View source for Fritz Hollings

{{Short description|American politician (1922–2019)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = Fritz Hollings
|image        = FritzHollings.jpg
|jr/sr        = United States Senator
|state        = [[South Carolina]]
|term_start   = November 9, 1966
|term_end     = January 3, 2005
|predecessor  = [[Donald S. Russell|Donald Russell]]
|successor    = [[Jim DeMint]]
|order1       = 106th [[Governor of South Carolina]]
|lieutenant1  = [[Burnet R. Maybank Jr.]]
|term_start1  = January 20, 1959
|term_end1    = January 15, 1963
|predecessor1 = [[George Bell Timmerman Jr.|George Timmerman]]
|successor1   = [[Donald S. Russell|Donald Russell]]
|office2      = 77th [[Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina]]
|governor2    = George Timmerman
|term_start2  = January 18, 1955
|term_end2    = January 20, 1959
|predecessor2 = George Timmerman
|successor2   = Burnet Maybank
|office3      = Member of the<br />[[South Carolina House of Representatives]]<br />from [[Charleston County, South Carolina|Charleston County]]
|term_start3  = 1949
|term_end3    = 1954
|birth_name   = Ernest Frederick Hollings
|birth_date   = {{birth_date|1922|1|1}}
|birth_place  = [[Charleston, South Carolina]], U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|2019|4|6|1922|1|1}}
|death_place  = [[Isle of Palms, South Carolina]], U.S.
|party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|education    = {{Plainlist|
* [[The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina|The Citadel]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])
* [[University of South Carolina, Columbia]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
}}
|spouse       = {{ubl
| {{marriage|Martha Salley|1946|1971|end=div}}
| {{marriage|Rita Liddy|1971|2012|end=died}}
}}
|children     = 4
|signature    = Ernest F Hollings Signature.svg
|allegiance   = United States
|branch       = [[United States Army]]
|rank         = Captain<ref name="NYTimes obituary">{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/obituaries/ernest-hollings-dead.html |title = Ernest Hollings, 97, a South Carolina Senator Who Evolved, is Dead|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|date = April 6, 2019|last1 = McFadden|first1 = Robert D.}}</ref>
|serviceyears = 1942–1945
|battles      = [[World War II]]
|awards       = [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star]]<br />[[European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal]]
|module       = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Sen. Fritz Hollings in Support of the Telephone Advertising Consumer Rights Act.ogg|title=Fritz Hollings's voice|type=speech|description=Hollings speaks in support of the [[Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991]]<br/>Recorded November 7, 1991}}
}}

'''Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings''' (January 1, 1922{{snd}}April 6, 2019) was an American politician from the [[U.S. state]] of [[South Carolina]]. A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], he served as a member of the [[South Carolina House of Representatives]] representing [[Charleston County, South Carolina]] from 1949 to 1954, the 77th [[List of lieutenant governors of South Carolina|lieutenant governor of South Carolina]] from 1955 to 1959, the 106th [[governor of South Carolina]] from 1959 to 1963, and a member of the [[United States Senate]] from 1966 to 2005. He served alongside Democrat-turned-[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] U.S. Senate member [[Strom Thurmond]] for 36 years, making them the longest-serving duo in U.S. Senate history. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former U.S. senator and the second-oldest living former American governor, the same honorary titles that [[Daniel J. Evans]] from the state of [[Washington (state)|Washington]] later held at the time of his death in September 2024. As of 2025, he is the last Democrat to hold or win a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina.

Born in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], Hollings graduated from [[The Citadel]] in 1942 and joined a law practice in Charleston after attending the [[Joseph F. Rice School of Law]]. During [[World War II]], he served as an artillery officer in campaigns in [[North Africa]] and [[Europe]]. After the war, Hollings successively won election to the [[South Carolina House of Representatives]], as lieutenant governor, and as governor. He sought election to the Senate in 1962 but was defeated by incumbent U.S. Senate member [[Olin D. Johnston]].

Johnston died in 1965, and the following year Hollings won a special election to serve the remainder of Johnston's term. Hollings remained popular and continually won re-election, becoming [[List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service|one of the longest-serving members of the United States Senate]] in U.S. history. Hollings sought the Democratic nomination in the [[1984 United States presidential election|1984 presidential election]] but dropped out of the race after the [[New Hampshire presidential primary]]. He declined to seek re-election in 2004 and was succeeded by Republican [[Jim DeMint]].

==Early life==

Hollings was born in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], the son of Wilhelmine Dorothea Meyer (1888–1982) and Adolph Gevert Hollings, Sr. (1882–1940).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thetimeisnow.us/senators/southcarolina/sc_hollings.htm |title=Senator Ernest F. Hollings |access-date=January 25, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518084927/http://www.thetimeisnow.us/senators/southcarolina/sc_hollings.htm |archive-date=May 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1979&dat=19820823&id=hpUiAAAAIBAJ&pg=6490,7966513 |title=Mrs. Hollings Services |date=August 23, 1982 |work=The Sumter Daily Item |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> He was of German descent.<ref>{{Cite book |title=New Politics in the Old South |last=Ballantyne |first=David T. |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=2016 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv6sj8ws |isbn=978-1-61117-704-6 |jstor=j.ctv6sj8ws}}</ref> Hollings was raised at 338 President St. in the [[Hampton Park Terrace]] neighborhood from age 10 until he enrolled in college.<ref name=":1" />

==Education and personal life==

Hollings graduated from [[The Citadel]] in 1942, receiving a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree. He achieved a [[Bachelor of Laws]] in 1947 after one year and nine months at the [[University of South Carolina]], and joined a law practice in Charleston.<ref>{{cite book|title= Making Government Work|url= https://archive.org/details/makinggovernment00holl|url-access= registration|year= 2008|publisher= University of South Carolina Press|location= Columbia, S.C.|page= [https://archive.org/details/makinggovernment00holl/page/9 9] |author= Hollings, Ernest with Kirk Victor|isbn= 9781570037603}}</ref> Hollings was a member of the [[Pi Kappa Phi]] fraternity.  He was a member of the German Friendly Society of Charleston from 1976 to 1991.

