Carl D. Perkins — Loyal to his friends

By Randy Walters
Publisher

It’s not until you talk to those who knew him that you really start to understand Knott County’s most well known politician, the late Congressman, Carl D. Perkins. He was involved in so many things during his time in the Congress, that to label him with any one of them would be to short change the others.
One of his most trusted friends was Delmar Draughn. Delmar said Carl D. treated him as a son in the political world, and taught him much of what he knew about being in service to people. (Those who knew him called him Carl D. leaving off his title and his last name. To say “Carl D.” in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, or in the halls of congress was all that was necessary.)
“He made you feel close, and always called people by their first names,” Draughn said in an interview this past Sunday. Draughn went on to say, “Politicians are not made, they’re born, and Carl D. was born to be a politician, he loved people, and he loved helping people.”
A Floyd County Attorney, Ronnie Slone, said his father introduced him to Perkins when he was only 14 years old. Slone went on to law school, and 10 years later was pumping gas at a self serve station when Perkins pulled in. He said Carl D. looked at him and said, “How ya’ doin, Ronnie Slone?”
Carl D.’s love for people could not be hidden, especially his love for the people of his beloved mountains. It glowed in his eyes and his smile, and soon those with whom he came into contact experienced the Carl D. charm which had much the same effect as a security blanket does for a child.
Delmar Draughn said that Carl D.’s best characteristic was his commonality. “He dressed common, and he talked common. He dealt with the leaders of the world, but he could make anyone feel like somebody special.”
The Knott County Democrat who communicated so plainly was anything but common. He was one of the most powerful men in the United States, and he knew how to get what he needed for his people.
He began his career as a teacher, and according to Draughn, he began it on a low pay level. “I remember when he was teaching, and made $26.00 a month.”
It was 1935 when he graduated from the University of Louisville Law School. His next three years were spent in private practice. He was elected Knott County Attorney in 1941, but was unable to complete the term due to his service in Europe during World War ll. He was again elected to the office in 1945.
He was elected to Congress in 1948, and took office in January of 1949. It was an office that he was destined to, and would hold it until his death on August 3rd, 1984.
Delmar Draughn added, “Carl D. needs to be looked at for his contribution to the world, not just what he did for Knott County or eastern Kentucky.”
Unlike the younger politicians of today, Perkins understood poverty through his own experiences growing up in Knott County in the early 1900s.
That poverty also showed him the value of an education or a trade. His record in the Congress reflects that understanding better than anything that could possibly be written. It’s a record of success, for millions of Americans who were able to take advantage of the results of the Carl D. charm.
The most notable of Perkins’ programs were Head Start, and the Perkins Loans for disadvantaged college students. He was instrumental in getting the Head Start program going for young children, and his student loans have helped millions of college students obtain their education where they otherwise would have been left out.
Hazard Mayor Bill Gorman said that Carl D. took on some really powerful people to help education. “In the early days there were college professors who didn’t think the federal government should have a close relationship with the education system. They didn’t want to have to comply with federal regulations, but Carl. D. got his bills passed to help educate our students.”
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson was another of the powerful leaders affected by Carl D. Perkins. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” could well have been called “Perkins’ War on Poverty” as the congressman from Knott County was of great influence in the program.
The Hazard Mayor went on to say, “There were so many things Carl D. did to help the people of the mountains. Things like getting road projects funded, and starting the Appalachian Regional Commission, providing money for water and sewer projects. He really did things that have changed the world.”
Mayor Gorman tells of visiting the congressman at his Washington, D.C. office. “All of a sudden Carl D. looked up and said, “Let me change my shoes and we’ll go over to the White House.”
Gorman said he was used to going to the White House and having to go through all the Secret Service and security checks, but when he went with Perkins it was different. “He walked in and went straight to the Oval Office without stopping. He spoke to people, but just kept on going and I followed him. He and Lyndon Johnson were very close.
There was a time when we were having trouble getting utilities and funding for the Buckhorn Dam project, and Carl D. came to the television station where I was working. He heard about the problem we had been trying to solve for two or three months, picked up the phone and called President Lyndon Johnson in Texas, and the problem was solved in a matter of minutes.”
Delmar Draughn explained Perkns’ political success by saying that the late congressman was sincere. “He had a deep love for the people of the mountains, and his sincerity was contagious. That was why so many of the great statesmen valued his friendship and supported his views. He brought Bobby Kennedy here in the 1960s.”
Perkins wanted the powerful government leaders to see first hand what he had been telling them about in the nation’s capital. The only way for him to do that was to bring them home with him, and he did.
The high profile politicians also brought with them the tool Perkins knew would help him in his work, the media. That was when the nation got a look at the poverty of the Appalachians, and when Perkins was vindicated for his drive to make things better in his district.
His farsightedness and understanding of the problems the entire nation was facing in education caused him to sponsor a resolution that provided for the funding of investigations into education and labor. He also sponsored a resolution doing the same thing for welfare and pensions.
In 1977 he sponsored the resolution that founded the Department of Education.
Realizing that hungry children were at a disadvantage when it came to their learning abilities, he worked and got better nutrition for school children in the school lunch programs, and to further the emphasis on elementary and secondary education.
Mayor Gorman said he had never met anyone who was so dedicated to the region, and when there was a problem they always knew that Carl D. would be up there in Washington working on it, and he would take care of it.
Perkins was instrumental in getting Social Security reformed to better serve those who were eligible, and to make the system more responsive to the needs of the people. One of his bills brought about a 15% increase in Social Security benefits above the cost of living increase.
According to the Association for Career and Technical Education, “After years of anticipation, the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) celebrated the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998. The new law, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, which was passed almost unanimously by Congress in late July, was officially signed into law Saturday.
ACTE’s president Bob Scarborough stated, “The new law reflects the positive changes being made and implemented in many career and technical education programs across the country, and ensures we are providing all students with an education that will help them succeed in the workplace and in life.”
The Perkins Act provides almost $1.3 billion in federal support for career and technical education programs in all 50 States. The law which was enacted by the President will extend through 2012.”
There were also bills he got passed concerning water development, and flood control. His interests were on the subjects that directly affected the people of the mountains. In turn he got legislation passed that affected millions of people across the United States.
Congressman Carl D. Perkins, Humanitarian Carl D. Perkins, and any other title that applies can all be summed up by simply saying, “Carl D. Perkins.” All the things he did came about as a result of who he was, a Democrat from Knott County.
Delmar Draughn’s close friendship with Perkins was something he considers special. “He just lived around the curve from me, and I would go to his house and visit him a lot, until he got married, and I didn’t go as much after that, but I remember him on his farm with the mules and the garden. He was just a common man, no matter where he was or who he was with, he was always himself.”
The statue of Perkins in front of the Knott County Courthouse really captures the essence of the man. He was always extending his hand to either greet a person with a smile, or help someone with the same smile because helping people was his labor of love.

posted on September 22, 2006 12:36 PM ()