[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]

 
                                CHANGES

  Mr. BOREN. Mr. President, last week was a very meaningful week for 
me. It was a week of reflection about my life and what I wanted to do 
with it as the regents of the University of Oklahoma announced that 
they had requested that I leave the Senate to become president of the 
university at the end of this congressional session, an invitation 
which I have accepted--an opportunity for a new form of service.
  On the day, last Wednesday, when that announcement was made and I was 
on the campus of the university for that announcement I also thought, 
as I was driving to Norman, OK, about events that were happening on the 
other side of the world.
  I thought about the election in South Africa of a new President, 
Nelson Mandela. It brought back a flood of memories of my own 
experience in South Africa in the late fall of 1988, after the 
congressional elections had taken place.
  Senator Nunn and I, and a delegation from the Congress, went to South 
Africa. It was one of the most life-changing experiences that I have 
ever had. We witnessed there firsthand a society in which people were 
being judged by the color of their skins, their ethnic background; 
being divided and separated from each other. We saw people of enormous 
talent whose talents were being wasted, again because of a 
classification by race. And while we saw much that distressed us, we 
also saw much that inspired us because we met some of the most 
remarkable people that I have ever met in my life.
  We met Cyril Ramaphosa, a labor leader who was determined, in spite 
of the system of apartheid, to organize his own people for effective 
political action. He wanted to organize them in a way that would not 
bring violence to the society and in a way that would bring about 
effective peaceful change.
  I met a young South African of Indian descent, classified as 
``colored'' under the laws of South Africa at that time, named Azhar 
Cachalia, a brilliant young lawyer. He reminded me in many ways what 
Gandhi must have been like, devoting his life and taking great personal 
risks to try to change the system.
  I will never forget the day when we traveled to Soweto, to the small 
three room house of Albertina Sisulu, wife of Walter Sisulu, deputy 
chairman of the ANC, who was still in prison along with Nelson Mandela. 
Albertina Sisulu had been under house arrest for over 20 years. Her 
only crime was that she had fought for equal educational opportunity 
for all of the children of South Africa. I will never forget, after she 
recounted the lack of opportunity for the children and what it was 
doing to the future of her country, she turned to us and said:

       But we must never forget that we here in South Africa must 
     love each other and understand each other. We must never 
     become bitter. Because someday we are going to create a 
     country of our own in which all of us are no longer 
     classified in one way or another but we are all South 
     Africans, brothers and sisters together.
  I thought to myself, how remarkable for a woman, an immensely 
talented woman, who has been held under house arrest for 20 years; who 
has been separated from her husband because he has been in prison; who 
had seen her own son, a Harvard University trained scholar, not allowed 
to practice his career in journalism because of his race and his 
political views--to speak to us of love and reconciliation.
  I will never forget that moment as long as I live. And when I think 
about the remarkable people I have met, that list will include names 
like Anwar Sadat, Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk, and Albertina Sisulu.
  We said to Mrs. Sisulu as we were sitting in the living room in her 
house: ``Someday we want you to come to see us and sit in our living 
room in our house in the United States.''
  And she laughed and she said: ``That will never happen. President 
Carter wanted to give me an award last year but our government would 
not let me leave. They have kept me under house arrest.''
  I said: ``Oh yes, that is going to happen someday.''
  I came back from that trip and sat down with then President-elect 
Bush who said: ``I want to send a signal to South Africa that we want 
to become more engaged in bringing about progressive change in that 
country. What shall I do?''
  On the advice of our Ambassador, Ed Perkins, I said: ``Mr. President, 
if you could write a handwritten letter to Albertina Sisulu and ask her 
to come see you in the White House as soon as you are inaugurated, as a 
personal guest, and send a message to the South African Government if 
they do not allow her to come there will be repercussions in our 
policy, I think it would make a tremendous difference.''
  President Bush did exactly that. In July of 1989, just a few months 
later, Albertina Sisulu, after a visit to the White House, was sitting 
in our living room in Washington, DC.
  Now to have seen all of the other things that have happened--the 
release of Nelson Mandela from prison, the election of President de 
Klerk and his beginning a dialog with Nelson Mandela to bring about a 
new South Africa--we are reminded again that people who take a stand 
with real moral courage can make a difference in terms of the course of 
history.
