[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 82 (Friday, June 24, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                 TRIBUTE TO JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS

  Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to 
say a few words about former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a 
woman whom I admire greatly. Many Senators have risen over the last few 
days to pay tribute to this wonderful woman who has had such a great 
impact on the lives of so many Americans, and I would like to recognize 
Mrs. Kennedy for the contributions she made to a field very dear to me, 
that of historic preservation in the United States.
  We often take for granted the numerous monuments, memorials, and 
historic buildings found throughout Washington, DC, but many of these 
structures are here today in no small part because of the efforts of 
Mrs. Kennedy. The Old Executive Office Building, the Renwick Gallery of 
Art, and other buildings lining Lafayette Square all owe their 
continued existence to Jackie Kennedy, and her lasting contributions to 
renovations in the White House are viewed by thousands every week. As 
Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 
observed,

       Jackie Kennedy had a greater effect on the shape and spirit 
     of the historic heart of the nation's capital than any 
     architect or developer * * *. For more than any resident of 
     the White House since Thomas Jefferson, she had a vision of 
     what architecture and the arts can mean. In the end, she may 
     be one of the more important preservationists in Washington's 
     history.

  It was Jackie Kennedy who, in 1962, convinced the chairman of the 
National Trust for Historic Preservation and Commission of Fine Arts, 
David Finley, not to replace the historic buildings surrounding 
Lafayette Park with modern highrise office towers. As a result, the 
Blair House, Decatur House, Dolley Madison's House, and the Renwick 
Gallery of Art are enjoyed by thousands of visitors to our Nation's 
Capital today. In addition, Mrs. Kennedy's plans for Lafayette Square 
became a model for future urban planning and development in the 
District of Columbia.
  Who among my colleagues can forget Jacqueline Kennedy's redecoration 
of the White House and the television tour of her efforts. And Mrs. 
Kennedy ensured that her restorative endeavors would be continued after 
she left the White House by helping to establish a permanent curator's 
position there.
  Jacqueline Kennedy's commitment to historic preservation did not 
cease after she left Washington. As a resident of New York City, she 
vigorously opposed the demolition of Penn Station. As a trustee of New 
York's Municipal Arts Society, she fought city officials all the way to 
the Supreme Court to save Grand Central Station. The Court's decision 
to uphold Grand Central terminal's status as a landmark building is 
often seen as a turning point in historic preservation in America.
  I have always appreciated the inroads Mrs. Kennedy made in the field 
of historic preservation, an area to which my wife, Mary, and I have 
long been committed. I do not think it would have been possible to 
locate a National Center for Historic Preservation Technology in 
Natchitoches, LA, had Jackie Kennedy not brought the issue of historic 
preservation to the forefront of American consciousness. The 
construction of a Jazz Park in New Orleans to preserve jazz music and 
structures such as Armstrong Park associated with it and the 
preservation of the Cane River area in northern Louisiana both owe a 
great deal to the efforts of this former First Lady, who understood the 
importance of saving historic structures for future generations to 
learn from and enjoy.
  As we remember Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the weeks and months 
following her death, I hope my colleagues will join with me in thinking 
of her whenever we travel on Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol 
and the White House or enjoy the beauty of the historic structures 
around Lafayette Park and will consider the fights she led to preserve 
America's heritage and remember the boost she gave to the historic 
preservation movement in this country. Although Mrs. Kennedy's death is 
a tragic loss for America, she will continue to live on through the 
lasting contributions she made to the preservation of America's 
heritage.

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