THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 25, 1995 TAG: 9504250004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Porter Hardy Jr., age 91 at his death last week, resembled a Western-movie icon such as Randolph Scott or John Wayne. Handsome, rock solid, polite, he commanded respect on and off Capitol Hill.
He had the look always of a man tied to the soil. He was a farmer in Norfolk County - now long gone - when he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives against a congressman whom he judged wasn't up to the job.
The representative that Mr. Hardy toppled was allied with powerful U.S. Sen. Harry Flood Byrd, as was just about everyone else elected to political office in Virginia for decades. Yet Hardy proved honest, conservative, energetic and conscientious. He was the voters' choice again and again.
He was first elected to Congress in 1947. He departed voluntarily in 1969. He gained seniority and honor on the House Armed Services Committee, where he played no small part in decisions that strengthened the nation's defenses in the Cold War era - the U.S. Navy particularly. Fair-minded but no pushover, he protected and advanced his constituents' interests while holding Pentagon and defense contractors to account.
Congress is scorned. But some of its members are esteemed inside and outside the corridors of power. Mr. Hardy was such a member. He had a long, useful and honorable life. His passing stirs regret. by CNB