[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 64 (Friday, May 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          CHARACTER IN GENERAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to address my remaining 
colleagues, those watching on television, and a million and a half 
Americans who are still following the proceedings about the issue of 
character.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, when character is mentioned in this Chamber, the 
Parliamentarians get uptight. Everybody thinks it is focused in on one 
person down at the White House. The tremors start. We implement old 
rules that are supposed to govern the discourse among ourselves in this 
Chamber and the other body, the U.S. Senate. Suddenly we are cranking 
in the executive branch, though I don't remember the House leadership 
being so sensitive when Republicans were in the White House and 
regularly subjected to harsh language.
  There is a new scandal on the front page every day. The front page of 
the L.A. Times mentions a scandal that I am not allowed to put into the 
Record. So instead I will speak about character in general.
  In the paper the other day a lady found a faded newspaper clipping 
from 1924 tucked away in her grandmother's book, the grandmother having 
long ago gone to heaven. It was a book on public speaking. The book was 
70 years old. The lady, Elizabeth Agnes Walsh of Curtis, NY, was the 
grandmother of the lady who brought this to the newspaper's attention. 
The clipping was an article penned by none other than President Calvin 
Coolidge, our Nation's 30th President and President Ronald Reagan's 
favorite President. The man who defined patriotism as ``looking out for 
yourself by looking out for your country.''

                              {time}  1330

  Coolidge titled his short piece ``What the Country Needs,'' and, Mr. 
Speaker, if these are not powerful words pertaining to this very hour 
in American history, I do not know what are.
  This is what President Coolidge said: In America ``we do not need 
more material development; we need more spiritual development.

     We do not need more intellectual power; we need more moral 
           power.
     We do not need more knowledge; we need more character.
     We do not need more government; we need more culture.
     We do not need more law; we need more religion.
     We do not need more of the things that are seen; we need more 
           of the things that are unseen.

  At 4 o'clock today I will appear on a television show called ``Sally 
Jessy Raphael'' about the major scandal of the moment. It was recorded 
last Friday.
  Mr. Speaker, though Ms. Raphael and her staff were very nice, I will 
never again accept an invitation to appear on one of these tabloid 
shows. I am used to three against one, four against one, but nine 
against two? Thank heavens, I had a great Republican lady lawyer from 
New York, from the liberal wing of my party, with me. She did a great 
job, better than I did. But as this Sally Jessy Raphael show goes 
across the country, people will realize that there are forces 
attempting to burn at the stake, like Jeanne d'Arc, anybody who dares 
speak up truthfully against the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue.
  Mr. Speaker, we need character, as we always do, as every Nation 
does. Character does matter.

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