Floyd Davidson Spence Papers

"His tireless efforts on behalf of our national defense are a testimony to his enduring will to serve and to triumph in the face of adversity." –Gov. Jim Hodges, upon Spence‘s death, August 2001

"He said he was a common man, but he was a very uncommon man, an extraordinary man. He was tried in his life, many times and in many ways. He endured those trials with grace and no bitterness." –Dr. Seshadri Raju, surgeon in his lung transplant, at Spence‘s funeral, Aug. 22, 2001

"Floyd was a bit of an anomaly in Washington, a soft-spoken gentle man, who was proudly one of the staunchest hawks in Congress." –Vice President Dick Cheney, at Spence‘s funeral

Floyd Davidson Spence was born in Columbia on April 9, 1928 to James W. and Addie Lucas Spence. Spence‘s father, employed by what would become South Carolina Electric and Gas, settled the family in West Columbia and Lexington, investing in land around newly constructed Lake Murray. Floyd Spence played football at Lexington High School, earning him an athletic scholarship to the University of South Carolina, where he made his mark as president of the student body as well as a star athlete in football, track, and basketball. He graduated in 1952 and married Lula Hancock Drake in December of that year. They went on to have four sons: Floyd, Jr. (David), Zachariah, Benjamin, and Caldwell.

Even before starting college Spence had registered for training in the Naval Reserve, and after graduating he served aboard the USS Carter Hall and USS LSM 397. He remained in the Reserve until the 1980s, serving for a time as Group Commander of Naval Reserve Units in Columbia, and retiring with the rank of Captain.

Returning to Columbia from his active duty, Spence earned a law degree from USC in 1956 and established a law practice, Callison and Spence, in West Columbia. He first ran for office that same year, winning a seat in the South Carolina House as a Democrat. He served for six years. One of his most notable accomplishments was serving on the joint committee which worked toward establishing South Carolina‘s technical education system.

In 1962, he switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, a landmark event in a state which, typical of the South, was at that time thoroughly dominated at the state and local levels by the Democrats. In a statement about his decision, he said: "My basic convictions are being compromised by remaining in the South Carolina Democratic Party," due to "trends in this country toward a more centralized government with its utter disregard for the rights of the individual and our local governments." In making this move, Spence became the first Democratic officeholder in South Carolina to switch parties. At the same time, he announced his candidacy for the Second Congressional District seat left vacant by the death of Congressman John J. Riley. He was ultimately defeated in the race by Democrat Albert Watson, who had the backing of influential U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond. Ironically, both Thurmond and Watson became Republicans themselves within three years of the 1962 Congressional race. Spence‘s action in switching parties was a harbinger of things to come across the South.

In 1966, Spence returned to public life by winning election to the South Carolina Senate, where he was the lone Republican. In 1970, after four years as a state senator, Spence ran again for the Second Congressional District seat. He won a narrow victory in the first of what would be sixteen successful races for the seat. Thereafter, he rarely faced a serious challenge in his re-election efforts. His 1970 campaign literature foreshadowed his eventual legislative interests and emphases, highlighting his status as "one of South Carolina‘s most knowledgeable authorities on Communism and Subversion" and stating that "a strong America is essential to world freedom as well as our individual freedom."

As a freshman legislator, Spence won a coveted seat on the House Armed Services Committee, an unusual achievement that may have been partly due to the recent death of South Carolina‘s HASC giant, Mendel Rivers, in 1971, as well as to the presence of Columbia‘s Fort Jackson in Spence‘s district. He served on that committee throughout his tenure in Congress, and was also a longtime member of the House Ethics Committee. One of his early legislative efforts was the introduction of a balanced budget amendment in 1971. However, during his early years in Congress, he seemed to be generally best known for his warm personal style. He acquired the nickname "The Kissing Congressman" after Washington Post columnist Dorothy McCardle received the signature courtly Spence treatment. A brochure from Spence‘s 1972 campaign comments, "Probably the new Republican House member already knows more of his fellow members than any other first-termer. An outgoing, gregarious man, Spence has made it a point to drop in on other Congressional offices to chat. He introduces himself to the entire staff, and sips a cup of coffee with them. 'I‘ve gotten a wonderful response from my visits,‘Spence notes."

