohio and Mac Mathias," Mr. Wicker noted.
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House Democratic Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Mr. Mathias was a man of principle, adding that "his support of protecting the environment and supporting the needs of working people were hallmarks of his career and life."

Gov. Martin O'Malley called Mr. Mathias "one of those unique public officials who was willing to stand up - even against his own political party - for what he thought was right for his constituents and for his state."
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Half of the Senate, the dean of the Washington diplomatic corps and more than 1,000 ordinary citizens gave him a farewell party in 1986 at the Baltimore Convention Center that was rich in tributes from all shades of the political spectrum.

"Senator Mathias has been there when we needed him," said Benjamin L. Hooks, then the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "Tonight I say thank God for Mac Mathias."

"He has many friends and admirers, and I'm proud to call him a friend," Sen. Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina Republican, said at the time. "His philosophy and mine are not altogether the same. But I admire him as a man."
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Baltimore Sun reporter Brent Jones contributed to this article.