Tony Hall Shares His Stories with the Naples Press Club
It is rare and refreshing to encounter a public official who is more focused on a mission to improve the condition of humanity than he is on his own re-election. But Tony Hall, the guest speaker for the January 10 Press Club of Southwest Florida luncheon, was just that. Hall, former Democratic Congressman from Dayton, Ohio, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Food and Agriculture, has been in public service since he joined the Peace Corps right after college. That stint in the Peace Corps took him to Thailand.
On his return, he brought his interest in public service to local politics in Ohio. He served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1969 to 1973. In 1973 he joined the state senate, where he served until 1979 when he took his energies to the U.S. House of Representatives. As a congressman, Hall continued his focus on hunger, poverty and medical needs, chairing the international branch of the Select Committee on Hunger from 1989 to 1993.
His first trip as a member of that committee was to Ethiopia, where he encountered first-hand the eye-opening realities of hunger and poverty. He accompanied Mother Teresa to a clinic run by the Sisters of Charity in northern Ethiopia, where he encountered thousands of people fleeing the horrors of a brutal civil war. Many had come as much as 100 miles on foot and were dying of hunger and especially dehydration. “As I walked between them, I saw 25 children die…I never got over that…I was the only white guy, and the Ethiopians thought I was a doctor and mothers would hand me their dead children, hoping for a cure.”
He stayed for three days, and on the flight home he concluded: “We do a lot of things in Congress that really don’t amount to much. This is what I’m going to do. I’m going to concentrate on hunger and humanitarian work, micro credit, teaching mothers how to read and write, and we passed a lot of legislation and the New York Times called my committee ‘the conscience of the Congress.’” As part of that work he founded the Congressional Friends of Human Rights Monitors and the Congressional Hunger Center, which did much to bring congressional attention to the subject of hunger. Along the way, he visited 130 nations, ensuring that food and medicines were delivered to their proper destinations.
In 1993, his dedication was put to the test when Congress eliminated the Select Committee on Hunger. Rather than shift his attention to some other subject, he protested the utter lack of congressional caring and, at his wife’s suggestion, undertook a fast, living only on water for 22 days—not the usual response for a politician. To his surprise, the press took his announcement positively and when he made a speech to a high school in Dayton, the students supported him completely, saying, “We are going to fast with you and so will our parents.” The congressman said that he would fast “until something good happens.”
The national media took up the unusual story about a congressman fasting; even other members of Congress began to notice and take interest. Ambassador Hall reports that some 200 high schools joined in the fast along with about 150 universities. The number of high schools grew to nearly 10,000, and national attention grew as well. Eventually, the World Bank called him and asked him to make a speech. He agreed and that event included such luminaries as Jimmy Carter, the secretary general of the U.N., and some world leaders. The end result was that the World Bank committed 150 million dollars to support Hall’s fund. At the outset, that fund provided 100 million dollars mostly to women as credit to start businesses. They paid back the loans, and a few years later the fund had grown to 500 million dollars. Something good happened.
In 2002, Tony Hall left Congress when he was appointed Ambassador to the United Nations for Food and Agriculture by President George W. Bush. Reflecting on his work with the U.N., Ambassador Hall stressed the fact that the United States is by far the largest contributor of food, medicine, and money to U.N. aid programs. He commented that of all that the U.N. distributes around the world, 40% comes from the U.S. He went on to point out the importance of that, noting that each bag or package of food or medicine is imprinted in the local language with words saying, “Donated by the people of the United States.” It certainly helps our image around the world. In fact, in his words: “Until COVID hit, we had cut hunger and poverty in half.”
At the Press Club luncheon, Ambassador Hall went on to talk about Ukraine and the war with Russia. He showed slides of hospitals bombed by the Russians and commented on the evil nature of Putin’s attacks on Ukraine. He showed other slides of the devastation he encountered on his first visit to the country. He returned to Ukraine last year when the government there asked him to come and talk about a National Day of Prayer. This is a dear subject for him since in 1988 he sponsored a bill in Congress to make the first Thursday in May the National Day of Prayer in the U.S. It was passed by both houses and signed into law by President Reagan. On his second visit to Ukraine, the ambassador met with the speaker of the parliament and some top advisors to President Zelensky along with the head of the Orthodox Church, the head of the Catholic Church, the head of the Jewish Assemblies, the head imam, and others. He said he was surprised at their interest and support and noted that the country has drafted legislation to create a National Day of Prayer, which he hopes will pass later this year.
He went on to comment on the war, highlighting the massive increase in Russian military spending and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have died on both sides—roughly twice as many Russians as Ukrainians. He also offered his educated opinion that Putin has no interest in a negotiated settlement and will continue to fight until he has the whole country. If there is a negotiated settlement, it would require some sort of international, U.N.-backed buffer between the two countries, given the Russian attitude.
Continued support for Ukraine by the U.S. government is uncertain with the pending change in administration. Ambassador Hall suggested that those of us who care and want to express that concern to our government do so by writing to our senators and congressmen. He stressed using actual written letters rather than emails as being more effective tools. He also suggested starting any communication with a positive tone rather than a critical one to generate more interest.
In closing his remarks, Ambassador Hall shared some advice he received from Mother Teresa when he was discouraged by the enormity of the task of helping people: “Do what’s in front of you.” It did not make sense to him at the moment. It was not until a few days later—when he was with her in Calcutta and he saw her take a dying man into her hospice, clean him, and comfort him—that he understood. “If we all did the thing that’s in front of us, probably half the things of government we wouldn’t have to do because we’d be taking care of each other.”
Written by Renny Severance for the Press Club of Southwest Florida.
Posted Jan. 16, 2025
