View source for William Spong Jr.

{{short description|American politician}}

{{More citations needed|date=September 2010}}
{{Infobox officeholder| name=William B. Spong Jr.
| image name=William B Spong.jpg
| jr/sr1=United States Senator
| state1=[[Virginia]]
| party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| office = 17th [[William & Mary Law School|Dean of William & Mary Law School]]
| term_start=1976
| term_end= 1985
| preceded= [[James P. Whyte Jr.]]
| succeeded= [[Timothy J. Sullivan]]
| term_start1=December 31, 1966
| term_end1=January 3, 1973
| preceded1=[[A. Willis Robertson]]
| succeeded1= [[William L. Scott]]
| state_senate2 = Virginia
| district2 = [[Virginia's 3rd Senate district|3rd]]
| alongside2 = [[William H. Hodges|William Hodges]] & William Kellam
| term_start2= January 12, 1966
| term_end2= December 31, 1966
| preceded2= [[Gordon F. Marsh]]
| succeeded2= [[Willard J. Moody]]
| state_senate3 = Virginia
| district3 = [[Virginia's 10th Senate district|10th]]
| term_start3= January 11, 1956
| term_end3= January 12, 1966
| preceded3= James D. Hagood
| succeeded3= [[Edward E. Willey]]
| office4= Member of the [[Virginia House of Delegates]] from [[Portsmouth, Virginia|Portsmouth City]]
| alongside4= [[John Ashton MacKenzie|John A. MacKenzie]]
| term_start4= January 13, 1954
| term_end4= January 11, 1956
| preceded4= R. Winston Bain
| succeeded4= [[Willard J. Moody]]
| birthname = William Belser Spong Jr.
| birth_date={{birth date|1920|9|29}}
| birth_place=[[Portsmouth, Virginia|Portsmouth]], [[Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date={{death date and age|1997|10|8|1920|9|29}}
| death_place=Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S.
| spouse= Virginia Wise Galliford
|alma_mater         = [[Hampden–Sydney College]]<br>[[University of Virginia]]<br>[[University of Edinburgh]]
| signature = William B. Spong Jr. signature.png
| branch = {{tree list}}
*[[United States Army]]
**[[United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Forces]]
{{tree list/end}}
| serviceyears = 1942–1945
| unit = [[93rd Operations Group|93rd Bombardment Group]]
| battles = [[World War II]]
}}
'''William Belser Spong Jr.''' (September 29, 1920{{spaced ndash}}October 8, 1997) was an American [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] [[politician]] and a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] who represented the state of [[Virginia]] from 1966 to 1973.

==Biography==
===Early life and education===
Spong was born in [[Portsmouth, Virginia]], and attended [[Public school (government funded)|public schools]],  [[Hampden–Sydney College]] in [[Hampden Sydney, Virginia|Hampden Sydney]], the [[University of Virginia]] in [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]], and the [[University of Edinburgh]] in [[Scotland]]. He studied [[law]], and was admitted to the bar in 1947, commencing practice in Portsmouth soon thereafter.  During [[World War II]], Spong served in the [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]], Eighth Air Force from 1942 to 1945.  After the war, Spong was a lecturer in law and government at the [[College of William and Mary]] from 1948 to 1949.

===State politics===
Spong entered Virginia politics as a member of the [[Virginia House of Delegates]] from 1954 to 1955, and afterwards as a member of the [[Virginia State Senate]] from 1956 to 1966.  While in the Senate, Spong was chairman of the Virginia Commission on Public Education from 1958 to 1962.
[[File:William B. Spong.jpg|thumb|left|Spong during his tenure in the U.S. Senate]]

===National politics===
In 1966, Spong was personally recruited by President [[Lyndon Johnson]] to mount a primary challenge against 20-year incumbent Senator [[A. Willis Robertson]].  Johnson was angered at Robertson's opposition to the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|Civil Rights]] and [[Voting Rights Act|Voting Rights]] Acts.  Spong defeated Robertson in one of the biggest upsets in Virginia political history and breezed to victory in November. Robertson resigned on December 31, 1966; [[Governor of Virginia|Governor]] [[Mills Godwin]] appointed Spong to the seat, giving Spong higher seniority than other senators elected that November.  Spong's primary victory marked the beginning of the end of the [[Byrd Organization]]'s long dominance of Virginia politics. Spong's Senate career was short-lived; in [[1972 United States Senate election in Virginia|1972]], he was narrowly defeated  for reelection by 8th District Representative [[William L. Scott]].

Spong would be the last Democrat elected to the Senate from Virginia until [[Chuck Robb]]'s victory in 1988. Spong's Senate colleague, [[Harry F. Byrd Jr.]], became an independent in 1970.

===Later life and death===
After his Senate career, Spong returned to the practice of law, and also served as a law [[professor]] and the [[dean (education)|dean]] of the [[Marshall-Wythe School of Law]] at the College of William and Mary from 1976 to 1985. In 1976, Spong was president of the [[Virginia Bar Association]]. He was appointed interim president of [[Old Dominion University]] in 1988, and was a resident of Portsmouth until his death.  He is interred at the [[University of Virginia Cemetery]] in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]].