Hollings was then married to Rita Liddy "Peatsy" Hollings from August 21, 1971, until her death in October 2012.<ref name="scencyclopedia.org">[http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/hollings-ernest-frederick/ "Hollings, Ernest Frederick "'Fritz'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406161813/http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/hollings-ernest-frederick/ |date=April 6, 2019 }} ''South Carolina Encyclopedia'' retrieved April 6, 2019</ref><ref name="google1591">{{cite news |title=Sen. Hollings to Wed Office Assistant |author=UPI |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_TseAAAAIBAJ&pg=1591,819273&dq=rita+hollings&hl=en |newspaper=The Dispatch |date=July 12, 1971 |access-date=October 4, 2011}}</ref><ref>
{{Citation |last=Ruiz |first=Myra |date=July 23, 2010 |title=Biden Speaks At Hollings Library Dedication |publisher=WYFF4 News |url=http://www.wyff4.com/r/24366780/detail.html |access-date=October 4, 2011 }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He had four children (Michael,<ref>{{cite news |title=Hollings' son to run for lieutenant governor |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fyofAAAAIBAJ&pg=6806,1966207&dq=michael-hollings&hl=en |newspaper=Herald-Journal |date=June 14, 2006 |access-date=October 4, 2011}}</ref> Helen,<ref>{{cite news |title=Hollings Granddaughter Dies; Presidential Hopeful Flies Home |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ScBPAAAAIBAJ&pg=4537,7213293&dq=helen-hollings+ernest&hl=en |newspaper=Ocala star-Banner |date=August 14, 1983 |access-date=October 4, 2011}}</ref> Patricia Salley,<ref>{{cite news |title=Hollings family lays daughter to rest |author=Schuyler Kropf |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DahbAAAAIBAJ&pg=5588,1423874&dq=salley-hollings&hl=en |newspaper=The Post and Courier |date=April 19, 2003 |access-date=October 4, 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and Ernest III<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine |year=1959 |title=Milestones, Mar. 23, 1959 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892386,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211083145/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892386,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 11, 2008 |access-date=October 4, 2011}}</ref>) with his first wife, Martha Patricia Salley Hollings,<ref name="google1591"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_south_carolina/col2-content/main-content-list/title_hollings_ernest.html |title=Ernest Frederick Hollings |date=October 4, 2011 |access-date=October 5, 2011 |archive-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512223211/http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_south_carolina/col2-content/main-content-list/title_hollings_ernest.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite news |title=South Carolina's First Lady |author=Priscilla Meyer |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Jp5JAAAAIBAJ&pg=2711,574748&dq=patricia+salley+hollings&hl=en |newspaper=The News and Courier |date=February 5, 1961 |access-date=October 4, 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> who he first married on March 30, 1946.<ref name="scencyclopedia.org"/> He was a [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]]. In addition, Fritz and Patricia had two sons who died.<ref name="Time" />

Hollings served as an officer in the [[United States Army]]'s 353rd and 457th Artillery units from 1942 to 1945, during [[World War II]], and was awarded the [[Bronze Star Medal]] for meritorious service in direct support of combat operations from December 13, 1944, to May 1, 1945, in France and Germany. He received the [[European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal]] with five Bronze Service Stars for participation in the [[Tunisia]], Southern France, Rome-Arno, and Central Europe Campaigns.<ref>{{cite book |title= Once A Soldier{{spaces}}... Always A Soldier: Soldiers in the 108th Congress|year= 2003|publisher= Association of the United States Army|location= Arlington, Virginia|page= 16}}</ref>

==Political career==

Hollings served three terms in the [[South Carolina House of Representatives]] from 1949 to 1954. In 1950, following the notorious [[Lynching of Willie Earle]], Hollings authored a law that mandated the death penalty for lynching.  No lynchings occurred in South Carolina after that law was enacted. After only one term, Hollings's colleagues elected him Speaker ''Pro Tempore'' in 1951 and 1953.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last= Watson|editor-first= Inez |title= South Carolina's Legislative Manual (34th ed.)|year= 1953|publisher=General Assembly|location= Columbia, S.C.|page= 72}}</ref> He was subsequently elected [[Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina]] in 1954, and [[Governor of South Carolina]] in [[1958 South Carolina gubernatorial election|1958]] at the age of 36.<ref name="Guardian News & Media Limited">{{cite news |title=Ernest 'Fritz' Hollings, senator who called money 'cancer on body politic', dies at 97 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/06/ernest-fritz-hollings-senator-money-cancer-on-body-politic-dies |newspaper=The Guardian |date=April 6, 2019 |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |access-date=12 November 2023}}</ref>

===Governor of South Carolina (1959-1963)===
[[File:Fritz Hollings (SC).png|140px|thumb|left|Hollings as Governor of South Carolina.]]
As governor of South Carolina from January 20, 1959, to January 15, 1963, Hollings worked to improve the state's educational system, helping to bring more industry and employment opportunities to the state. His term in office saw the establishment of the state's technical education system and its educational television network. He also called for and achieved significant increases in teachers' salaries, bringing them closer to the regional average. At the 1961 Governor's Conference on Business, Industry, Education and Agriculture in [[Columbia, South Carolina]], he declared, "Today, in our complex society, education is the cornerstone upon which economic development must be built{{snd}}and prosperity assured."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sc.edu/library/scpc/Gubernatorial.pdf |title=Finding Aid for the Gubernatorial Papers of the Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings Collection |publisher=South Carolina Political Collections of the University of South Carolina. Retrieved September 14, 2009 |access-date=September 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530222425/http://www.sc.edu/library/scpc/Gubernatorial.pdf |archive-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During Hollings's term as governor, the [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Confederate battle flag]] was flown above the [[South Carolina State House]] underneath the [[Flag of the United States|U.S.]] and [[Flag of South Carolina|state flags]]. The battle flag was placed over the dome in 1962 by a concurrent resolution of the state legislature during the commemoration of the Civil War centennial.<ref>"Journal of the House of Representatives of the Second Session of the 94th General Assembly of the State of South Carolina". Confederate Flag Vertical File, South Carolina Political Collections, University of South Carolina.</ref> The resolution failed to designate a time for its removal. In 2000 the state legislature voted to move the flag from above the state house to a Confederate soldiers' monument in front of the building,<ref>{{cite web|last=Brunner|first=Borgna|title=Confederate Flag Comes Down in South Carolina|url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/confederate4.html|work=Infoplease|publisher=Pearson Education, Inc|access-date=May 7, 2013|date=June 30, 2000}}</ref> where it remained until 2015, when [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] governor [[Nikki Haley]] ordered it removed following [[Charleston church shooting]] by a [[Neo-Confederates|Neo-Confederate]] in the state earlier that year.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?327026-1/south-carolina-confederate-flag-removal-bill-signing-ceremony | title=South Carolina Confederate Battle Flag Removal Bill Signing Ceremony | publisher=[[C-SPAN]] | date=July 9, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/09/421531368/south-carolina-gov-nikki-haley-to-sign-confederate-flag-bill-into-law | title=South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley Signs Confederate Flag Bill Into Law | publisher=[[NPR]] |date=July 9, 2015}}</ref>

