[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]

 
               THE RETIREMENT OF SENATOR JOHN C. DANFORTH

  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, the Senate is often characterized as 
being filled with wealthy individuals who know no other career outside 
this Chamber. I am happy to report that is simply not the case, and in 
my four decades in the Senate, I have seen men and women of all 
different means and background serve here. One of the most interesting 
and unique of these people is my good friend, John Danforth, who is 
retiring from the U.S. Senate at the end of the 103d Congress.
  The people of Missouri first elected John Danforth to be their 
Senator in 1976, after he had served two terms as the attorney general 
of State, where he earned a well deserved reputation as an honest and 
reform minded public official. That John would hold himself to high 
moral standards is hardly surprising, given that he graduated from both 
the Yale Law School and the Yale Divinity School and he served as an 
ordained member of the Episcopalian clergy prior to entering the 
attorney general's office. In the Senate, John earned a reputation as a 
pragmatist who was often able to propose solutions to legislative 
logjams, and he quickly became one of the most respected Members of 
either party in the Senate. In the course of his 18 years in the 
Senate, John has played an important role in the passage of a number of 
significant pieces of legislation and he was one of the key supporters 
of Clarence Thomas' nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  Mr. President, I do not know a Member of the Senate who is not 
saddened to know that when we reconvene for the 104th Congress, John 
Danforth will not be among us. I will certainly miss my friend, and I 
wish him and his lovely wife, Sally, health and happiness in all their 
future undertakings.

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