[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 90 (Wednesday, July 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 TRIBUTE TO JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Jacqueline 
Kennedy Onassis, a woman whose extraordinary journey through life 
recently came to an end. Like everyone, I was saddened by her passing, 
and my sincerest condolences go out to her family and friends.
  In remembering Mrs. Onassis, many have focused on her grace and on 
her beauty. And to be sure, she was graceful, and she was beautiful. 
But to stop there in describing this woman is to sell her short. For 
the fact is that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was more than anything else 
a woman of character.
  This was most starkly illuminated after the terrible tragedy of 
Dallas, when she stood along side Lyndon Johnson as he was sworn in as 
President. She put aside the shock and grief for long enough to fulfill 
her final, and perhaps most important, duty as First Lady: providing 
the Nation with an indispensable symbol of the peaceful transfer of 
power.
  But we honor Mrs. Onassis's memory not because she was a former 
President's wife, but because she was a unique individual and an 
authentic American. She loved this country; she was proud of its 
culture; and she dedicated much of her life to spreading that pride 
among her fellow citizens.
  She lent her talents to the cause of historical preservation, and 
Lafayette Square in Washington and New York's Grand Central Terminal 
stand today as monuments to her work, enduring gifts from her to the 
people of this Nation.
  After a person has left us, the best test of her life is to ask the 
question, did she make a difference. Was the world a better place than 
it would have been had she not been born?
  In the case of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the answer to these 
questions is unquestionably ``yes.'' In the lives of her children and 
grandchildren, in the lives of millions of Americans she touched, in 
the life of this Nation, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis did make a 
tremendous difference, and it was a difference for the better.
  She will be sorely missed, and she will be fondly remembered.

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