  It was a privilege for my wife and I and then Senator Terry Sanford 
and his wife to host Mr. Mandela at a dinner in the Senate when he came 
to the United States. And just a few months later, in September, I had 
the privilege of hosting then President de Klerk for coffee in my 
office with several other Senators.
  Think about the contribution of these two individuals: One leaving 
prison after so many years with no bitterness saying again, as Mrs. 
Sisulu did, we must love each other, we must reconcile, we must all be 
South Africans together; the other voluntarily relinquishing power that 
had been held by the white minority and, just this last week, entering 
into an election campaign that he knew he could not win in order to 
give legitimacy to the political process that was creating a new 
nation.
  How remarkable. What courage, what integrity, what character has been 
demonstrated by both these two great individuals. Today I salute them, 
as do people all around this world. I will always count it one of the 
great privileges of my life that I have had the opportunity to get to 
know them and to be inspired by them.
  Mr. President, as I mentioned last week, I also made a decision that 
I should take up a new challenge. I honor public service. I have served 
in elective office now for 28 years. Nothing could have given me 
greater pride and satisfaction than to have been able to represent the 
people of Oklahoma and to work for them.
  I believe that people of courage, as I have said, can make a 
difference in the political arena. I continue to encourage our best and 
brightest young people to enter into public service through elective 
office.
  But there are also other ways of serving. I have come to believe over 
time that, if we are going to revitalize this country, it is going to 
come mainly from the grassroots. It will come from the people 
themselves, from the people who involve themselves in volunteer 
activities in their communities and who work to rebuild our great 
institutions, our schools, our universities and others, even more than 
it will come from Washington.
  I have also come to believe that, if we get everything else right but 
we fail to meet the needs for education and nurturing of the next 
generation, we will lose everything, our greatness as a nation and our 
strength as a society.
  So I believe at this point in my life I can serve best by directly 
committing my life to the education of the next generation.
  I also believe that some change is healthy. President Kennedy once 
said we in the Senate live in an iron lung of politics and it is hard 
to get outside this rarefied environment and breathe the fresh air that 
our constituents breathe. I think it is time for me to do that. I think 
it is healthy for new people come into our system constantly with 
different life experiences and backgrounds and skills to share with the 
people of this country, to invigorate the political process.
  While I look forward with great anticipation to a new opportunity for 
service, I also view with some alarm polls in this country which show 
two things: First, the encouraging development that more and more of 
our people are getting involved at the local level as community 
volunteers and local officials, but a second development caught in the 
polls that more and more people are disillusioned with the normal 
political process because they are not sure they can make a difference 
here.
  Mr. President, there is an urgent need to address that problem, to 
restore the vitality of this institution. The current Presiding 
Officer, the distinguished President pro tempore of this institution, a 
great historian of this body, has himself been a great leader year in 
and year out for reform of this institution, to change the way we 
finance campaigns, to end the money chase in American politics where 
special interests are perceived to have too much influence. It is a 
situation in which more and more of the time of our Members is having 
to be spent raising money instead of dealing with the problems of the 
period.
  It has to change. We have to change the fact that there is too much 
partisanship in this institution, too much attention to scoring points 
for Democrats and Republicans and not enough attention paid to serving 
the national interest.
  When I first came here, it was a tradition that no Senator campaigned 
against any other Senator. No Senator went to another Senator's State 
and campaigned against them just because they were in the other party. 
I have still never done that during my service. I hope we will get back 
to that rule because it is very difficult for people to work together 
here in the national interest when they have been out campaigning 
against each other in their home States.
  I hope we will reform this institution in a way that our time will 
not be so fragmented. Again, the distinguished President pro tempore 
has pointed out to us that our lives are too fractured. We have too 
many committees. We are running from one place to another. We need to 
be able to focus our attention, and we will be able to vote on a chance 
to do that when the report of the Joint Committee on the Reform of 
Congress comes before the full Senate.
