[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 80 (Wednesday, June 22, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 TRIBUTE TO JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, the leadership has designated today 
for tributes to the sister-in-law of our colleague from Massachusetts, 
so I rise to remember an elegant First Lady and a lost national 
treasure, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
  While she rarely spoke in public and protected her privacy throughout 
her life, her effect on the spirit of the American people was great, 
because of her strength, and because of her love of beauty.
  President Kennedy once praised Robert Frost, saying that ``because he 
knew the midnight as well as the high noon, because he understood the 
ordeal as well as the triumph of the human spirit, he gave his age 
strength with which to overcome despair.'' When Kennedy's own death 
threatened our Nation with despair, his widow's strength helped us to 
overcome the midnight of that ordeal.
  Madam President, I was just a college student during the Kennedy 
administration. Our generation of young women was profoundly affected 
by the grace and dignity of the First Lady. We were fascinated by her--
as was the world.
  The Kennedys celebrated art and beauty in many ways, and she was the 
leader in that great effort. She preserved the historic stateliness of 
Lafayette Park, restored the magnificence of the White House, and 
filled its halls with the music of great artists like Pablo Casals.
  When she left the White House, her work as a doting mother and a 
steadfast champion of the arts became quieter, but she lost none of her 
zeal for either role, and she built a great legacy in both.
  She was like a vision who moved, in Edmund Burke's words, ``just 
above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had 
just begun to move in, glittering like the morning star full of life 
and splendor and joy.''
  When that joy was shattered, she preserved that splendor, and her 
morning star continued to enrich our lives.
  Madam President, today I offer the condolences of all Texans to my 
colleague from Massachusetts and to the other relatives and friends who 
survive her. May she rest in peace.
  Thank you, Madam President
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The absence of a quorum has been suggested. 
The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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