The following is an attempt to highlight Carl D. Perkins’ legacy and accomplishments in education. Carl would not like to hear those terms – “legacy” and “accomplishments,” because he never got caught up in the trappings of power and ego. He remained humble and just wanted to do good things for those people back home he called “his constituents” and for the rest of the nation.
Carl’s educational legacy is not appreciated and understood by many people inside the region (his district) as well as in Kentucky. This probably is because he accomplished so much in 35 years in Congress in other programs; because he was such a pivotal player in passage of the Johnson Great Society programs; and because he was so clearly a New Deal liberal. Unfortunately, many people only credit or blame Carl Perkins for the welfare and entitlement programs that originated in the 1960’s – ignoring that he changed the face of education in the nation as no one else has in Congress.
Another reason for this lack of understanding is that he emphasized in his communications to the media and people in the region what he did in his district and not nationally. In an interview just months before his death Perkins said he would like to be remembered not for his accomplishment in passing numerous education bills and laws strengthening mine safety and black lung benefits, but for his work on behalf of the people in his 23 county district in Eastern Kentucky.
“You know, I’ve built a lot of dams and a lot of locks,” Perkins said. “And there’s a lot of people whose land won’t flood next spring because the Congress has acted. Those are the kind of things that really count.”
Carl was able to fly under the national radar, which was perfectly fine with him, because of his unassuming mountain charm. His country ways and mountain twang, “rough-hewn” appearance described by some writers complete with his baggy pants caused many people to underestimate his abilities. As his friend Carl Wells said, “He had you before you knew it.” As recorded in the American National Biography his appearance to many “as a fumbling, bumbling bumpkin who whistled through his teeth as he talked.” He used this misconception to unarm others a stating in one interview, “I’m a pretty good fellow at playing dumb.”
Carl’s son, Chris Perkins reported that his father was most proud of what he accomplished in education and black lung. When Rep. Richard Bolling made an unsuccessful push to divide the education and labor committee, Carl told his son he would have gone to the education committee. Chris said his father had a special fondness for vocational education, Headstart, school breakfast and lunch programs, and College loans. He often said “a hungry child cannot learn.”
His passion for education came from his father J.E. (Jim) Perkins who was the second school superintendent in Knott County (1896-1900). He was the superintendent when the ladies who started the Hindman Settlement School came to Hindman. Carl and his sister, Bevie, a teacher wee taught by their father that the way to raise people up was through education. Additionally, Carl’s mother, Dora, was a school teacher. Perkins father died in 1932 when Carl was 19 and had completed two years at Caney Junior College, now Alice Lloyd College. He became a teacher that fall in the two-room school on Montgomery Creek, to which he commuted by horseback. His salary was $59.54 a month.
Later Carl’s wife, Verna, after working in his congressional office without pay for a while became a first grade teacher in W.T. Patterson Elementary School in Southeast Washington, a predominately black area. So in his personal experience he was able to blend the rural and inner-city education needs.
Perkins political career began when Earl Clements selected Carl as the Democratic candidate to win the 1948 Democratic primary. By the way, to show you this friendship, it was Earl Clements wife who took Verna to the hospital when Chris was born. Clements was a very good friend with Lyndon Johnson and this helped build the future Perkins-Johnson friendship. Perkins was elected in 1948 along with Jack Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. A national article that highlighted effectiveness of freshman congressman and noted who to watch out for, mentioned Carl, but not these others.
The Education and Labor Committee was his first committee assignment from Speaker Sam Rayburn in January 1949. Kennedy and Nixon were also on this committee. Perkins and Nixon clashed on the issue of federal aid to education, which Nixon opposed. Perkins said he could never learn to respect Nixon. Kennedy opposed federal aid also, but a strong bond formed between Perkins and him. Perkins, a very savvy legislator from the beginning, helped Kennedy learn the ropes and Perkins often held his proxy vote. That relationship continued through Kennedy’s Presidency. Perkins and Kentucky Congressman, John Watts of Nicholasville were part of a small group of legislators who had immediate access to the Oval Room.
In 1949, Federal aid to education was then an intolerable idea to many people and Congress who felt that federal control of local education would surely follow in federal dollars. But Perkins, as a freshman was a very loud persistent voice stating that federal aid to education was necessary for poverty stricken areas with disadvantaged students.
The House education committee consisted of 16 Democrats and 9 Republicans and was headed by John Lesinski of Michigan. Lesinski and five other Democratic Catholics opposed federal aid. Lesinski ran the committee with a strong hand.
