- [Narrator] This program is made by MPT to enrich the diverse communities throughout our state, and is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Thank you.

(lively music) (lively music continues) - She was a social worker.

She was elected to the Baltimore City Council.

She won a seat in the US House of Representatives.

And then she became a senator.

All right, I am talking about Senator Barbara Mikulski, affectionately known by a lot of people, including me, as Senator Barb.

Thank you so much for coming and talking to us here at MPT.

- Hi, Rhea, and hi to all the wonderful people in the MPT audience.

It's so great to be talking with you once again.

- I am really so glad to have this conversation because it gives me a chance to talk about you the way I know you, so that our viewers can know you in the same way.

So we're gonna start at the beginning.

Where'd you grow up?

- I grew up in Baltimore, in Highlandtown, affectionately now known as Brewer█s Hill.

It was during World War II.

Mom and dad had a little grocery store in the neighborhood, and it was like living in an urban village.

There was a store on every corner, a grocery store, a baker shop, et cetera.

And then there was the avenue where we could shop, the church where we could pray, and the school where we went to learn the three R's.

- So what kind of a kid were you?

- I was a joiner.

I loved to join everything.

People would come in, you wanna be a Girl Scout?

Raised my hand.

You want a library card?

Join the library?

I'd raise my hand.

I loved joining to people, with other people and to do things and to be involved.

- Did you run around in the neighborhood?

Did you know all the people that lived near you?

Were you in and out of their houses?

- Well, we knew the neighborhood because of dad's and mom being in the store.

Even though they sold bologna, they didn't believe in giving people the bologna.

We knew people as our neighbors.

You know, my dad opened that store every morning at six o'clock, and essentially would say, “Good morning, can I help you?” That was the way he ran the business.

He wanted to be of service, and so did my mom.

She was dedicated to helping the customers.

If Bethlehem Steel was on strike, dad would go on credit.

If you were a shut in, dad would say, Barb, take the oranges down to Miss Lill.

Don't take a tip, you're the grocer's daughter.

Be kind and be helpful.

And so I was raised in that atmosphere of neighbor helping neighbor, honesty, and wanting to be of help.

- I wonder, when you were a kid, what'd you wanna be when you grew up?

- One, because I went to Catholic schools.

And the nuns, you know, I was so impressed with the nuns, and so I thought I wanted to be a nun, and that I wanted to wear black and be holy.

Well, that wasn't gonna work out.

But my mother and dad took me to see a movie about Madame Curie.

They wanted me to know my Polish heritage.

Well, I wanted to be a great scientist.

I wanted to do something that would invent something that would save the world.

So I wanted to go to school, and I wanted to go on and do something really big that would change the world.

- You then decided at some point that you wanted to be a social worker?

- Well, first of all, I was really taught by the nuns through all of my schools and in college.

They said, when I was in college, you might like science, but you're really klutzy at it, but you're very good in social science.

And I changed, it was true, I was very good in sociology and the social sciences.

Did an internship at Catholic Charities, loved it, they hired me, and the rest was history.

I started to work at Catholic Charities, a foster care worker, department of social services for children who had been to court, and then on to a master's degree and a career in social work.

I never, ever thought I'd go into politics.

My parents weren't involved in politics, they were involved in community groups, the heritage organizations, the church organizations, the bowling league.

You know, politicians were pot bellied guys and smoked cigars and belonged to political machines.

I wanted to be a do-gooder.

- You wanted to help the elderly, you wanted to help the working class.

You were even then interested in women's issues.

You were a person who wanted to make life better for people.

You cared about people.

- Again, it was the values learned at home, and the way mom and dad ran their business, the way we were taught by the nuns, you know, in our faith, we were taught, you know, really love your neighbor, and that meant helping, being a helping hand.

- And then something happened and you became an activist.

- Well, after the assassination of Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy, I had been kind of like a foot soldier in some of the civil rights activity.

Again, a foot soldier, not a big deal.

And the riots came to Baltimore.

I thought, I think I'm gonna get a doctorate and be ready when a democratic president comes in.

But along the way, and I was gonna go to the School of Public Health here at Hopkins, some people came to me and said, they wanna put a 16-lane highway through East Baltimore through Canton and Fells Point, and not give anybody any value and so on, and people are afraid to fight, they're afraid to fight the bosses.

And they're fighting, and they're putting that highway through West Baltimore too.

So would you come to a meeting?

And I went to a meeting and said, we can fight.

I said but we have to give ourselves a militant name.

We went to a local bar, had some Ouzos.

There was Mike's Tavern, Mr. Mike, and we gave ourselves the name SCAR, Southeast Council against the Road.

