[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 52 (Wednesday, May 4, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
         TRIBUTE TO THOMAS D. CLARK KENTUCKY HISTORIAN LAUREATE

 Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a fellow 
Kentuckian for his outstanding contribution to the Commonwealth. Too 
often, we wait until someone has passed before we allow ourselves to 
remember all they have done. Well, my friend Thomas Clark is alive and 
well, and going strong at age 91. He continues to devote his time and 
effort to his lifelong passion, the study and teaching of history, 
specifically the history of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
  Clark first published his ``History of Kentucky'' in 1937. Although 
he has updated and revised this volume on several occasions, it is 
still considered one of the preeminent histories ever written of any 
State.
  Mr. President, Thomas Clark spent the majority of his life as a 
teacher at the University of Kentucky. There, as chairman of the 
history department from 1943 to 1965, he developed a reputation as a 
professor that made learning enjoyable for all students. Combining 
facts with interesting and often humorous anecdotes, Clark helped his 
students gain a new knowledge and respect for the history of our 
wonderful Commonwealth.
  Mr. President, Thomas Clark retired in 1968 from the University of 
Kentucky after a long and notable teaching career. He didn't begin to 
slow down upon his retirement, however. A frequent guest speaker at 
local historical societies, he travels throughout Kentucky, continuing 
to teach about the subject he loves so very much. In addition to 
speaking, Mr. Clark has written over 30 books and has plans to write 
two more dealing with the history of Clark county and the history of 
the old Louisville Courier-Journal. Mr. President, I have no doubt in 
my mind that Thomas Clark will complete these works and probably 
several other noteworthy volumes as well.
  Thomas Clark is also a noted archivist and conservationist. He is the 
founder of the State's university press and is currently lobbying the 
Kentucky General Assembly for money to fund a new State history museum. 
If any of my colleagues have ever met Thomas Clark, they know well what 
an effective and influential lobbyist he can be. Most recently he has 
been in Washington working to get a monument erected for the great 
American revolutionary, Thomas Paine.
  Thomas Clark is a walking encyclopedia who has made it his life's 
goal to share his knowledge and love for the subject of history with 
others. Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this 
Kentucky treasure. In addition, I ask that an article from the May 2, 
1994 Courier-Journal be included in the Record at this point.
  The article follows:

  Kentucky Treasure--State Historian Laureate Is Still Looking to the 
                                 Future

                          (By Richard Wilson)

