[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]

 
                       TRIBUTE TO SENATOR MATHEWS

  Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. President, when the Senate reconvenes next year, 
Harlan Mathews will not be with us. He was appointed 2 years ago to 
fill the unexpired term created when Al Gore became Vice President. He 
said at the time that he would not seek reelection and he is making 
good that pledge.
  Senator Mathews' presence will be missed. He brought to the Senate a 
lifetime's experience in State government. He began his career with the 
State of Tennessee in 1950 as a member of the Governor's planning staff 
and rose through the ranks over the next four decades to become Deputy 
to the Governor, cabinet secretary, and one of the most influential 
voices in the statehouse.
  Much of Senator Mathews' time in State government was spent in the 
demanding field of public finance. He served as finance commissioner 
for 10 years and as treasurer for 13 years. He held both jobs longer 
than anyone else in Tennessee's history.
  During his stewardship of the State's finances, Tennessee prospered. 
It became the fastest growing State in the Mississippi Valley. It 
provided the economic climate necessary to capture General Motors' 
Saturn plant and attract more Japanese investment than any other State 
save California. All the while, it managed to provide a high level of 
public services without resorting to a State income tax--one of only 
nine States without one.
  At a time when cutting the Federal deficit and improving the national 
economy have dominated the Senate's agenda as never before, Senator 
Mathews' perspective and experience have been invaluable. We have 
benefitted from his wise counsel and will miss it when he retires.
  Much of Senator Mathews' long and distinguished career has been spent 
out of the public eye. The press has said that because he never ran for 
office, he is unknown to many Tennesseans. Perhaps so, but whether the 
people of Tennessee know it or not, Senator Mathews has served them 
well. Like his predecessor, Al Gore, and his senior colleague, Jim 
Sasser, Harlan Mathews comes from the old school of Tennessee Democrats 
who believe that government should be a positive force in people's 
lives; a friend of the common man, not his enemy.
  I saw that side of Senator Mathews in my role as chairman of the 
Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Senator Mathews worked 
tirelessly to get funding for the Spring City flood damage reduction 
project. Spring City is a poor community in southeastern Tennessee that 
has long been beset by flooding. Senator Mathews obtained the funds 
needed to purchase flood-prone lands and build levees.
  He has also promoted rural health initiatives and has joined me in 
sponsoring legislation to revitalize the Lower Mississippi Delta.
  As a member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Senator 
Mathews has been a strong supporter of Tennessee's premier research and 
development center, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has been a 
leader in our effort to make our national laboratories engines of 
economic growth by making the intellectual resources of these 
facilities and the technological innovations they produce available to 
American businesses and educational institutions. He has also been a 
strong defender of Tennessee's coal industry and a vigorous protector 
of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
  On the Foreign Relations Committee, he has championed stronger trade 
ties with the Pacific rim to improve our own economic future. On the 
Commerce Committee, he has represented Tennessee's interests in high 
technology, transportation, small businesses, and tourism.
  Although his stay has been brief, his presence has been felt. He has 
worked hard and served his constituents well. the press once called him 
``the Silent Senator'' because he was quoted in the papers less than 
the more talkative among us. But he has labored day in and day out 
neither for the headlines nor for the history books, but for the 
greater good of his country and his State.
  Mr. President, over a century ago, Mark Twain was asked to write an 
essay on the Declaration of Independence. He responded by producing one 
of his few serious works, a short biography of one of the Declaration's 
signers. He passed over the celebrated Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin, 
and instead wrote about a little known delegate named Francis Lightfoot 
Lee.
  Francis Lightfoot Lee ``made no brilliant speeches'' and ``left no 
phosphorescent splendors'' in his wake, Mark Twain said. He was a 
``good citizen,'' who engaged in ``no juggling or wire-pulling'' to 
gain office, but went reluctantly when called. He worked industriously 
during his term, ``never seeking his own ends, but only the public's,'' 
and retired gladly when the job was done.
  If Mark Twain were alive today and wrote about a Member of the 
Senate, I think he would choose Senator Mathews. Senator Mathews 
exhibits the same solid purpose, the same strength of character, the 
same devotion to public service that Mark Twain admired in Francis 
Lightfoot Lee.
  It has been a privilege to serve with Senator Mathews and to know his 
wonderful wife, Patsy. Their time with us has been all too brief, but 
the people of Tennessee and this institution are better because they 
were here. I am sure that I speak for all Senators when I offer Senator 
Mathews our gratitude for his service and extend to him and Patsy our 
best wishes for the next step in his career.

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