The Fells Point Historical Society was fighting it too through a lawsuit.

And we also teamed up with the people in West Baltimore, the Rosemont, the first Black home ownership neighborhood.

And they had a group called RAM.

And we formed a citywide coalition called MAD.

- How did you build a feeling of community with all these very different kinds of groups?

What was it about you that enabled that?

- Well, first of all, it's not only about me, it's about we.

It's about we, the people, who really wanted to fight for their homes.

You know, in East Baltimore, people worked very hard at very tough jobs to be able to buy those homes.

Over on West Side, it was the first Black home ownership neighborhood.

In World War II, GI Bill enabled them to do it.

They were building generational wealth.

So it was finding mutual respect.

You always start with mutual respect.

We identified mutual need.

We were fighting the highway to save our neighborhood.

We didn't give a darn about the highway.

We didn't want our homes taken.

And by basing it on mutual need and mutual respect, and we found common cause and worked together.

- I think there was a protest at the Fells Point Festival.

And what did you do there, madam?

- Well, the very first Fells Point Festival was held to raise money by the Historical Society for the lawsuit to stop the highway.

So we had a little storefront called Radio Free Fells Point, and it was to show what would happen at various points to the 16-lane highway.

A local TV station came up, and the neighbor said, Barb, you talk.

You talk good.

So I went up, got up one of the car table, and said, the British couldn't take Fells Point, the termites couldn't take Fells Point, and by God, the State's Roads Commission won't take Fells Point.

So I was all over TV that night and kind of got a reputation.

But I decided that instead of knocking on door to open doors to stop this highway, because it was tough going, I would run for Baltimore City Council.

And everybody laughed and said, oh, you don't look the part.

Oh, you are so mouthy, they'll never, and a woman, A woman in the seventies, ew.

And yet I said, this is what the part looks like.

Went door-to-door, knocked on those doors running on two things.

Number one, repeal the expressway, citywide, and also form coalition, and then also bring services to the neighborhood, because we hadn't had many in over 50 years.

And I won.

- You had some volunteers working for you.

You had a very special volunteer working for you?

- Well, one of my greatest volunteers was my mother.

My mother, once she accepted the idea that I was gonna run for a political office, she got into it, she worked the phone, she called people.

And my mother really loved people.

She really wanted to, again, be of help.

And you know, when dad and mom retired from the grocery store, mother said, oh, I'm gonna rest now and be a lady.

and so on.

Three weeks later I get a call, Barbara, it's your mother.

Yes, mother.

She said, do you need any help in the office?

So my mother would come to City Hall, three days a week in the mornings, and help with constituent calls that would come in.

And if I wasn't there, I was out in a neighborhood.

She'd say, I'm Barb's mother, if I can help you, I talk to her every night.

And my mother volunteered, unpaid, unpaid volunteer, in both my city council office and even helped in my congressional offices.

And there are people today who say, you know, I know you and I voted for you, but boy did I like your mother.

I loved talking to your mother.

My mother, when she passed away, they affectionately referred her as Miss Chris, the First Lady of Highlandtown.

But again, it was the values of neighbor helping neighbor, very personal.

Tell me what's on your mind.

Tell me where you're having a problem.

How can we help?

- You got Into the House of Representatives.

Now that was a big change, a big, big change from city council.

Were you nervous?

- Oh, absolutely.

When I went to the Congress of the United States, there were very few women.

Women were viewed as novelties.

Like there was a little fad that had come through in the second wave of the women's movement.

And they were gonna give us like the year of the woman, like the year of the asparagus or the year of the mushroom.

And they didn't say, we said, we're here to stay.

And when I came to the House of Representatives, there were these great women, Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Bella Abzug, I mean really dynamic women, Liz Holtzman.

And so I was very impressed.

And then there was the Maryland delegation.

My very dear friend for a lifetime, Senator Paul Sarbanes.

And I went with the Star Spangled Banner class of Jimmy Carter.

It was the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the country.

And change was in the air, and I was gonna be part of it.

And there I was with my little bell bottoms, and I turned in my protest signs for offering amendments.

Did you learn a lot during that time in the house?

- I learned a lot.

I learned a lot on working with great people, Tip O'Neill was the speaker, and other members.

I learned a lot from working with the delegation.

And also I did something which I really enjoy, is working with others and being part of Team Maryland.

You know, when I went to the house, one of our first, I was told Senator Matthias, who is the senior senator, is calling a delegation meeting.

And of course you're part of the delegation.

I thought, oh, I'm actually being included, I don't have to push my way in.

