The appears to be a concerted effort to complain about the South Dakota Hall of Fame’s continuing failure to induct Larry Pressler. The professor, former Senator, and Rhodes Scholar was nominated last year but has been passed over twice. That’s not statistically weird: Oakley Hamilton of the Hall told Jonathan Ellis back in May that the private club gets 40 to 60 nominations a year and picks only ten, so if we average yearly nominations to 50, the chance of not being picked at random two years in a row is 64%. (Maybe more statistically weird: a board of sixteen people seeking excellence among all South Dakotans includes, it appears, no non-white people.)
But evidently a number of people think Larry Pressler should have better than a 36% chance of making the Hall in two tries. Letters decrying the snub have blossomed this week in papers around the state:
- Jason A. Van Engen got into that Sioux Falls paper on July 7 and is making the rounds in various papers.
- Robert A. Christenson pops into the Yankton Press & Dakotan July 7 to say that Pressler’s rejection “has caused quite a stir around the state—from Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike.”
- M.E. Kirby appears in yesterday’s Huron Plainsman and the day-before’s Yankton P&D making similar points about Pressler’s service in Vietnam and in Congress.
I’m not sure I want to exert myself in a public debate over who gets a plaque and free dinner from a private club. (I at least hope the inductees get free dinner; tickets are $35 for the Governor’s Brunch and $75 for the evening banquet, plus an extra ten bucks if you lolligag about and pay at the door.) My finger is apparently not close enough to the heartbeat of South Dakota to recognize “Fame”-worthiness in our fair state: on first reading, I recognize the names of only three of the ten 2019 inductees.
Besides, the Hall of Fame doesn’t need me piling on over which angels they pile on the head of their pin. They face enough difficulty living up to their motto-mission of “Championing a Culture of Excellence” in a state that elects people like Kristi Noem and Jason Ravnsborg to statewide office.
Take a look at this year’s list. I think they have an annual quota of well to do nominees that they can count on for future monetary support to keep their institution viable. Their building probably doesn’t pay the light bill itself.
Larry Pressler should at least accept the responsibility for what he did in 1996, his bill screwed South Dakotan’s as well as the rest of the country. We are still paying for that misbegotten piece of corporate giveaway that Larry Pressler made us choke down.
“The erosion of U.S. firms in the telecommunications industry can be directly attributed to the deregulation of industry by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Many firms fought to gain market share, with different mobile standards and carrier plans with different configurations that made it hard for consumers to switch companies. This fragmented market meant that no firm made the necessary investments toward the next generation. It has meant that U.S. firms are at a grave disadvantage when it comes to the next generation of technology.” https://www.truthdig.com/articles/why-trump-caved-to-china-and-huawei/
lrads1, I’m curious: would that pressure to raise money impact who gets selected? If so, could that explain why Tim Johnson would get selected before Larry Pressler? Does Tim Johnson still have more viable fundraising connections than Pressler?
So what is fame? Is fame growing up on a small farm in South Dakota without indoor plumbing, where you then go on to receive a national award for 4H and meet JFK in the Oval Office because of it? Is fame being a USD student body president, Phi Beta Kappa, and a Rhodes Scholar? Is fame being an alumnus of Oxford and Harvard? Is fame being only one of two Republicans to beat a Democratic congressional incumbent in the year of Watergate? Is fame being the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the US Senate? Is fame being a congressman and or a senator? Is fame being the only politician unscathed by Abscam? Does a Pressler Amendment concerning nuclear proliferation count? Or, does the Telecommunications Act of 1996 count, whether you like the act, or not?
Well, I think all of these things do count and their totality speaks loudly. I am also sure all of the past and current inductees have offered a significant and positive contribution to South Dakota, but many of them do not seem to have the fame of Senator Pressler. Because Senator Pressler seems to have both the fame and the contributions to be inducted into the Hall of Fame; and I say this as a proud and staunch Democrat, but then I am bias on this issue, but I am also right, that Senator Pressler should be an inductee….Oh, and for the sake of full and fair disclosurer, I must mention concerning my bias, that he is my elder first cousin and a successful and famous one at that. ;-)
Comments from cousins and other relative critters are always welcome.
I can see why the Hall of Fame folks push the term “Excellence”—that might be a better term than “Fame,” since really, almost nobody in South Dakota is “famous.” If fame is public esteem and reputation, I would say that fame is not the proper thing to honor; fame is one of the things that should result from “excellence,” from the actual efforts and achievements that we really want to honor.
Some people are famous just because they are good at winning elections. We can see many examples of how winning elections is no good predictor of personal, professional, or policymaking excellence.
It would be interesting (not particularly useful or indicative of the relative merits of Hall of Fame members, but interesting) to survey South Dakotans on the inductees: give them the list of all 719 listed inductees and give them three choices to mark: “Never heard of her”; “Heard the name, don’t know anything else”; “Know who she is and what she did”; “Had chislic and funnel cake with her at State Fair.”
The organization appears to have started as the “Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame.” Maybe Cowboys didn’t make for the broadest fundraising base.
