B'NAI B'RITH MAN-OF-THE-YEAR 229

for naught. I recall, for example, news reports that a rebellion was
brewing in the House among some of the new members who would
have preferred a less friendly atmosphere with the new Republican
administration. As one writer aptly put it, it was effectively squelched
by Mr. Mandel between puffs on his meerschaum.

In many ways the man we honor tonight reminds me of another
well known house speaker in this country, Jesse Unruh of California,
a power in Democratic politics in that State and a firm leader of the
Assembly there. I had the pleasure of presenting a citation, on behalf
of the American Good Government Society in Washington two weeks
ago, to Speaker Unruh for his leadership in attempting to make State
legislatures a more independent and stronger branch of government.
In the course of our dinner conversation, I found that he and Marvin
Mandel have much in common. Each is engaged in active programs
to modernize his Legislature and expand its role in State affairs; they
both are liberal and progressive in their views on legislation; and
neither favors obstruction of a Republican governor for the sake of
obstructing. For that last view, I am particularly grateful.

California's Speaker is known as "Big Daddy, " not for physical size
but for the political power he mustered through friends soon after
his election to the House. Like Unruh, Marvin Mandel certainly
doesn't qualify to be called "Big Daddy" on physical grounds, but
in all other respects I think he measures up to the title.

He has played an important role in the leadership of our House of
Delegates since 1955, when he was elected chairman of the large Balti-
more City delegation. He later became chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee and was elected to his first full term as Speaker in
1964. Old hands in Annapolis agree that seldom has House business
been dispatched with such efficiency — or fairness — as it has been
under his guidance.

It is a pleasure to be with you this evening and to honor this out-
standing legislator and Democratic leader. To use a phrase you may
have heard in the last election, "He's my kind of man. "