[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                TRIBUTE TO TENNESSEE GOV. NED McWHERTER

  Mr. MATHEWS. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
distinguished Tennessean who is one of the finest people and most 
dedicated public servants it has been my privilege to know. My remarks 
are especially appropriate now, because he is finishing the concluding 
weeks of his eighth year and final term as Governor of Tennessee.
  Ned McWherter will be remembered as one of the greatest Governors in 
Tennessee history. Nothing I can say about Ned could be more 
significant than that fact. And little I could say would expand on what 
his many friends have said about him over the years. The best I can 
offer are my simple observations after watching him lead Tennessee over 
20 years.
  I have had the privilege of working in State government more than 
four decades, and over the past 20 months I have had the honor to serve 
Tennessee in the U.S. Senate. During that time, I have seen hundreds of 
men and women come and go in government. Some were motivated by 
ambition. Others were motivated by nothing more than a desire to make a 
contribution. Others floated in and out and never knew why they were 
there.
  I thought about all these people, Madam President, and then I thought 
about Ned McWherter. Here is a man who dealt with the most 
controversial issues of our time. The changes he brought to education 
and health care will shape Tennessee for a generation. But despite all 
this change, he is as popular and respected as the day he was 
inaugurated in 1987.

  I cannot explain that as a political scientist would. I can only 
explain it by saying Ned McWherter has a genuineness and concern for 
others which people respond to. I saw that in the way he always went 
back to the kitchen and spoke to the cooks after dinner. I saw it in 
the way he invited the security staff to sit at our table instead of 
waiting in the car outside. I saw humility in a man who was never too 
important to talk with staff and patients in Tennessee's mental care 
facilities. And I found compassion in a man who was never too busy to 
visit with inmates in maximum security cellblocks of Tennessee's 
prisons.
  Time and again, I saw things in Ned McWherter that will not appear on 
the editorial pages or the 6 o'clock news. Things like the 
determination of a man who did more than talk about reducing the size 
of government, the vision of someone who never studied economics, but 
who knew we could restructure Tennessee's economy so every community 
would share in prosperity, the conviction that every child should have 
a good education and every citizen should have affordable health care, 
and especially a deep personal commitment to principles the Democratic 
Party has represented since Andrew Jackson.
  No one every challenged Ned McWherter's honesty. Everyone knew that 
his political priorities rest squarely in serving what he called the 
thousands of Tennesseans who get up every morning, get their kids ready 
for school, and head out to work.
  Mr. President, in a year when he could have eased into retirement by 
dedicating roads and cutting ribbons, he took on the greatest and most 
successful challenge of his career. And as a result, Tennessee is about 
to reach a goal few ever thought possible--providing every Tennessean 
with affordable, high-quality health care.
  In a few weeks, the McWherter chapter of Tennessee history will 
close. It opened with a State that always had stood near the back of 
the line. It will end with a Tennessee that stands among the Nation's 
leaders in education reform, health care reform, and economic growth. 
All that happened because Ned McWherter kept the promises he made the 
day he was elected Governor--to stay close to the people of Tennessee 
and to be worthy of their trust. He always will have a special place in 
the heart and mind of the State he has served so well.

                          ____________________