       Shelbyville, KY.--Thomas D. Clark walked behind the lectern 
     and soon held his audience spellbound. For nearly an hour, 
     and using no notes, he outlined more than a century of 
     Kentucky's development--its progress, setbacks and missed 
     opportunities.
       Effortlessly, he sprinkled his remarks with names, dates, 
     events and observations.
       The rapt attention of members of the Shelby County 
     Historical Society and a few others Thursday night was broken 
     only by periodic laughter in response to Clark's anecdotes.
       Afterward, the white-haired state historian laureate 
     mingled with the audience, making new acquaintances and 
     reminiscing with former students who took his Kentucky 
     history class at the University of Kentucky years ago.
       ``I wasn't the best attender, but I recall he'd always end 
     his lectures with an anecdote,'' said Bill Evans, a retired 
     educator who said he took Clark's class in 1954. 
     ``Frequently, time would run out and he wouldn't finish the 
     anecdote, so you'd have to attend the next class to find out 
     how it ended.''
       Winford Thomas, who took Clark's class in 1949, recalled 
     one tidbit Clark shared; Twice as many Kentuckians fought for 
     the Union as for the Confederacy during the Civil War, but 
     the state has 72 Confederate monuments and only two Union 
     ones.
       Clark left UK in 1968 after a distinguished 37-year career, 
     during which he won international acclaim as a teacher and 
     scholar and built a widely regarded history department while 
     serving as its chairman from 1943 to 1965.
       But he and retirement have been strangers, and as he nears 
     his 91st birthday, he shows no evidence of slowing down.
       He seldom rejects invitations to speak to local historical 
     or civic groups. Already the author, coauthor or editor of 
     more than 30 books, he has at least two more planned. He is 
     also a noted conservationist and a founder of the state's 
     university press. A foundation bearing his name is raising 
     money for the publication of Kentucky-related books.
       He's also a forceful and persuasive lobbyist whose current 
     cause is getting the General Assembly to provide money for a 
     new state history museum.
       The museum, as well as additional space for archival 
     materials, Clark says, is crucial to preserving and 
     maintaining the state's public and private historical 
     documents and artifacts.
       Clark is considered the father of Kentucky's current 
     archives system and has lobbied for other history-related 
     items for years.
       ``He's very low-key, very persistent and very knowledgeable 
     about what he is visiting with you about,'' says Sen. Mike 
     Moloney, D-Lexington, the Senate's budget chief. Moloney says 
     Clark is better prepared than most professional lobbyists 
     ``because he speaks from the heart.''
       Tributes to Clark, a Mississippi native who came to UK as a 
     graduate student in 1928, are not hard to draw from 
     acquaintances, admirers or ex-students, like Lexington lawyer 
     and former Gov. Edward T. ``Ned'' Breathitt.
       ``Tom Clark is a Kentucky treasure. He probably has more 
     credibility than any other Kentuckian in the field of 
     history, public affairs and political reform,'' Breathitt 
     says, ``Plus, he constantly reminds us of our history, the 
     history of the South, and I know of no one else in our state 
     that fills that role.''
       State historian James Klotter agrees. Unlike many academic 
     historians, Klotter says, Clark has not remained in the ivory 
     tower. ``He knows this state, its creeks and valleys, its 
     people, probably better than anybody in the state.''
       Clark is also a realist, Klotter says. ``He's not tied to 
     any philosophy about how things should operate. He's very 
     understanding about how things do operate.''
       Clark's ``History of Kentucky,'' published in 1937, is 
     still in print. Frequently revised and updated, it is 
     considered one of the nation's best state histories.
       During a recent interview Clark gave no indication that he 
     plans to embrace inactivity any time soon.
       ``I'm well started (on a history of Clark County), I have 
     four chapters written. There will be about 12 chapters,'' he 
     said. Then he plans to revive his research on the old 
     Louisville Journal, forerunner of today's Courier-Journal. He 
     shelved that project some 25 years ago when he left UK to 
     become a visiting professor at Indiana University, where he 
     wrote a four-volume history of IU before returning to 
     Lexington, in 1973.
       Clark says if he ``could call back 20 years'' he would also 
     like to explore the Civil War and 15 post-war years in 
     Kentucky, and possibly tackle even a multivolume history of 
     the state. But both projects, he suggests, must now be left 
     to others.
       Though Clark acknowledges that he had no plans for such an 
     active post-retirement career, he also says he does not 
     regret it.
       ``I think if you're honest with yourself, you get something 
     out of that. In the first place, you get to see people and 
     know something about what they are up to. You've got to keep 
     yourself organized. And I think as a person gets older, that 
     gets to be a pretty important fact.
       ``If you didn't remain disciplined, organized, you'd just 
     simply drift off as a piece of chaff.''


                    clark's observations on Kentucky

       Religion and education: ``There's a kind of religious 
     bigotry in this state, or a state of animosity that has been 
     so disruptive. It disrupted Transylvania (College), came 
     close to killing the University of Kentucky (in its still-
     formative years). It has many times interfered with public 
     education, and it has the potential of killing Kentucky 
     educational reform.''
       Education reform: ``We can make one great mistake in 
     assuming that the Kentucky Education Reform Act will achieve 
     immediate revolution. This thing will spread over 10, 15 
     years. And we'll make a lot of blunders. . . . There's no 
     such thing as a perfect educational process or institution.''
       State government: ``If I could wave a wand and change this 
     state, I would say `let's sit down for one calm moment and 
     design a modern state government that gets rid of all of this 
     patchwork that we've put on our constitutional government. 
     Let's design a modern government that will openly and 
     earnestly confront the problems of this state, and let's get 
     rid of this hypocrisy of swearing by constitutional 
     government on the one hand and prostituting it on the 
     other.'''
       A penchant for place: ``I don't think there are many places 
     in this republic where people have such a dedicated sense of 
     place as do Kentuckians. And they come home. This thing we 
     call tourist business in Kentucky, a lot of its simply is 
     some kind of Kentucky connection coming home.''
       The University of Kentucky: ``In all my years of 
     association (with UK) many times I've felt that the people of 
     this state had a better university than they deserved, I've 
     always felt that the university . . . was out a bit ahead of 
     the people themselves, as it should be.''

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