So get all dressed up and all, you know, I'm gonna be with the big dogs.

I'm ready to go.

And we sit down and there's Senator Matthias and Senator Sarbanes, there are two senators.

The delegation, as I said, people like Congresswoman Holt, a Republican, Parren Mitchell.

And so Senator Matthias says, well, this is a new day, I'm the new chairman.

We have new members welcome me warmly.

And he said, it's gonna be different.

This is different than other delegations.

First of all, no smoking, no drinking, no card playing.

We're going to be Team Maryland.

Well, I loved it.

And he said, we're going to work together, and once a month, we're gonna open up anybody that has a statewide interest, 'cause constituent service and district interest are your business.

We're going to listen to them and see, and we're also gonna work on projects.

Well, we went to work, we went to work on getting the new VA hospital in Baltimore, We worked on getting the harbor dredged.

I loved being part of Team Maryland.

I suited up then and I've stayed suited up now.

If I got a call that said, team Maryland's meeting and we want you on the benches, I'd be off the benches and back in the trenches.

- I'm sure you would.

I wanna move on to the United States Senate.

I mean, what about a grocer's daughter from Fells Point, who is now a United States Senator?

That was the big time.

- Well, it certainly was.

When Senator Matthias retired, I ran for his open seat.

And a world class primary, it was a Congressman Mike Barnes and Governor Harry Hughes was term limited.

It was a rocking and rolling primary.

Then I had a tough general.

But when I went to the Senate, first of all, I liked the idea of a six year term, because you could really dig in and work on the issues rather than every other year be campaigning.

And the second thing was, they don't have a germane role.

You can talk about in a time limit.

In the house, you can only talk on the floor for five minutes.

I felt a little inhibited.

It's not my style.

I like to talk.

Seriously, you could work and talk and work on the issues.

My partner was Senator Paul Sarbanes.

And what a great guy.

He helped me so get started in the Senate.

Not only he helped me get on the right committees, but he showed me those invisible corridors of power so that I could learn the ropes and be a success.

And we called ourselves the Diner Democrats and would tease people like Teddy Kennedy, who were the Dynasty Democrats.

We were the Diner Democrats.

- So you're in the Senate, you're one of two women in the beginning, correct?

- Yes.

When I arrived in the Senate, in all of American history, less than 19 women had served.

And of those 19 women, only five had been elected in their own right.

Others had succeeded their husband when he passed away for an unfulfilled term.

And there was Senator Kassebaum, who had been elected in her own right.

Distinguished, a Republican from Kansas.

Wonderful person, and very helpful, very collegial.

And we worked together on of many issues.

- One issue that I love that you worked on was the dress code.

- Women weren't supposed to wear trousers.

They didn't use the term pants or slacks, it was trousers.

And it was said like that, trousers.

I liked my cute little pant suits.

And I'd come in from the district, I commuted every day, or the state, I'd been out to a military base or something.

They said, if you're gonna do this, you've gotta get permission and you better go to Senator Byrd.

I went to Senator Byrd.

He said, really?

That's what women wear?

He said, I'm not so sure.

He said, you have to go to the historian and parliamentarian.

I had research.

You thought I was gonna do an amendment to the Constitution.

We poured over it.

Anyway, on a Saturday morning, when we were working, which was a rare session, it was very cold, rainy, winter day.

I thought, heck with this.

So I wore my little pants suit and I signaled, they said, you've gotta tell Byrd, told Senator Byrd, my staff told the others.

The day I pulled up, was going to go on the floor, as I got ready to walk on the floor, I saw all the women staffers from other offices all lined around.

They were up in the balcony and so on.

And I walked in the door that senators walk in.

Navy blue, stepped forward.

There was Senator Byrd, he was sitting in his chair.

And I stepped forward and walked in and took my seat.

They nodded, started the prayer.

I sat down and I made history.

- [Rhea] You sure did make history.

- It was a small step for womankind.

- [Rhea] I love that story so much.

- But you know, it was change.

And I mentioned that because as we fought for women's rights, and we did, the Equal Rights Amendment, getting women included and the protocols at NIH where we were excluded, equal pay for equal work, we always had great men as our allies.

I always have said that men of quality always support we women as we seek equality.

- When you were in the Senate, you got interested and very effectively worked in the science area, which was a little different from most of the other things.

And you made a big contribution.

- Well, my passion for science really continues all of my life.

Though I couldn't become a scientist, I didn't have that talent, I had the situation, and now the power, to help scientists.

And Maryland is a science state.

We have great science labs, the National Institutes of Health.

We're well known in space, like Goddard Space Agency.