==Personal life==
===Humor===
A popular Internet joke claims<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://etwof.com/spong_fong_ping_pong.html|title=Spong-Fong Ping-Pong {{!}} End the War on Freedom|website=etwof.com|language=en|access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> that William B. Spong of Virginia and [[Hiram Fong]] of Hawaii sponsored a bill recommending the mass ringing of church bells to welcome the arrival in Hong Kong of the [[Ping Pong Diplomacy|U.S. Table Tennis Team after its tour of Communist China]]. The bill failed to pass, cheating the Senate out of passing the Spong-Fong Hong Kong Ping Pong Ding Dong Bell Bill.

In fact, Senator Spong never sponsored such a bill, but he did have some fun with the press soon after arriving in [[Washington, D.C.]] As described in an article by his cousin, the Rt. Rev. [[John Shelby Spong]], Senator Spong:

<blockquote>was invited with the other freshman senators to address the National Press Club. Fearful that someone on radio or television would call him Senator Sponge, he used his brief five-minute introductory speech to that body to secure proper name identification. His first act as a senator, he announced in his southern drawl, would be to introduce a bill to protect the rights of songwriters in Hong Kong. He would be joined in this effort by the senior senator of Louisiana, [[Russell Long]], and the senior senator from Hawaii, [[Hiram Fong]], and together they would present the Long Fong Spong Hong Kong Song Bill. His name was never mispronounced by members of the media.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}</blockquote>

Other sources crediting Spong with the humorous bill name suggest different contexts.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/11/us/a-law-by-any-other-name.html|journal=New York Times|title=A Law By Any Other Name|author=Marjorie Hunter|date=February 11, 1982|access-date=June 25, 2021|quote=Some few years ago, members of Congress played a game, conjuring up preposterous names for bills.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/08/22/editorial/indexspecial.html|author=Samuel P. King|title=A good son of Hawaii, Fong left his mark on many lives|date=August 22, 2004|journal=Honolulu Star Bulletin|access-date=June 25, 2021}} (incorrectly claiming the bill was not only introduced but "passed")</ref>

===Family===
Spong married Virginia Wise Galliford. They had two children, Martha and Tom.

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{citation|author1=Whitley, Tyler |author2=Schapiro, Jeff E. |name-list-style=amp |title=Former senator dead|url=http://gateway-va.com/tdnews/1009spon.htm|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch|date=October 9, 1997|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19971011053153/http://gateway-va.com/tdnews/1009spon.htm|archivedate=October 11, 1997}}
*{{citation|author=Freehling, Allison|title=Spong, Ex-U.S. Senator And W&M Law Dean, Dies At 77|url=https://www.dailypress.com/1997/10/09/spong-ex-us-senator-and-wm-law-dean-dies-at-77/|work=Daily Press|place=Newport News, Virginia|date=October 9, 1997}}
*{{citation|author=Friddell, Guy|title= Former U.S. senator and ODU president William Spong dies at 77 |url=http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1009spo.html|work=The Virginian-Pilot|place=Hampton Roads, Virginia|date=October 9, 1997|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19971011065319/http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1009spo.html|archivedate=October 11, 1997}}
* Spong, John Shelby (May/June, 1998). "My Cousin Bill". Human Quest, p.&nbsp;3. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3861/is_199805/ai_n8799603/pg_3 page]
{{CongBio|S000739}}

==External links==

{{S-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[A. Willis Robertson]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[List of United States Senators from Maine|U.S. Senator]] from [[Virginia]]<br>([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 2]])|years=[[1966 United States Senate election in Virginia|1966]], [[1972 United States Senate election in Virginia|1972]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Andrew P. Miller]]}}
{{S-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box
|state=Virginia
|class=2
|before=[[A. Willis Robertson]]
|after=[[William L. Scott]]
|years=December 31, 1966 – January 3, 1973
|alongside=[[Harry F. Byrd Jr.]]}}
{{S-aca}}
{{Succession box| title=Dean of [[the College of William & Mary Law School]] | before=[[James P. Whyte Jr.]] | after=[[Timothy J. Sullivan]] | years=1976–1985}}
{{Succession box| title=President of [[Old Dominion University]] | before=Dr. Joseph M. Marchello | after=Dr. James V. Koch | years=1989–1990}}
{{S-end}}

{{USSenVA}}
{{Virginia State Senators (3rd district)}}
{{USCongRep-start|congresses= 89th–92nd [[United States Congress]] |state=[[Virginia]]}}
{{USCongRep/VA/89}}
{{USCongRep/VA/90}}
{{USCongRep/VA/91}}
{{USCongRep/VA/92}}
{{USCongRep-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spong, William B. Jr.}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces soldiers]]
[[Category:American legal scholars]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:College of William & Mary faculty]]
[[Category:Hampden–Sydney College alumni]]
[[Category:Virginia lawyers]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates]]
[[Category:Democratic Party Virginia state senators]]
[[Category:University of Virginia alumni]]
[[Category:Politicians from Portsmouth, Virginia]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Virginia]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Virginia]]
[[Category:Burials at the University of Virginia Cemetery]]
[[Category:Deans of the William & Mary Law School]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly]]