Hollings did little to either support or oppose the civil rights movement as governor, and instead took pride in the lack of civil rights violence that occurred in the state. In his last address to the General Assembly on January 9, 1963, ahead of the peaceful admission to [[Clemson University]] of its first [[African Americans|African American]] student, [[Harvey Gantt]], Hollings declared: "As we meet, South Carolina is running out of courts{{spaces}}... this General Assembly must make clear South Carolina's choice, a government of laws rather than a government of men{{spaces}}... This should be done with dignity. It should be done with law and order."<ref>Address by Governor Ernest F. Hollings to the General Assembly of South Carolina, January 9, 1963, p. 8-9, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090913081058/http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fhow&CISOPTR=291&REC=2], part of the University of South Carolina's Digital Collection, "Fritz Hollings: In His Own Words".</ref>

Hollings oversaw the last executions in South Carolina before ''[[Furman v. Georgia]]'', a decision by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]], which temporarily banned capital punishment. During his term, eight inmates were put to death by [[electric chair]]. The last was [[Rape|rapist]] Douglas Thorne, on April 20, 1962.<ref>[http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/SO%20CAROLINA.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016085103/http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/SO%20CAROLINA.htm|date=October 16, 2009}}</ref>

He sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the [[United States Senate]] in 1962 but lost to incumbent [[Olin D. Johnston]].<ref name="Guardian News & Media Limited"/>

According to one study, Hollings was the first of a series of “moderately liberal” Democratic governors who would lead South Carolina for the next 16 years.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Life_and_Death_of_the_Solid_South/5kooEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Hollings+moderately+liberal+governor&pg=RA1-PT109&printsec=frontcover The Life and Death of the Solid South A Political History By Dewey W. Grantham, 2021]</ref>

===United States Senator (1966-2005)===
====Early Senate career====

[[File:Ernest Hollings 91st Congress.jpg|thumb|190px|Hollings in 1969]]
Johnston died on April 18, 1965. Hollings' successor as governor, [[Donald S. Russell]], resigned in order to accept appointment to the Senate seat. In the summer of 1966, Hollings defeated Russell in the Democratic primary for the remaining two years of the term. He then narrowly won the [[1966 United States Senate special election in South Carolina|special election]] on November 8, 1966, defeating Democrat-turned-[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Marshall Parker]] by 11,758 votes, and was sworn in shortly thereafter. He gained seniority on other newly elected U.S. senators who would have to wait until January 1967 to take the oath of office. In 1967, he was one of eleven senators who voted against the nomination of [[Thurgood Marshall]] to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. In [[1968 United States Senate election in South Carolina|1968]], Hollings won his first full Senate term, again defeating Parker this time by 155,280 votes.

For over 36 years (from November 9, 1966 to January 3, 2003), he served alongside Democratic-turned-Republican Strom Thurmond, making them the longest-serving state delegation duo in history of the United States Senate to date. Thurmond and Hollings generally had a good relationship despite their sometimes sharp philosophical differences, and frequently collaborated on legislation and projects for South Carolina. Hollings was also the [[List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service#U.S. Senate time|thirteenth-longest-serving member of the United States Senate]].

In 1970, Hollings authored ''The Case Against Hunger: A Demand for a National Policy'', acknowledging the Reverend [[I. DeQuincey Newman]] and Sister Mary Anthony for opening his eyes to the despair caused by hunger and helping him realize that he must do something about it.<ref>{{cite book|title= The Case Against Hunger: A Demand for a National Policy|year= 1970|publisher= Cowles Book Company, Inc.|location= New York|isbn= 0402126114|author= Hollings, Ernest|url= https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_k8q0}}</ref> Hollings made headlines the year before when he toured poverty-stricken areas of South Carolina, often referred to as his "Hunger Tours". He was accused of drawing unwanted attention to South Carolina while other states, both northern and southern, also faced extreme poverty. Hollings knew South Carolina was not alone in its struggle and thought that if any politician was going to investigate hunger in South Carolina, it was going to at least be a South Carolinian. After a tour of an East Charleston slum, he said, "I don't want [[George W. Romney|Romney]] and [[Ted Kennedy|Kennedy]] coming here to look at my slums. As a matter of fact when I get caught up with my work, I think I may go look at the slums of Boston."<ref>Robertson, Glenn (January 11, 1968). "Hollings 'Angered' by Tour of Slums". Charleston, S.C.: ''Evening Post''.</ref> For his efforts, Hollings was also accused of "scheming for the Negro vote". Hollings, who had seen plenty of white hunger and poverty and slums on his tours, responded, "You just don't make political points on hunger. The poor aren't registered to vote and they won't vote."<ref>Pyatt, "The Beginning of a Renaissance {{sic}} in Dixie?".</ref> In February 1969, however, Hollings testified as to what he had seen on his fact-finding tours in front of the [[United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs]]. Charleston's ''News and Courier'' (now ''[[The Post and Courier]]'') reported that "Senators, members of the press corps and visitors packed in the hearing room watched and listened in disbelief as Hollings detailed dozens of tragically poignant scenes of human suffering in his state."<ref name=Pyatt>{{cite news |author= Pyatt, Rudolph|date= February 23, 1969|title= The Beginning of a Rennaissance {{sic}} in Dixie|newspaper= News and Courier|location= Charleston, S.C.}}</ref> Hollings recommended to the committee that free [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program|food stamps]] from the [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]] be distributed to the most needy, and just over a day later, U.S. Senate member [[George McGovern]] from [[South Dakota]] announced that free food stamps would be distributed in South Carolina as part of a national pilot program for feeding the hungry.<ref name=Pyatt/>

