[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


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

 
                         JAMIE WHITTEN RETIRES

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, when my friend and distinguished 
colleague in the other body, Jamie L. Whitten, retires at the end of 
this session as the Congressman for the First Congressional District of 
Mississippi, he will have served the people of his district, our State, 
and our Nation, for 53 years.
  He came to Congress when rural electricity was just becoming a 
reality. He will leave when space travel is common and satellites can 
flash news and information around the globe in seconds.
  Throughout his career, Jamie Whitten has been first and foremost a 
champion of the interests of those who live in rural America. He has 
been a true friend of our farmers and their families. He has been a 
successful advocate for conservation of our soil and water resources, 
sound flood control policies, and support from the Government in time 
of special hardship and disaster.
  Jamie Whitten has been a friend and mentor for me, and I will truly 
miss him when he retires. I have learned much by studying his example, 
his seriousness of purpose, and his conscientious devotion to duty. He 
has always been courteous, and he has always been a gentleman.
  It has been a great pleasure for me to have worked very closely with 
Congressman Whitten on Appropriations Committee matters, especially on 
the subcommittee on agriculture, rural development and related 
agencies.
  He is the most knowledgeable person in Congress on the subject matter 
within the jurisdiction of that subcommittee.
  And for me, he is, and has been during the 22 years we have served 
together in the Congress, a very helpful friend and colleague.
  I will never forget when we Republicans won control of the Senate in 
1980 and for 6 years I served as chairman of the same Appropriations 
Subcommittee in the Senate that Jamie chaired in the House. As we began 
the first conference on the subcommittee's bill in 1981, he said to me: 
``You have to be careful what you ask for now, you may get it.''
  Jamie Whitten was born in Cascilla, MS, in 1910. He married the 
former Rebecca Thompson of Saltillo, MS, and they have two children, a 
son, Jamie Lloyd Whitten, and a daughter, Beverly Rebecca Merritt. He 
attended the public schools at Cascilla, and at Charleston, the nearby 
county seat which he still calls home. He attended the literary and law 
schools of the University of Mississippi at Oxford and served 1 year as 
principal of the Cowart School in Tallahatchie County.
  After beginning the practice of law in Charleston, Jamie Whitten was 
elected to the State legislature from Tallahatchie County at the age of 
21, the first year he was eligible to vote. He then was elected 
district attorney at age 23 from the 17th District, which included at 
that time Tallahatchie, Yalobusha, Panola, Tate, and DeSoto counties.
  In November 1941, in a special election, Jamie Whitten was elected to 
Congress and sworn into office during the 77th Congress. He was re-
elected the next year to the 78th Congress, and has been returned by 
the people of his district by substantial margins to every succeeding 
Congress.
  He has served honorably and exceptionally well for 53 years. He is 
the dean of the House of Representatives as well as the senior member 
of the Appropriations Committee, which he served ably and effectively 
as chairman from 1979 until 1992. As longtime member and chairman of 
the Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations, he has fondly, and I 
might add, accurately, been called ``The Permanent Secretary of 
Agriculture.'' He has served with 11 Presidents of the United States, 
beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt, and with more Secretaries of 
Agriculture than anyone can remember.
  As his remarkable and historic career as a U.S. Congressman ends this 
session, I congratulated him for a job well done. Our Nation, and 
especially our State of Mississippi, are grateful for him for a record 
of honorable and very distinguished service.
  We wish for him and his gracious wife, Rebecca, much happiness in the 
years ahead.

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