We have great academic science institutions, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins, where we do groundbreaking research.

We're the home to the Hubble Telescope.

We're the home to the James Webb Telescope.

We're the home to breakthrough research in every possible field.

So I have been a big supporter of funding for research and for supporting the scientists that do that.

And why?

Because it's science that leads to the new ideas that lead to the new jobs.

I saw the shipyards close here.

I saw Bethlehem Steel close even though we fought.

I saw jobs leave on a slow boat to China or a fast track to Mexico.

And even though we slowed it down, but I thought, where are the new jobs coming from?

And then also, how do we use science to modernize the old jobs?

Like unloading ships at the port and go technology.

So yes, I've been very involved, but it wasn't easy.

So at NIH, we found that women were being systematically excluded from research protocols at NIH, that would affect us.

So the famous study, take an aspirin a day, keep a heart attack away, included over a thousand male medical students, but not one woman, that the leading cause of death for women is heart disease.

Well, we weren't getting anywhere.

And so I said, time for a protest.

They said, senators don't do protests.

I said, this senator is gonna do a protest with also house members.

Connie Morella of Maryland, Pat Schroeder, Congresswoman Olympia Snowe, Senator Nancy Kassebaum by proxy.

And we went to NIH and said, tell us the scientific reasons why we're being excluded.

They couldn't.

George Bush appointed Bernadine Healy as head of NIH, and the rest became history.

We established the Office of Women's Health at NIH.

And by the way, working with Dr. Healy, we got her the research money to do her famous hormone study on what she felt could trigger breast cancer.

The research indicated that it did.

It changed medical practice.

And guess what?

It reduced breast cancer rates by 15%.

You know, I liked the role I played, but again, it isn't a me, it was a we.

We worked with others.

It was hands across the aisle.

We put people over party.

We put country over party.

We put women over political party.

And we had the support of the men to do this.

- And there were a lot of firsts in your life, and we can't do all of those either.

But are there some firsts that you wanna talk about?

- Well, being the first woman elected to the United States Senate and elected in her own right where some poor guy didn't have to die for me to get the job, no, seriously, was a big honor.

But you know, as a first, I didn't want to be the only.

I wanted to be able to help and encourage other women to run and win, and have done that.

Whether it's to run for city council, whether it's to run for the legislature.

They say, oh, I don't know if I can do that.

And I say, yes, you can.

Again, we wanted to build a pipeline.

We wanted to be, I wanted to be, it was fine to be the first, but I never wanted to be the only.

And when I've talked to other firsties, again, Republican or Democrat, if we were talking to Madeleine Albright or Condoleezza Rice, they both would've said we wanted others to be able to follow in foreign policy.

Sally Ride didn't wanna be the only woman in space.

But you asked about another first.

There were a couple of onlies that I'd like to talk about.

- Oh, okay, good.

- And it goes to my family because everything that you hear me talking about really got started in the family, and then in the neighborhood, and so on.

So when President Obama awarded me the Medal of Freedom, it was a stunning thing.

I was just amazed when he called me to discuss this with me.

In the day I went to the White House, my family was with me.

Mom and dad had since passed on, but my sisters and brother-in-laws and great nieces and nephews were there.

And we had a great time with the president and others.

One of the people was Dr. Katherine Johnson of Hidden Figures fame.

It was a beautiful day.

But that night, when I got home, celebration was over and I had the medal.

I really thought back, I so miss the fact that my mother and father weren't there, because without them, a mother who wanted the best for her girls, my sisters and I, and a father who believed in education for his girls at a time that wasn't popular, we're talking about the forties and the fifties, but he wanted us to be independent and take care of themselves.

So when you say about the first, it was those kinds of things that were motivational for me because it's really your values and the values of this “Good morning, can I help you?” So when you say, well, how do you wanna be remembered?

Sure, there's awards and medals and things that I really treasure and grateful that I receive.

But really, what is important to me is that people remember that every day, I thought in my mind, “Good morning, can I help you?” And how can I be a helping hand?

- Thank you so much.

I just have loved this conversation.

Senator Barb, you're a one and only.

- So are you, Rhea.

(upbeat music) One day, I was knocking on a door in East Baltimore.

A lady came to the door, classic Baltimore.

She had pink curlers in her hair and so on.

And she said, are you running with the machine?

And I said, no, I'm a reformer.

I'm running against the machine.

And she said, are you Mikulski?

Are you any relationship to Mikulski's Bakery?

And I said, yes, that's my grandmother and my uncle's.

She said, listen kid, if you're half as good as your jelly donuts, you'll be okay.