Hollings and his first wife separated in 1970 and divorced in 1971. Their children lived with their mother, and Hollings never discussed the reason for the divorce. Later that year, he married Rita Liddy "Peatsy" Hollings (born 1935), who was 13 years his junior.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.postandcourier.com/news/peatsy-hollings-wife-of-former-sen-fritz-hollings-dies-at/article_03100699-9166-58cf-8fda-cb262738cd17.html|title=Peatsy Hollings, wife of former Sen. Fritz Hollings, dies at 77|author=Staff report|work=Post and Courier|access-date=September 17, 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917105430/https://www.postandcourier.com/news/peatsy-hollings-wife-of-former-sen-fritz-hollings-dies-at/article_03100699-9166-58cf-8fda-cb262738cd17.html|archive-date=September 17, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> She had joined his administrative staff in 1967.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.postandcourier.com/news/peatsy-hollings-was-teacher-mentor/article_102eb58a-b296-5bbc-ad5b-323553d73960.html|title=Peatsy Hollings was teacher, mentor|last=Kropf|first=Schuyler|work=Post and Courier|access-date=September 17, 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917105217/https://www.postandcourier.com/news/peatsy-hollings-was-teacher-mentor/article_102eb58a-b296-5bbc-ad5b-323553d73960.html|archive-date=September 17, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was her first and his second marriage. They were married 41 years until her death in 2012.

In the 1970s, Hollings joined with fellow U.S. Senate members Ted Kennedy from [[Massachusetts]] and [[Henry M. Jackson]] from [[Washington (state)|Washington]] in a [[press conference]] to oppose [[President of the United States]] [[Gerald Ford]]'s request that Congress end [[Richard Nixon]]'s price controls on domestic oil, which had helped to cause the gasoline lines during the [[1973 oil crisis]].<ref name="'70s 321">{{cite book|title= How We Got Here: The '70s|last= Frum|first= David|author-link= David Frum|year= 2000|publisher= Basic Books|location= New York, New York|isbn= 0-465-04195-7|page= [https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/321 321]|url= https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/321}}</ref> Hollings said he believed ending the price controls (as was eventually done in 1981) would be a "catastrophe" that would cause "economic chaos".<ref name="'70s 321"/>

In February 1970, during a session of debate on federal aid to school districts serving children living in public housing units, Hollings asked U.S. Senate member [[Jacob Javits]] from [[New York (state)|New York]] if he would support the anti-busing amendment given that it was based on New York law.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/07/archives/senate-bars-cut-in-school-funds-refuses-to-trim-provision-aiding.html|title=Senate Bars Cut in School Funds|date=February 7, 1970|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In September 1970, during a speech at the [[University of Georgia]] in [[Athens, Georgia]], Hollings declared that the United States could not afford such "leadership by political bamboozle", calling on Americans to ignore the voices of discord and unite for "meaningful changes" in society. Hollings said President Nixon had led the U.S. down a "clamorous road of drift and division" and criticized the "ranting rhetoric" of [[Vice President of the United States]] [[Spiro Agnew]]. Hollings attributed the principal blame for the disunity of the U.S. on special interest groups and "impatient minority blocs" that had shouted "non negotiable demands". Hollings linked former President Johnson and President Nixon with having both "attacked the politics of the problem rather than the problems themselves".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/26/archives/hollings-attacks-nixon-on-discord-he-says-the-administration-feeds.html|title=Hollings Attacks Nixon On Discord|date=September 26, 1970|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In February 1971, Hollings introduced Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts in Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of his remarks calling for an end to the [[Vietnam War]]. Hollings disclosed that Kennedy had sought his advice on how to answer reporters' questions regarding a possible presidential campaign and that Kennedy believed his visit would spark speculation on the part of reporters about a campaign regardless of what he said.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/01/archives/kennedy-in-visit-to-carolina-cites-calhoun-but-not-sherman.html|title=Kennedy, in Visit to Carolina, Cites Calhoun But Not-Sherman|date=March 1, 1971|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In November 1971, Hollings announced his opposition to the nomination of [[Earl Butz]] for [[United States Secretary of Agriculture]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/27/archives/kansas-republican-joins-foes-of-butz.html|title=Kansas Republican Joins Foes of Butz|date=November 27, 1971|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1972, Hollings and Republican U.S. Senate member [[William B. Saxbe]] from [[Ohio]] sponsored a resolution bestowing early United States recognition on [[Bangladesh]] as the Nixon administration sought a policy of delaying recognition until "there were commensurate diplomatic benefits to the United States."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/03/archives/kennedy-fears-new-pakistan-arms-aid.html|title=Kennedy Fears New Pakistan Arms Aid|first=Benjamin|last=Welles|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 3, 1972 }}</ref>

In 1977, Hollings was one of five Democratic U.S. Senate members to vote against the nomination of [[Ray Marshall]] as [[United States Secretary of Labor]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/01/27/archives/senate-rollcall-vote-approving-marshall.html|title=Senate Roll-Call Vote Approving Marshall|work=The New York Times |date=January 27, 1977}}</ref>