The Hall inducted Janklow in 2013, even though Janklow was an SOB to a lot of people. Did he really represent “excellence”?
An e-mail correspondent this morning got me wondering if we learn more from studying the lives of exemplars of excellence or from exemplars of… really bad behavior. Who gets more attention in history class: Roosevelt, Churchill, Hitler, or Stalin? Might we improve the Hall of Fame by adding a shed out back where we induct members of a South Dakota Hall of Shame? I suggest the nomination letters for a Hall of Shame would be a lot more interesting (and honest?) than the hagiographies people send to nominate our social pillars to the Hall of Fame.
(If anybody wants to start a non-profit and fund the Hall of Shame, I may have someone ready to serve with me as co-executive director.)
I’m proud to be a ‘relative critter’ of my uncle Charles “Chuck” Trimble who was inducted in 2013.
Uncle Chuck was the youngest of 13 children raised in Wanblee and educated in the Catholic Holy Rosary Indian Mission some 100 miles from his home.
If you read his biography you’ll see why he was nominated and inducted.
He wasn’t world famous nor was he wealthy, but he made significant contributions to Indian newspapers, politics, and Indian education.
This is very interesting Cory. I was browsing through the list of people in the HoF and ran across this one for Christine Hamilton. Here’s the part that really caught my eye:
“In 2000, she and her family formed the Matson Halverson Christiansen Hamilton Foundation (MHCH), a not-for- profit foundation established to promote South Dakota and its future in the changing global economy.
“Given the reality of declining rural populations, MHCH holds the belief that rural communities with educated citizens are in a better position to create job opportunities, generate income, and attract families, business, industry and retirees.
“The programs they support provide opportunities for a whole spectrum of ages – everything from post-secondary educational opportunities with the ability to increase earning capacities to the opportunity for intellectual pursuits in lifelong learning. By providing these types of opportunities they hope to also enhance the vitality of these communities for future generations. They create a community of support requiring students to be committed to success and have a little of their own skin in the game.”
Are you aware of MHCH? Anyone? It sounds like they’re trying to pick up some of the slack the SDGOP created.
There are plenty of very worthy names on the list, and then there are clumps of clods who just don’t measure up unless they had left a huge pile of money to the SDHoF. And in my book, it defeats the purpose of a state HoF if you can pay for your penance to entire the Kingdom. That’s pandering and bribery. A vanity service where you must pay to play.
I’ve visited the SDHoF a few times, and it isn’t so impressive as it is disappointing that it could have been much, much more than it is.
Several years ago, I flipped through the biographies at the hall and noticed that so many inductees appear to be a part of a smug, little West River social club. So many of them were “no names” from ranch country (east of Box Elder and west of Kimball). I’ve got nothing against ranch country folk. I have been friends with scores of them. But the resumes and spheres of influence wouldn’t cut the hay elsewhere. These might be folks who were important or known in a two- or three-county area, but certainly not statewide or more. And when you consider the bulk of the state’s population lives east of U.S. Highway 281, the SDHoF seems oblivious to the state’s population, its history and key economic, political and social drivers.
Back to Senator Pressler. I ask readers to look at the list of the list of all 719 listed inductees that Cory hyperlinked earlier. C’mon! What’s wrong with the snobs on the SDHoF board?
Farmers respected and supported Pressler because he was usually instrumental to passing farm bills and ag legislation that helped family farmers and ranchers. He was a voice for rural communities inside the GOP Senate caucus who brought home the bacon to sustain families, senior citizens and towns back in the days when both parties seemed a lot more interested in working together to solve problems. Democrats and Republicans on the WEB water system board knew they had a strong advocate to bring safe and dependable water to farms and ranches east of the Missouri River.
Excluding Pressler from the SDHoF this long is ridiculous. It’s insulting and spineless. I’m a strong lifelong Democrat who didn’t vote for Pressler, but I’m enough of a South Dakotan to know this snub is childish and lacking in the decorum all of us would expect from a state hall of fame. And if he were on the ballot to run against Rounds or Thune, a pair of hyper-partisan jokers who get nothing substantial done for South Dakota, I would vote for Pressler without having to think twice. Unlike anyone in today’s U.S. Senate caucus, Larry Pressler believed in working cooperatively to get work done and creating progress.
Debbo, I had never heard of the MHCH Foundation before your mention. What actual impact have they had on life in South Dakota?
Is actual impact a criterion for “excellence”?
I think the “Hall of Shame” idea has merit, but it will probably never fly. And honestly, we probably know who should be in it.
Perhaps it’s due to West River bias (maybe the 1st time that term has ever been used in SD) I know and respect 8 of the 10 members of the 2019 class. Cory claims to recognize only 3, but that’s probably because he needs to make a few more trips around the Sun. I am kind of shocked that Pressler is not already a member. JK Claussen states his case well. If we have a Hall of Fame, Senators should be automatic inductees.
I can see some merit to fast-tracking applications for U.S. Senators… but then if we get a real yutz of a Senator, we’re stuck with that person in the Hall. As with my opposition to term limits, I prefer and open, deliberative process to automatic selections.