As early as the late 1970s Spence was actively involved in military issues, particularly through his work on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, which helped oversee naval shipbuilding programs. By 1982 he was the ranking member on the subcommittee. The mid-to late 1980s, however, were a difficult time for Spence. His wife, Lula, had passed away in 1978 due to a stroke, and his own health declined precipitously due to what was variously described as emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. By 1987, his respiratory disease had been progressing for at least ten years. Discussing his efforts to keep up his Congressional work during that time, Spence recalled: "It would take me about three hours in the morning to get ready to come to work. I couldn‘t even brush my teeth without stopping to rest." [Greenville News, 9 Apr. 1989] He was confined to a wheelchair and used portable oxygen, and doctors were pessimistic. Nonetheless, Spence sought out a new experimental lung transplant program at the University of Mississippi.

In May 1988, Spence was notified of a possible lung donor match, and underwent a double-lung transplant--only the fourth ever done in the U.S. Afterwards, he considered the date of the transplant, May 6, as a secondary "birthday" for him. He and his second wife, Deborah Williams, were married in the hospital during his recovery, and both were active for years in transplant advocacy and patient organizations. In addition, Spence was contacted by the family of his organ donor, and he became close friends with the donor‘s mother, Laura Saxon.

By the early 1990s, Spence had moved up in seniority on Armed Services, and, restored to health, took on a more forceful, leading role. He was outspoken in budget debates and on issues pertaining to personnel and the concept of "readiness." He was particularly dismayed by cuts made by President Bill Clinton in military spending, and convinced that what he saw as a general lack of support for the military was due to a widely-held misconception, among Congressional colleagues as well as the public, that the world was becoming safer. "The average American is neither aware of how threatening the post Cold War world is, nor aware of the fact that our military is confronting the most serious quality of life, readiness and modernization shortfalls in a generation--since the 'hollow military‘ days of the late 1970s. As long as they remain unaware or unconvinced, Americans are much more likely to be focused on the potential benefits of a tax cut, debt reduction or increased social spending..." [Spence comments in HNSC hearing with former chiefs, 7 Oct. 1998]

Spence‘s elevation to Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, in the 103rd Congress, was quickly followed by his becoming chairman of the committee with the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives following the 1994 election. He would serve in that highly visible role for the next five years. There seemed to be the potential for a dramatic shift in Congressional leadership on military issues, especially with Spence and fellow South Carolinian Strom Thurmond holding the chairmanships of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees respectively.

However, the mechanics of the budget function in the House, as well as the priorities of the House leadership, made it difficult for Spence to make substantive changes in military funding. His frustration is apparent in undated notes he made, where he complained that the Budget Committee, "controlled by liberals," settled on a binding budget figure for defense with "no hearings, expertise, no consideration of threat or alliance & commitments—a political figure." The first budget process (FY1996) under Republican leadership was especially rocky. Despite the fact that "liberals" no longer controlled the House‘s priorities for spending and policy, Spence still seemed limited by the realities of intraparty politics. Tom Donnelly, a HASC staff member, wrote in a 2001 remembrance of Spence for The Weekly Standard:

"

He was in some ways out of step with the GOP by the time of the Republican Revolution of 1994....Gingrich‘s revolutionaries represented a younger generation of conservative politicians, a post-Vietnam and even a post-Cold War cohort who came to Washington intending first and foremost to reduce the size of government, restrain spending, and lower taxes. Though they considered themselves heirs of Ronald Reagan, they...saw the Pentagon as a wasteful federal bureaucracy. For Spence, whose defense program was simple and clear--'Mo‘ money'--the realization that his ostensibly conservative allies had no wish to restore the defense funds cut in the early Clinton years was deeply shocking.