In early 1979, [[United States Secretary of State]] [[Cyrus Vance]] sought permission from a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to transfer $2{{spaces}}million in funds for the American Embassy to the new unofficial American Institute in [[Taiwan]]. Hollings was one of four members of the committee to oppose Vance's request during the latter's appearance before the subcommittee and Hollings later sent a letter to Vance declining the request. Hollings explained that "a smooth transition to unofficial relations may be threatened" in the event of funds not being transferred to the American Institute before the American Embassy in Taiwan ceased its function by its designated date of March 1. Hollings's opposition was considered unusual given that most requests were approved and State Department officials publicly stated their wishes for Hollings and his colleagues to drop their opposition in the face of Taiwan's reluctant agreement to setting up "nongovernmental body in Washington" that would serve as the counterpart to the American Institute in Taipei.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/13/archives/senate-panel-balks-at-letting-us-shift-funds-to-new-office-in.html|title=Senate Panel Balks at Letting U.S. Shift Funds to New Office in Taipei|first=Bernard|last=Gwertzman|date=February 13, 1979|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

Hollings opposed legislation in 1979 that would admit additional ethnic Chinese refugees amid increased concern regarding moves by the Vietnamese government.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/26/archives/senate-votes-funds-for-more-refugees-growing-concern-for-refugees.html|title=Senate Votes Funds for More Refugees|date=June 26, 1979|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In August 1979, Hollings announced his opposition to the United States-Soviet Union nuclear arms treaty, saying the treaty should be defeated unless amended with a reduction of Soviet military power. His proposal was believed to stir Russian disapproval of the treaty if implemented. Hollings also made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the [[United States Senate Committee on the Budget]] to add $2.6{{spaces}}billion for a recommendation for military spending that would be included in Congress's second concurrent resolution on the budget.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/04/archives/senators-appeal-to-carter-to-resist-linking-arms-treaty-and.html|title=Senators Appeal to Carter to Resist Linking Arms Treaty and Spending|date=August 4, 1979|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

====Presidential candidate====

Hollings unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for [[President of the United States]] in the [[1984 United States presidential election]]. Hollings's wit and experience, as well as his call for a [[budget freeze]], won him some positive attention, but his relatively conservative record alienated liberal Democrats, and he was never really noticed in a field dominated by former U.S. Senate member [[Walter Mondale]] of [[Minnesota]], who served in the U.S. Senate from 1964 to 1976 and as Vice President of the United States from 1977 to 1981, and U.S. Senate members [[John Glenn]] of [[Ohio]] and [[Gary Hart]] of [[Colorado]]. Hollings dropped out two days after losing badly in the [[New Hampshire presidential primary]], and endorsed Hart a week later. His disdain for his competitors sometimes showed. He notably referred to Mondale as a "lapdog" and to former astronaut Glenn as a "[[Sky King]]" who was "confused in his capsule".<ref name = "The Citadel Archives: Hollings, Ernest, 1922">{{cite web | url = http://www3.citadel.edu/archivesguide/index.php/HOLLINGS,_ERNEST,_1922 | title = The Citadel Archives: Hollings, Ernest, 1922 | access-date = March 29, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130522082045/http://www3.citadel.edu/archivesguide/index.php/HOLLINGS,_ERNEST,_1922 | archive-date = May 22, 2013 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

====Later Senate career====

[[File:Fritz Hollings press photo, color.jpg|thumb|left|170px|Senator Ernest Hollings]]

On March 24, 1981, Hollings introduced legislation that if passed would restore the military draft with limited deferments and exemptions and stipulating that men aged 18 to 22 years old would be required to spend nine months of active service for basic training that potentially would precede reserve duty. Hollings's proposal granted deferments "to people on active duty, in the reserves or in advanced [[Reserve Officers Training Corps]] study; surviving sons or brothers of those killed in war or missing in action; conscientious objectors and ministers; doctors and others in vital health professions, and judges of courts of record and elected officials". Hollings stated that recruiting for the armed forces had fallen short of requirements by an estimated 23,000 people in 1979 and that he believed the draft applying to women "should be across the board" due to the issue continuing to be debated between the public and the courts.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/25/us/bill-introduced-in-senate-to-reinstate-the-draft.html|title=Bill Introduced in Senate To Reinstate the Draft|date=March 25, 1981|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1981, Hollings apologized to fellow Democratic U.S. Senate member [[Howard Metzenbaum]] of Ohio after Hollings referred to him as the "senator from [[B'nai B'rith]]" on the floor. Metzenbaum, who was Jewish, raised a [[Raise a question of privilege|question of privilege]] and Hollings's remarks were stricken from the record.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/16/us/a-senator-s-cannibal-joke-angers-blacks.html|title=A Senator's Cannibal 'Joke' Angers Blacks|author=<!--staff-->|work=The New York Times|date=December 16, 1993|access-date=September 25, 2016}}</ref>

In March 1985, the Senate Budget Committee approved a proposal sponsored by Hollings freezing military spending by not allowing any growth above inflation in fiscal year 1986 and bestowing three percent hikes in the following two years, Hollings after the vote saying that a pattern had been set for similar action on other budget items and predicted that the Budget Committee would also go against another Reagan administration supported position by freezing Social Security cost of living increases.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/biddeford-journal-tribune-mar-06-1985-p-4/|title=Budget freezers extend the chill|date=March 6, 1985|publisher=Journal Tribune|access-date=November 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127193501/https://newspaperarchive.com/biddeford-journal-tribune-mar-06-1985-p-4/|archive-date=November 27, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On May 1, 1985, the [[United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation|United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation]] rejected an amendment to a bill reauthorizing the [[Federal Communications Commission]] prohibiting public television stations from swapping channels with commercial stations, Hollings afterward stating that the vote was "a tragic abdication by Congress of its over 60-year-old responsibility to protect the public's interest in broadcasting".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/01/arts/senate-panel-rejects-ban-on-channel-swaps.html|title=Senate Panel Rejects Ban On Channel Swaps|date=May 1, 1985|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In October 1985, Hollings and Republican United States Senate members [[Phil Gramm]] of [[Texas]] and [[Warren Rudman]] of [[New Hampshire]] sponsored an amendment to establish a budget deficit ceiling that would decline to zero by 1991 that was attached to a bill raising the [[debt limit]] of the national government by more than $250 billion. The amendment was approved by a vote of 75 to 24 and was stated as a possible prelude to a balanced budget in five years without a tax increase by [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]] [[James Baker]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/14/us/treasury-head-defends-plan-for-ending-deficit.html|title=Treasury Head Defends Plan for Ending Deficit|date=October 14, 1985|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