  So, Mr. President, when I leave here at the end of the year, I hope I 
will leave having seen great progress made in the area of campaign 
finance reform and reform of the procedures of this institution itself. 
I appeal to my colleagues, do not wait, do not wait for reform. We are 
the trustees of this institution. If we do not change it, we run the 
risk that the frustration and anger and disappointment of the American 
people, expressed through proposals for term limits and other kinds of 
proposals, will end up unintentionally damaging the political process 
of this country.
  That is why we ourselves must stand up and take constructive action 
to restore the vitality of this institution, to restore what the 
Presiding Officer has referred to as the soul of this institution. With 
the time I have left as a Senator I will be working as hard as I 
possibly can with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to try to 
help in that effort.
  So, Mr. President, last week was a meaningful week for me. It was a 
week filled with examples of political and moral and personal courage 
on the other side of the globe and a week in which I pondered how best 
to invest my own life in public service.
  A reporter came up to me as I was walking to the announcement of my 
possible presidency of the university, and he said, ``How could you 
possibly decide to trade a position of some power and influence as a 
Senator to become a university president?''
  My answer to that was, ``Public service is not about power; it's 
about where you can do the most good.''
  I made that decision in my own life.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, in closing, to print the text 
of my address to the people of Oklahoma on that occasion in the Record.
  There being no objection, the speech was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

    A Television Address by Senator David L. Boren to the People of 
                        Oklahoma, April 27, 1994

       My Fellow Oklahomans: For the past 28 years you have given 
     me the honor of serving you in elected office--first as a 
     State Legislator, then as Governor, and for the past 16 years 
     as your United States Senator.
       Nothing has given me greater pride and satisfaction. I 
     truly believe that I have had the privilege of representing 
     and working for the most special people on earth--the people 
     of Oklahoma. Your support, encouragement, and confidence in 
     me mean more to me than I can possibly put into words. Thank 
     you from the bottom of my heart.
       Oklahoma is a special place because there is still a real 
     sense of community in our state which is so badly needed in 
     other parts of our country. We care about each other. We look 
     out for each other. We encourage each other and take pride in 
     seeing our young people succeed. We are truly like a family. 
     During our time in public life, Molly and I have never 
     thought of you simply as voters or as constituents and we 
     have never felt that you have regarded us purely as public 
     officials or political figures. We have indeed felt with you 
     a close bond of friendship and family.
       Tonight, as members of our family, I would like to share 
     with you a decision which I have made and ask once again for 
     your help and support. The regents of the University of 
     Oklahoma, acting on behalf of the University community, have 
     asked me to become the President of the University and I have 
     accepted their invitation.
       After 16 years in Washington, Molly and I are happy and 
     excited to be coming home. While I have come back to Oklahoma 
     an average of 40 times each year, I have missed living in 
     Oklahoma year round.
       It is healthy for all of us as individuals to take on new 
     challenges. It's also good for the political system to have a 
     wide range of people with different life experiences coming 
     into the system. They bring with them their perspectives to 
     help solve the problems which we face. John Kennedy once 
     observed ``all of us in the Senate live in an iron lung--an 
     iron lung of politics. It is no easy task to emerge from that 
     rarified atmosphere in order to breathe the same fresh air as 
     our constituents breathe.''
       I agree with President Kennedy's assessment. Service to our 
     nation and to our communities should be a life-long 
     committment for all of us. However, that does not mean that 
     we should serve exactly in the same way throughout our lives.
       Because there are so many important issues now before the 
     Senate, the Regents have agreed that I should not leave the 
     Senate until it has adjourned for the year and its business 
     has been completed. Under Oklahoma law, the Governor does not 
     fill this vacancy by appointment. A special election must be 
     called. By staying in the Senate until the session is over, I 
     will make sure that Oklahoma is fully represented this year. 
     In addition, by returning to Oklahoma in November, my 
     departure will give the state time to elect a new Senator 
     before the major work of congress begins next year.
       I believe strongly that public service is an honorable 
     calling. Early in life, I learned from watching my father, 
     who was a Congressman, that public officials who truly care 
     about people and have the courage of their convictions can 
     make a difference. That is why I do not regret a single day 
     that I have spent in public office. This is why I continue to 
     encourage our best young people, including over 400 interns 
     and staff members who have worked in my own office, to enter 
     the political arena.
