THE Senate has adopted a joint resolution honoring Howard Penney Willens, the NMI’s legal counsel during the Covenant negotiations with the U.S. government.
Authored by Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero, S.J.R. 22-15 recognizes Willens “for his devoted efforts towards the establishment of the [CNMI] and the betterment of its citizens and future.”
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois on May 27, 1931, Willens earned his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Michigan and received his law degree from Yale Law School.
After completing his service in the U.S. armed forces, Willens entered private practice before becoming deputy assistant attorney general of the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
He also served as assistant counsel to the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was executive director of the President’s Commission on Crime in the D.C. area.
In 1972, Willens met with two Congress of Micronesia members from the NMI, Edward DLG Pangelinan and Herman Q. Guerrero, in Washington D.C.
According to the Senate joint resolution, “there was a need for an experienced Washington [D.C.] lawyer to provide services that would guide the Marianas status negotiations with the [U.S.].”
A lawyer, Pangelinan had taken on an assignment to interview law firms that could potentially represent the NMI in these negotiations.
After speaking extensively with Willens about the expectations of the people of the NMI, “Willens worked successfully to persuade the law firm, in which he was a partner, that the project warranted the firm’s support.”
He then served as legal counsel to the Marianas Political Status Commission from December 1972 to March 1976, in which he advised commission members on various negotiating strategies, alternate solutions, potential strengths and setbacks, and details and indications of U.S. laws that might apply to the Northern Marianas.
Willens also aided the commission in concluding these negotiations, “to then gain concurrence from the U.S. Congress for the Covenant between the Northern Marianas and the [U.S.],” the Senate joint resolution stated.
He would also later serve as lead counsel of the NMI’s first and third constitutional conventions.
Willens continued to serve the CNMI from Washington D.C., weighing in on important assignments over the years, and spending his last four years in the Commonwealth as legal advisor to the CNMI governor in 2009.
With his wife, attorney Deanne C. Siemer, he authored “An Honorable Accord: The Covenant Between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States,” which was published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2001.
Willens also “conducted numerous interviews with participants that played a role in the framing of the Covenant and the CNMI Constitution in order to preserve the views of these participants regarding these historic events in the [NMI].” These have been published in an eight-volume set by the NMI Humanities Council.
He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities Award, “for his long-lasting contributions towards the humanities of the Marianas over numerous years.”
Willens also conducted a research project at the libraries of past U.S. presidents to collect all non-classified presidential records pertaining to the NMI.
He was able to obtain copies of various U.S. presidential documents which were then digitized and directed to the UH Library.
He also donated to the Pacific Collection “which aided in providing online availability of materials regarding the Northern Marianas for students and researchers.”
Howard P. Willens