During the [[1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries]], Hollings endorsed [[Jesse Jackson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=55210|title=Our Campaigns - US President - D Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1988|website=www.ourcampaigns.com|access-date=November 24, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111013847/http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=55210|archive-date=November 11, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In October 1989, Hollings announced from his Washington office that he would request the [[United States Government Accountability Office]] investigate efforts by the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] to provide timely assistance and funds to victims of [[Hurricane Hugo]] the previous month. Hollings charged FEMA with "stonewalling, fretting and filling out forms" and called on the federal government to become more active in trying to relieve areas devastated by Hurricane Hugo.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/10/03/Hollings-calls-for-FEMA-investigation/4897623390400/|title=Hollings calls for FEMA investigation|date=October 3, 1989|publisher=UPI}}</ref>

In April 1990, Hollings planned the compiling of the Senate Budget Committee to vote on a cut in the [[Federal Insurance Contributions Act]], an idea initially forwarded at the end of the previous year by fellow Democratic senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] as a way of making Congress address what he considered to be a serious problem in the management of the Social Security trust funds. Hollings sought a revenue figure which reflected the $36{{spaces}}billion tax cut through a rollback of Social Security payroll taxes increases that were scheduled to take effect January{{spaces}}1 and confirmed he would ask his colleagues on the budget committee to remove the trust funds from the budget deficit calculation and vote on the 1991 budget including a $300{{spaces}}billion deficit. Hollings's plan included a five percent [[value-added tax]] on goods and services in addition to a ten percent oil import fee as well as an increase in the top income tax rate to thirty-three percent among wealthiest taxpayers. The goal was considered an uphill battle where Hollings could be outmaneuvered in committee with parliamentary tactics that would result in the precluding of a straight up-or-down vote on the Social Security tax cut. Acknowledging this, Hollings said, "They may try to block me. But we will find a bill by God to cut Social Security taxes. There will be a vote."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/24/us/decision-is-urged-on-social-security.html|title=Decision is Urged On Social Security|date=April 24, 1990|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In January 1991, Hollings joined most Democratic senators in voting against a resolution authorizing war against Iraq.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/01/12/Senate-vote-authorizing-military-force-against-Iraq/3439806032531/|title=Senate vote authorizing military force against Iraq|date=January 12, 1991|publisher=UPI}}</ref>

In 1993, Hollings told reporters he attended international summits because, "Everybody likes to go to [[Geneva]]. I used to do it for the [[United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea|United States Convention on the Law of the Sea]] conferences and you'd find those potentates from down in [[Africa]], you know, rather than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva."<ref name=nyt/> Hollings had previously caused controversy when responding to [[Yoshio Sakurauchi]]'s commentary that Americans are lazy and illiterate. Hollings replied, "You should draw a mushroom cloud and put underneath it, 'Made in America by lazy and illiterate Americans and tested in Japan'."<ref name=nyt/>

Hollings remained very popular in South Carolina over the years, even as the state became increasingly friendly to Republicans at the national level. In his first three bids for a full term, he never won less than 60 percent of the vote. In [[1992 United States Senate election in South Carolina|1992]], however, he faced an unexpectedly close race against former U.S. House of Representatives member [[Thomas F. Hartnett]] in what was otherwise a very good year for Democrats nationally. Hartnett had represented the Charleston area in Congress from 1981 to 1987, thus making him Hollings's congressman. His appeal in the [[South Carolina Lowcountry]]{{snd}}traditionally a swing region at the state level{{snd}}enabled him to hold Hollings to only fifty percent of the vote.

In his last Senate race in [[1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina|1998]], Hollings faced [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] U.S. House of Representatives member [[Bob Inglis]]. One of the more heated moments of the race was a newspaper interview in which Hollings referred to Inglis as a "goddamn skunk". Hollings was re-elected by 75,139 votes. 

On January 7, 2003, Hollings introduced the controversial Universal National Service Act of 2006, which would require all men and women aged 18–26 (with some exceptions) to perform a year of military service.

By 2003, Hollings realized that no Democrat could win statewide office in South Carolina's current political climate—not even as entrenched an incumbent as himself. On August 4, 2003, he announced that he would not run for re-election in [[2004 United States Senate election in South Carolina|2004]]. Republican [[Jim DeMint]], who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives member from 1999 to 2005, succeeded him.

In his later career, Hollings was moderate politically but was supportive of many [[civil and political rights]] bills. In 1982, he voted for re-authorizing the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. However, in 1967 he was one of the 11 U.S. Senate members who voted against the confirmation of [[Thurgood Marshall]], the first black [[Supreme Court of the United States]] justice.<ref>{{cite web |title=Congressional record |url=https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/240_1967.pdf |website=www.senate.gov |access-date=14 August 2025 |date=30 August 1967}}</ref> Hollings later voted in favor of the unsuccessful [[Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination]] and also for the successful [[Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination]].

On fiscal issues, he was generally conservative, and was one of the primary sponsors of the [[Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Budget Act|Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Act]], an attempt to enforce limits on government spending.

