From the World War I Centennial News Podcast
Remembering Veterans:
Senator Jon Tester on the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019
In April 12th's edition of the World War I Centennial News Podcast, Episode 118, Senator Jon Tester of Montana joined the show to discuss a new bill, S206, otherwise known as The Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019, that would finally give the Hello Girls the formal recognition they deserve. The following is a transcript of the interview, edited for clarity:
Theo Mayer: For Remembering Veterans, there are bills moving through both houses of Congress to honor the Hello Girls. In the Senate, Senator Jon Tester, Democrat from Montana, and Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican from Tennessee, are cosponsoring a bipartisan bill called the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019. We're very honored to have Senator Tester with us today to talk about the bill, what it is, and explore how you, our listeners, can help get this properly deserved honor bestowed on these pioneering women who served so successfully and then struggled to be recognized and to receive veteran's benefits. Senator, welcome to the podcast.
Jon Tester: It is great to be here. Thanks for having me Theo.
Theo Mayer: So Senator, you're a ranking member of the US Senate Veteran's Affairs Committee. How did this story come to you and how did it come to light for you?
Jon Tester: Well look, as with most the good ideas I get, I usually get them from Montanans, and this is no exception. A fellow who served this country in the military by the name of Ed Saunders who's a bit of a history buff did some research, and there have been a number of documentaries made about the Hello Girls. He approached me and asked if we could do something to recognize these women who performed incredible services during World War I, and as you said really were able to connect the American troops with the French troops and made a difference in battle. And so, we came up with the idea of getting in a Congressional Gold Medal to the folks who were Hello Girls. There's not many of them left quite frankly now. This should've been done 50, 60 years ago. But the fact of the matter is we are where we are, and I thought it was the right thing to do to give recognition, one of the highest civilian medals in fact, to women who served in our military during World War I and who did an incredible job connecting every outpost between the Americans and the French. It's one of those things that's better late than never, and we need to get these folks the honors that they deserve so that we can remember our history and learn from our history as we move forward.
Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) are cosponsors of S206
Theo Mayer: Senator, I read the legislation and it's a good read. For legislation that's rare. You really told the story of the Hello Girls in it. Giving our listeners a quick overview, exactly what does the legislation provide for?
Jon Tester: There were thousands of applicants that applied to be in the US Army Signal Corps. 450 of those Hello Girl applicants were accepted. They served right alongside their male counterparts, but they were denied veteran status and all the benefits that come with veteran status. They petitioned Congress for six decades before they received veteran status and got recognition for their service. By that time, the majority of the Hello Girls had passed away. And some of these folks were from Montana, and a Montanan by the name of Merle Egan Anderson led the fight for recognition before Congress. So, Montana's played an important role in this.
So, what this bill would do Theo, is it would honor the service and sacrifice of the Hello Girls by issuing a Congressional Gold Medal, which is one of the highest civilian medals and honors that are awarded by the United States of America. It just really does give recognition to a group of women who had a hard time getting recognition throughout this country's history. They played an incredible role in our success in World War I, and I think it's long past time that we do issue and give recognition to the Hello Girls with the Congressional Gold Medal.
Theo Mayer: Now, this is a bipartisan effort to recognize these women. How did Senator Blackburn get involved?
Jon Tester: It is a bipartisan effort, and we visited and more importantly my staff visited with some of the other staff members. We started with the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Marsha Blackburn is a new senator from Tennessee, replacing Bob Corker. She is new to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and she had a personal interest in this and decided to help cosponsor this bill and make it bipartisan. So, now the work really begins because we've got to try to get as many people as possible with a minimum of 67 Senators on this bill to be able to move it forward. I think if we're able to do that, if we're able to actually get 67 or more, hopefully there'll be more, I can't imagine ... we should get everybody, quite frankly, because it's something that needs to happen. But if we're able to get 67 or more, then it puts real pressure once we get it to the Committee to take it up on the floor and get it passed.
Theo Mayer: Now, as you might guess our audience is very, very World War I interested and very much interested in this story. We've been talking about it for a couple years with them. What can they do to help?
Jon Tester: Well, it's pretty simple. Your listeners are from all over the country, and what I would say is if you don't know who your representative or your Senator is, get on the line or go down to the library and find out who it is and then contact them. Give them a call or send them an email. Those are the two best ways of getting in contact with them. And advocate for giving the Hello Girls a Congressional Gold Medal. The number of the Act, if you've got a pen and paper you can write this down, is S206. If you're able to call your Senator, refer to S206, which is the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act. And if you're on the House version, and the House version was introduced by a fellow out of Missouri by the name of Emanuel Cleaver, who everybody knows in Missouri and is fairly well known around the country, the number of that bill is HR1953. What'll happen is if you contact enough folks and it's 67 in the Senate that we need to have, 145 in the House, then we'll get it passed in the House, get it passed in the Senate, combine the two bills because they're identical, and then it'll go to the President's desk for his signature.
Theo Mayer: Well Senator, I wanted to thank both you and Senator Blackburn for taking your precious time and effort to help the Hello Girls get the deserved recognition. Thank you sir.
Jon Tester: Thank you Theo. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the issue.
Theo Mayer: Senator Jon Tester is a ranking member of the US Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the cosponsor of Senate bill number 206, the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019. We have links for you in the podcast notes to the legislation, and as a courtesy to a website where you can look up the names of your legislators from both the House and the Senate.
Links:
https://www.tester.senate.gov/?p=biography
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/206/text?r=1&s=1
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1953/text
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/map