       I look back with pride on the things that we have done 
     together. I say ``together'' because your encouragement and 
     help, and sometimes public pressure, made it possible for us 
     to bring about meaningful changes.
       Some of you carried brooms in the 1974 campaign. Others 
     have written letters to the editor and spoken out in public 
     meetings. You have made a difference in the public life of 
     our state because you cared enough to get involved. Don't 
     ever quit. Don't ever stop caring. I don't intend to stop 
     working for what is best for our state and nation. 
     Citizenship is a life-long responsibility for each and every 
     one of us, to serve where we can do the most good.
       Looking back, I recall that together we changed both the 
     state and federal tax laws to end the unfair inheritance 
     taxes between husband and wife. We began landmark educational 
     programs in Oklahoma like The Oklahoma Foundation for 
     Excellence, over 120 local private foundations to help public 
     schools, the Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program, The 
     Oklahoma Arts Institute, state funding for special classes 
     for gifted and talented students, a system of area 
     vocational-technical schools and programs to provide 
     scholarships for medical personnel in rural areas. We passed 
     The National Security Education Act which will allow our 
     college students to study overseas and gain the skills they 
     need to compete internationally.
       Together we have worked for Oklahoma's legitimate economic 
     interests, to repeal the windfall profits tax, to stop the 
     unfair BTU tax and to establish a new export enhancement 
     program for agriculture to help our farmers compete 
     against the unfair trade practices of other governments.
       I look back with satisfaction on reforms we have helped to 
     bring to state government, including stronger open meetings 
     laws, conflict of interest laws and more disclosure of 
     campaign contributions.
       I also thank you for understanding that as a Senator, I 
     should also work for the broader national interest. As 
     Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I worked to 
     make sure that our intelligence operations would be more 
     effective and more accountable to the American people. I have 
     worked hard for bipartisanship in foreign policy with 
     Presidents of both parties.
       Some people have expressed surprise that I would want to 
     leave what they view as a position of power as a Senator to 
     become a university president. But I believe that a decision 
     about public service is not about power or notoriety. It is 
     solely about where one can do the most good.
       While I believe political involvement is of great value, 
     after 28 years in public office, I believe that at this point 
     in my life, I can render the greatest public service by 
     committing myself to the education of the next generation.
       While the national government has an important role to 
     play, I believe that the revitalization of our country will 
     come not from Washington, but from the grassroots. It will 
     come from all of you who are active in your own communities. 
     It will come from those who volunteer their time to help 
     others. It will come from those who work to rebuild our great 
     institutions like our schools and universities.
       A recent survey by the Kettering Foundation reached two 
     very interesting conclusions. First, it found a growing 
     disillusionment with traditional political involvement as a 
     way to make a difference. Second, it found a real 
     determination on the part of our people to get involved where 
     they thought they could make a difference--as community 
     volunteers. A new book called ``The Quickening of America'' 
     reaches the same conclusion. The authors discovered thousands 
     of average Americans who have dramatically improved their 
     workplaces, schools and communities through volunteer 
     activity.
       While all of us should be heartened by this new committment 
     to voluntary activity, we must continue to work to change the 
     reasons for disillusionment with politics.
       These studies and public opinion polls showing 
     growing disillusionment with our political institutions, 
     should serve as a wake up call to all those now in public 
     office.
       This year there will be a vote in Congress on my bill to 
     limit campaign spending and to reduce the influence of 
     special interests in elections. There will be an opportunity 
     for Congress to accept the recommendation of a special reform 
     committee which I helped to chair, to reduce unnecessary 
     committees and bureaucracy in Congress to make Congress live 
     under the laws which it passes as do all other Americans. It 
     is high time these reforms are adopted. Sitting members of 
     Congress are the trustees of our great constitutional 
     institutions. These institutions are far more important than 
     the political careers of any of us.