Hollings and [[Howell Heflin]] of [[Alabama]] were the only two Democratic U.S. Senate members to vote against the [[Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993]].<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 103rd Congress - 1st Session|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=103&session=1&vote=00011|website=www.senate.gov}}</ref>

==== Entertainment industry ====
As a senator, Hollings supported legislation in the interests of the established media distribution industry (such as the proposed "[[Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act]]"). His hard-line support of various [[Client–server model|client-serve model]] computer restrictions such as [[Digital rights management]] and [[Trusted Computing]] led the Fritz chip ([[Trusted Platform Module]], a microchip that enforces such restrictions) to be nicknamed after him. Hollings introduced the [[Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act]], a draft of the later CBDTPA, which would have mandated "manufacturers of all electronic devices and software to embed government approved copy protection technology in their products".<ref>{{Cite web|last=pupeno|title=CPSR - document_view|url=http://cpsr.org/prevsite/essays/2002/leggett.html/|access-date=February 5, 2022|website=cpsr.org|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=March 25, 2015|title=Republicans Should Back Recording Artists, Consumers|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/republicans-should-back-recording-artists-consumers|access-date=February 5, 2022|website=Fox News|language=en-US}}</ref> Hollings also sponsored the Online Personal Privacy Act.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 6, 2011 |title=A law to protect spyware - Privacy - Salon.com |url=http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2002/04/26/hollings_spyware/index.html |access-date=February 5, 2022 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806125910/http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2002/04/26/hollings_spyware/index.html |archive-date=6 August 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>(S. 2201)</ref> According to [[OpenSecrets]], between 1997 and 2002, Hollings received more than $300,000 from the entertainment industry.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Forno|first=Richard|title=Operation Enduring Valenti|url=https://www.theregister.com/2002/03/27/operation_enduring_valenti/|access-date=February 5, 2022|website=www.theregister.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=A 501tax-exempt|first1=OpenSecrets|last2=NW|first2=charitable organization 1300 L. St|last3=Washington|first3=Suite 200|last4=info|first4=DC 20005 telelphone857-0044|title=Sen. Fritz Hollings - Campaign Finance Summary|url=https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/fritz-hollings/summary?cid=N00002423&cycle=2002&type=I|access-date=February 5, 2022|website=OpenSecrets|language=en}}</ref>

{{Anchor|Senator from Disney}}Hollings was referred to as the "'''Senator from Disney'''" for his lobbying on behalf of the entertainment industry, including industry groups like the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] and the [[Motion Picture Association]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Internet and the Law: Technology, Society, and Compromises|last=Schwabach|first=Aaron|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2006|isbn=9781851097319|page=109|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fo2a7YtU1GUC&pg=PA109|quote=Hollings' tireless advocacy on behalf of the content industry also earned him an unflattering sobriquet: 'the senator from Disney'.}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Clarke|first=Gavin|title=Hollywood sock-puppet senator faces tech insurgency|url=https://www.theregister.com/2005/07/28/hatch_test_utah/|access-date=February 5, 2022|website=www.theregister.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=March 11, 2002|title=The Senator From Disney - Aldoblog|url=https://aldoblog.com/2002/03/the-senator-from-disney/|access-date=February 5, 2022|website=aldoblog.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Post Senatorial life and death==

[[File:Hollings Judicial Center in Charleston, SC IMG 4576.JPG|200px|right|thumb|The [[J. Waties Waring]] Judicial Center at 83 Meeting Street in Downtown [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] was formerly named the Hollings Judicial Center for the former governor and senator.<ref>{{cite web |title=Main content Courthouse Renamed for Civil Rights Hero |url=https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2015/10/14/courthouse-renamed-civil-rights-hero |access-date=January 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201153427/http://www.uscourts.gov/news/2015/10/14/courthouse-renamed-civil-rights-hero |archive-date=December 1, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]

In retirement, Hollings wrote opinion editorials for newspapers in South Carolina and was a regular contributor to the ''[[HuffPost]]''. His opinion editorials were also published every week in EconomyInCrisis.org, an independent protectionist news blog. In 2008, the [[University of South Carolina Press]] published ''Making Government Work'', a book authored by Hollings with Washington, D.C., journalist Kirk Victor, imparting Hollings' view on the changes needed in Washington. Among other things, the book recommended a dramatic decrease in the amount of campaign spending. It also attacked [[free trade]] policies as inherently destructive, suggesting that certain protectionist measures built the United States and that only a few parties actually benefited from free trade, such as large manufacturing corporations.<ref>{{cite book|title= Making Government Work|url= https://archive.org/details/makinggovernment00holl|url-access= registration|year= 2008|publisher= University of South Carolina Press|location= Columbia, S.C. |author= Hollings, Ernest with Kirk Victor|isbn= 9781570037603}}</ref>

The Hollings Cancer Center at the [[Medical University of South Carolina]], in Charleston, was established in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hollingscancercenter.org/leadership/index.html |title=Leadership &#124; Hollings Cancer Center &#124; MUSC &#124; Charleston SC |access-date=June 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607185404/https://www.hollingscancercenter.org/leadership/index.html |archive-date=June 7, 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Hollings started the Hollings Scholarship in 2005. It gave more than a hundred undergraduates from around the country a ten-week internship with the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] and a monetary scholarship for the school year.

Hollings helped to establish the [[Hollings Center]] for International Dialogue, an organization that promotes dialogue between the United States and [[Turkey]], the nations of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia, and other countries with predominantly Muslim populations in order to open channels of communication, deepen cross-cultural understanding, expand people-to-people contacts, and generate new thinking on important international issues.

Hollings was also on the board of advisors as a distinguished visiting professor of Law with the [[Charleston School of Law]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.charlestonlaw.edu/v.php?pg=20 |title=Board of Advisors webpage |publisher=Charleston School of Law. Retrieved September 1, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406031933/http://www.charlestonlaw.edu/v.php?pg=20 |archive-date=April 6, 2012 }}</ref> He delivered the commencement address to the first graduating class there on May 19, 2007.<ref name="FirstCommencement">{{cite news|url=http://www.charlestonlaw.edu/General-Info/News/Archived-News/2007/3-20-Hollings-to-give-school-s-first-commencement.aspx|title=Hollings to give school's first commencement address|access-date=February 9, 2017|work=Charleston School of Law|date=March 20, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211075309/http://www.charlestonlaw.edu/General-Info/News/Archived-News/2007/3-20-Hollings-to-give-school-s-first-commencement.aspx|archive-date=February 11, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://photo05.citadel.edu/pao/newsclips/archive20062007/21072.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824102009/http://photo05.citadel.edu/pao/newsclips/archive20062007/21072.pdf |archive-date=2011-08-24 |url-status=live |title=Hollings to Address First Graduation Class |publisher=Reprint from The Citadel of an article from [[The State (newspaper)]] online |date=March 25, 2007 }}</ref>

