[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 107 (Friday, August 5, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 TRIBUTE TO JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. EARL F. HILLIARD

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 2, 1994

  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, John Doone, the 14th century English poet, 
wrote about the democracy of death, and I quote:

       It comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it 
     comes. The ashes of an oak in the chimney are no epitaph of 
     that oak to tell me how high or large it was; it tells me not 
     what flocks it sheltered while it stood, nor what men it hurt 
     when it fell. The dust of a great persons' grave is 
     speechless too, it says nothing. It distinguishes nothing.

  What does distinguish us are the good deeds we do in life, and how we 
handle the darkest moments of our existence. During one of the saddest 
moments of our Nation's history, the spirit and strength of Jacqueline 
Kennedy Onassis illuminated our hearts and souls. Her image will be 
forever etched in all of our minds. To say she was memorable is 
superfluous. But whomever is old enough to remember Mrs. Kennedy in 
1963, dressed in black, attending her husband's funeral, just two rooms 
over in this Capitol's rotunda, will never forget her.
  Mrs. Kennedy's composure, was America's composure. Mrs. Kennedy's 
strength, was our strength. Mrs. Kennedy's loss, was our loss, and Mrs. 
Kennedy's dignity was America's pride.
  A door was closed in the history of our Nation when she left us. 
After all, she was a link to our glorious past, as well as to the 
legacy of the presidential years of her beloved husband Jack Kennedy, 
our late, fallen President. In closing, let us remember the words of 
the verse that she so often quoted:

       Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one 
     brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.

  God bless you Jackie, and God bless your family. We will never forget 
you or Camelot?

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