This strong leadership is indicated in a portion of a Drew Pearson column from March 18, 1950 titled “Blunt-Talking Kentuckian Upsets the Hearing on Aid to Education.” “At one point, Representative Cleveland Bailey of West Virginia shouted: “This is a frame-up by the chairman and his cohorts who are opposed to aiding our schools. And the members of the minority (the Republicans) are in on the rug pulling deal.
‘The gentlemen taught us a lot about rug-pulling when he was jamming a wage-hour bill through this committee,’ flared back G.O.P. Congressman Richard Nixon of California.’
‘I’m getting fed up with all this baloney (or something),’ shouted Democrat Carl D. Perkins of Kentucky at the Republicans and the Catholic Democrats. ‘All you fellows want to do is kill the bill.’
‘That’s the kind of language you hear no a street corner, not a committee of Congress,’ replied Lesinski indignantly. “The blunt talking Perkins, who hadn’t been aware of the presence of the lady stenographer, said he was willing to apologize to her, but not to Lesinski, who is a Democrat and a strong Polish Catholic.”
In August 1949, Pearson reported that Perkins told Lesinski “If you mess up this effort to help our schools, I’ll feel like wringing your neck.” There was a smile on Perkins face when he said this, but no joviality in his voice, Pearson reported. By the way, Pearson once described Perkins as “the most honest man in the House.”
Carl did not win the federal aid to education battle in 1949 or 1950. The Senate passed a bill at that time, but the House could not muster the support. But, in 1965 the Kentucky and Secondary Education Act passed. Carl called it his greatest achievement after a 16 year struggle. He is credited by getting its passage by rushing through Congress holding marathon hearings. The bill became law just three months after its filing.
Senator Claiborn Pell’s observations about Carl’s persistence and motivation are very telling. “The list is long of those who took him on and lost. His strength was often seen in his patience and his willingness to out sit his adversaries. On more than one occasion, I saw him keep a conference going until he got his way by simply outlasting his opponents, by exhausting them.
Carl Perkins sought and used power not for personal aggrandized, but for the public good. Millions of young Americans owe their education to Carl Perkins. All but a handful will never realize that. Yet, I have a very real feeling that is how Carl Perkins would have wanted it. He did things because they were the right thing to do, because he believed in them, and not because they would bring him headlines or personal honor. To do them was enough. It sent millions of dollars into underprivileged school districts.
“The formula’s for funding and distribution was the key. “He talked about the formula fights all the time – the formulas were the key,” Chris said Carl D. stated.
And, why did we get federal aid to education. It was Sputnik in 1957. Carl said it transformed our thinking to be competitive with the Russians in the Cold War. Obviously, the landslide election of his friend Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and the dynamics of that time which led to the quick passage of the Great Society programs was a key factor.
Sputnik’s invasion of space October 4, 1957 spawned the passage of the National Defense Education Act in 1958 Perkins had diligently worked. Prior to this legislation, he was the principal sponsor of the1956 Library Services Act which provided aid to public libraries in rural areas. He wrote and sponsored the Adult Basic Education Act in 1961 in rural areas. It did not pass then, but he later successfully added it to a piece of anti-poverty legislators in the mid 1960’s.
As chairman of its Sub-Committee of Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education, he sponsored and piloted to a successful vote the Vocational Education Act of 1963. That legislation combined elements of the much smaller vocational programs then in effect, and broadened federal participation into the vast national program it is today. As we know, this was another on of his most satisfying legislative acts. This law was known as the Perkins-Morse bill – also named after Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon who had championed education for years.
Perkins was a prime mover in the nation’s child nutrition programs and sponsored the School Lunch Amendments of 1968, 1970, 1975, and 1978. These are examples of a Congressman who learned the value of the school breakfast and lunch programs because Carl took them to his district for hearings.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had a strong impact on education. It was passed to foster desegregation of public schools and to ensure equal rights to students regardless of race, color, religion or origin. It is a testament to his courage and vision that Carl Perkins was one of the only 11 Southern Democrats who voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Let’s not forget the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, often called the war on poverty bill. It utilized education as a method to tackle poverty. Funding including Job Corps for youth, job training and vocational rehabilitation and adult basic education. Carl played a large role in this legislation.
His relationship with President Johnson enabled Carl to accomplish more in education and bring educational projects to his district. For instance, there is the Christmas Day he called Johnson at his ranch to secure construction of an area vocational school.
His final main educational achievement was the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act (Perkins) originally authorized in 1984. It provides individuals with academic and technical skills needed to succeed in knowledge-and skills based economy. The federal contribution to career and technical education, almost $1.4 billion annually supports innovation and expands access to quality programs.
Carl’s last educational bill passed a year shortly before his death and serves as a reminder of his legislative effectiveness. No one gave any hope that this bill to allow student religions groups to meet in public schools would pass. He did not give up, but work House members one on one to win passage.