       At the same time, at all levels of government, we must put 
     aside partisan bickering and pull together as Americans. To 
     be frank about it, there are too many people in Congress 
     today who seem more concerned about scoring points for the 
     Republican or Democratic parties than they are about what is 
     good for America. Political parties have a legitimate role 
     but the national interest must come first. I hope that those 
     who will serve us in Congress in the future will put America 
     first.
       While we continue the effort to reform our policitcal 
     system, all of us must begin the renewal of America where we 
     live, with our families and our neighbors.
       One thing is certain: if we get everything else right but 
     fail to provide for the education and nurturing of the next 
     generation we will lose everything. We will lose our place as 
     a great nation and our strength as a society.
       Last year in the ten largest cities in our country, over 
     80% of children born were to single parents, 15% were born to 
     no parent families--into situations in which both parents had 
     deserted the child before it was 2 weeks old.
       We know all too well what happens to children with little 
     family support and no role models. They drop out of school 
     and often become criminal statistics. In our nation, the drop 
     out rate exceeds 25%. In Japan it is only 1%. We can't waste 
     the talent of one fourth of our people and lead the world. 
     Wasted talent often leads to frustration and to crime. Last 
     year the United States was number one in the world in the 
     percentage of our population in prison.
       We desperately need the largest volunteer effort in our 
     history to mobilize our citizens to act as role models and 
     mentors for young people who have no real family 
     encouragement.
       We must also vow that every level of education in this 
     country must meet the highest possible standards from 
     kindergarten to graduate school.
       Molly and I look forward to the opportunity to continue to 
     serve our state at the University of Oklahoma. I hope that I 
     will have many years to give to it.
       The University of Oklahoma and the other fine colleges and 
     universities in our state, are critical to our future. I look 
     forward to working with my colleagues who lead these other 
     institutions to help strengthen our entire system of higher 
     education in Oklahoma.
       Sometimes, what is going on at the university campus, like 
     the campus at Norman, seems far removed from us. In fact, 
     every single Oklahoman has a stake in what is happening in 
     higher education in our state. While a great university is 
     not all that it takes to build a great state, it is certainly 
     one of those building blocks that we cannot do without. 
     Martin Luther was right when he said, ``The prosperity of a 
     country depends not on the abundance of its revenues or the 
     strengths of its fortifications but in the number of its 
     educated citizens.'' The University helps train our future 
     leaders--political leaders, business leaders, education, 
     religious and community leaders. Their vision and wisdom are 
     greatly impacted by the quality of their university 
     education.
       Institutions like the University of Oklahoma create 
     economic growth by carrying out research and by training our 
     workforce. Above all, the University enriches our lives 
     through stimulating lectures that keep us growing, through 
     athletic events which excite us and through artistic 
     experiences that feed us spiritually.
       Sometimes I believe that our greatest failing as Oklahomans 
     is that we don't have enough confidence in ourselves. Time 
     and time again, outside observers remind us about the talent 
     and energy of our people but we shrink from believing in 
     ourselves.
       The University of Oklahoma is a good example. We do not 
     tell others often enough about its excellence. The University 
     has one of the brightest student bodies in the country and 
     ranks in the top ten of all universities in the United States 
     in Merit Scholars enrolled. It has a committed faculty which 
     includes many scholars of national and international stature. 
     It has a dedicated alumni who have increased their 
     contributions to the University by one third in the last 5 
     years. It has a growing presence in research with a 40% 
     increase in research grants in the last 4 years. It has a 
     nationally renowned health sciences center ranked in the top 
     twenty by the U.S. News and World Report Survey. I could list 
     scores of other achievements. In short, The University of 
     Oklahoma is ready to become a pace-setter and a national 
     model. It is time for us to believe in ourselves and go to 
     work to accomplish this task.
       Many outstanding men and women have come before us and 
     built a strong foundation in our state. We owe much to them. 
     Above all, we owe it to them to use that foundation to launch 
     this state to real greatness--not only for ourselves but to 
     help lead the rest of our country to achieve a true sense of 
     community based upon real standards of excellence.
       Let us determine that the ``Quickening of America,'' the 
     rebuilding of our national strength and spirit, will begin 
     with us in Oklahoma.
       That you and goodnight.

  Mr. BOREN. I thank the Chair and I relinquish the floor.

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