In 2008, the [[University of South Carolina]] announced their new library would be named The Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Armstrong |first=Dave |date=2008-11-18 |title=University of South Carolina names new library for U.S. Sen. Ernest F. 'Fritz' Hollings |url=https://whosonthemove.com/university-of-south-carolina-names-new-library-for-u-s-sen-ernest-f-%E2%80%98fritz%E2%80%99-hollings-194797/ |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=Who's On The Move |language=en-US}}</ref> The $18-million library was built behind the [[University of South Carolina Libraries|Thomas Cooper Library]] and is home to The Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections, South Carolina Political Collections, and Digital Collections.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hollings Library - University Libraries {{!}} University of South Carolina |url=https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/about/locations/hollings/ |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=sc.edu}}</ref> It is also home to the Dorothy B. Smith Reading Room.

On April 6, 2019, Hollings died at the age of 97 at his home in [[Isle of Palms, South Carolina]], following a period of declining health. Former U.S. Senate member [[Joe Biden]] of [[Delaware]], who was U.S. Vice President from 2009 to 2017, and later U.S. President from 2021 to 2025, delivered the eulogy at his funeral.<ref name="NYTimes obituary" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/ernest-f-fritz-hollings/article_b8041de2-f44b-11e8-b33f-536d8d509c2c.html|title=Former SC Governor, U.S. Senator Ernest F. 'Fritz' Hollings dies at 97|work=[[The Post and Courier]]|first1=Brian|last1=Hicks|first2=Schuyler|last2=Kropf|date=April 6, 2019|access-date=April 6, 2019}}</ref>

==Electoral history==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2021}}
{{Election box begin | title=South Carolina U.S. Senate Special Election 1966}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Fritz Hollings
  |votes      = 223,790
  |percentage = 51.35
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Marshall Parker]]
  |votes      = 212,032
  |percentage = 48.65
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=South Carolina U.S. Senate Election 1968}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Fritz Hollings (incumbent)
  |votes      = 404,060
  |percentage = 61.89
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Marshall Parker]]
  |votes      = 248,780
  |percentage = 38.11
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=South Carolina U.S. Senate Election 1974}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Fritz Hollings (incumbent)
  |votes      = 356,126
  |percentage = 69.50
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Gwen Bush
  |votes      = 146,645
  |percentage = 28.62
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Independent (politician)
  |candidate  = Harold Hough
  |votes      = 9,626
  |percentage = 1.88
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=South Carolina U.S. Senate Election 1980}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Fritz Hollings (incumbent)
  |votes      = 612,556
  |percentage = 70.37
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Marshall Mays
  |votes      = 257,946
  |percentage = 29.63
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=South Carolina U.S. Senate Election 1986}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Fritz Hollings (incumbent)
  |votes      = 463,354
  |percentage = 63.10
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Henry McMaster]]
  |votes      = 261,394
  |percentage = 35.60
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=South Carolina U.S. Senate Election 1992}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Fritz Hollings (incumbent)
  |votes      = 591,030
  |percentage = 50.07
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Thomas F. Hartnett|Thomas Hartnett]]
  |votes      = 554,175
  |percentage = 46.95
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Libertarian Party (US)
  |candidate  = Mark Johnson
  |votes      = 22,962
  |percentage = 1.95
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=South Carolina U.S. Senate Election 1998}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Fritz Hollings (incumbent)
  |votes      = 562,791
  |percentage = 52.68
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Bob Inglis]]
  |votes      = 488,132
  |percentage = 45.69
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
  |party      = Libertarian Party (US)
  |candidate  = Richard T. Quillian
  |votes      = 16,987
  |percentage = 1.59
  |change     =
}}
{{Election box end}}

==See also==

*[[Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership]] (MEP)
*[[List of members of the American Legion]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Sources==

* Ballantyne, David T. ''New Politics in the Old South: Ernest F. Hollings in the Civil Rights Era'' (U of South Carolina Press, 2016). 206 pp
* Minchin, Timothy J., "An Uphill Fight: Ernest F. Hollings and the Struggle to Protect the South Carolina Textile Industry, 1959–2005", ''[[South Carolina Historical Magazine]]'', 109 (July 2008), 187–211.

==External links==

{{Sister project links|voy=no|wikt=no|b=no|q=Ernest Hollings|s=no|commons=Ernest Hollings|n=no|v=no|species=no}}
{{CongBio|H000725}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190214161941/https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/sc_political_collections/collections/hollings_ernest_f_fritz_b1922.php Ernest F. Hollings Papers at South Carolina Political Collections at the University of South Carolina]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100524093154/http://www.sc.edu/library/digital/collections/hollings.html "Fritz Hollings: In His Own Words", an online collection of documents from the Papers of Fritz Hollings at the University of SC]
* {{C-SPAN|1730}}
* https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/weekinreview/19bigp.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020405185332/http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?CID=N00002423&cycle=2002 OpenSecrets figures on Hollings's funding]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020603162207/http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/04/26/hollings_spyware/index.html Salon article on the Online Personal Privacy Act]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020618205613/http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=195 LawMeme article about the Online Personal Privacy Act]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060404105541/http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getmailfiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib%3AArticleToMail&Type=text%2Fhtml&Path=NYS%2F2004%2F05%2F17&ID=Ar01001 "Hollings's Harangue" NY Sun Article about the Howard Metzenbaum incident]
* [http://www.sciway.net/hist/governors/hollings.html SCIway Biography of Ernest Frederick Hollings]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927185953/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=4809a7983c98a010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD NGA Biography of Ernest Frederick Hollings]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvSzJ7_cags Funeral of Senator Ernest 'Fritz' Hollings] on [[South Carolina Educational Television]]

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