Insights - September 2016 - 33

Maritime Industry Loses a Champion Almost from the very beginning of her long and illustrious career 71 years ago, Helen Delich Bentley was involved in maritime Bentley issues. She rose from maritime journalist to chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission. But she didn't stop there. She served five terms in Congress. Her influence in maritime issues, and especially at the Port of Baltimore, were so deeply felt that the port was named in her honor at its 300th anniversary. Bentley died August 6th at her home in Timonium, Maryland. She was 92. Feisty but fair are probably two words that recur most in descriptions of Helen Delich Bentley, regardless of who was speaking or which of her many roles they were describing. She was a fighter, but a fair fighter by all accounts. She demonstrated this when she fought for her first reporting job at the Baltimore Sun in 1945. She ended up on the maritime and port beat where she learned to hold her own with tough union bosses and longshoremen alike. She once responded to an insult from a longshoreman by punching him. Her knowledge of and support for maritime issues garnered the recognition of two presidents. Lyndon B. Johnson noted her reporting on port difficulties affecting supplies for U.S. troops in Vietnam and responded by developing modern port facilities at Cam Ranh Bay. Richard M. Nixon then tapped her for a position on the Federal Maritime Commission. Reportedly, she held out for the chairman position and got it. Convinced of the importance of dredging the Chesapeake Bay to 50 feet, she responded to the resistance of Democratic Representative Clarence Long by running against him. She eventually defeated him and became the Republican Representative for the Second District in Maryland. As it had at the FMC, her work in Congress often put her under fire as she approached issues with a clear goal of doing what was best for U.S. manufacturing, the U.S. maritime industry and her beloved port of Baltimore. She survived criticism for her views, her positions, and for crossing party lines to ensure the outcome she felt most benefitted her constituency and the United States - including confronting Japan over discrimination against U.S. shipping. While in Congress, she dramatically took a sledge hammer to a Toshiba radio outside the Capitol when she learned the company had been selling technology to the Soviet Union. Never shying away from a fight, but with a reputation for fairness and fair dealings, she managed many victories - including the dredging of Chesapeake Bay. When she returned to Baltimore from Congress, she continued to serve the port, and in 2006, she was chairman of the Port of Baltimore's Tricentennial Committee. She was unaware that part of that celebration included naming the port in her honor. DELIVER...SAFELY, SEAMLESSLY, AND ON SCHEDULE. INTERMODAL DRAYAGE | DEDICATED | DRY VAN | FLATBED dispatch@arlnetwork.com | 800-245-4722 ARL Network IANA 1/2 page ad_R3.indd 1 4/10/15 5:32 PM September 2016 | Intermodal Insights 33

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