[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1197-H1198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           OUR LEADERS SHOULD PUBLISH THEIR IDEAS AND WISDOM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] is 
recognized for 5 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I would hope that the gentleman from 
Missouri [Mr. Volkmer] would listen to my response to his special order 
a few minutes ago with respect to the Speaker of the House and the 
Speaker's intent to write a book.
  I think the gentleman from Missouri, in continuing to raise 
accusations, clouds over the Speaker, because of the fact that he is 
preparing to write a book and publish that book, does a disservice to 
this House, and I think a disservice to the tradition that we want to 
have leaders in this Nation who not only have ideas and thoughts and 
wisdom and insight but also express those ideas and those thoughts and 
that wisdom and insight in books and make them available for the 
American people and for the people of the world.
  I thought, as I walked down here, when I listened to the gentleman 
complain bitterly that the Speaker of the House might write a book, I 
thought about the great leaders in the West who have written books, and 
I thought about Winston Churchill, who wrote ``The History of the 
English-Speaking Peoples,'' written when he was in office and who wrote 
following World War II ``The History of World War II,'' a multivolume 
book, that has been the source of wisdom for many of those who came 
after him, and I thought of our great President, Teddy Roosevelt, who 
wrote many books, who wrote ``The Winning of the West'', ``Trails of a 
Ranch Man'', ``The Naval War of 1812'', ``Through the Brazilian 
Wilderness'', ``The Strenuous Life'', ``The Rough Riders'', who was a 
prolific writer and, you know, Teddy Roosevelt, of all of the, and I 
disagreed with the Speaker the other night when he said that Franklin 
Roosevelt may have been the biggest figure on the political stage in 
this century, the biggest political figure.
  I think the other Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, was the biggest 
political figure of this century, and Teddy Roosevelt left his energy 
and left his imprint on succeeding generations up to and including this 
generation of political leaders, because he wrote. He wrote, and he 
made his words available to the American people. He made his words 
available to Europeans and to Asians and to people around the world. I 
think in many ways Teddy Roosevelt's words and his books were such 
ambassadors of what this country is all about, as his speeches and his 
career.
  [[Page H1198]] Let me just say to my friend, the gentleman from 
Missouri, this Member, speaking for himself, says this: I want to have 
leaders who write books. I would like to see leaders on the Democratic 
side of the aisle write books. I think that whether you agree with it 
or do not agree with it, Vice President Gore's book that he wrote and 
received remuneration for provoked thought, provoked response, across 
the political spectrum, and for that reason was a very useful 
instrument in ginning up this mill of debate of the national forum.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HUNTER. I am happy to yield to my friend, the gentleman from 
California.
  Mr. DORNAN. We are going to be expecting about 12 inches of snow 
starting late tonight, and I am going to dig my pal and classmate, Al 
Gore's, book out and read about global warming under those 12 inches of 
snow, especially if my fireplace gives out. I mean, it looks like we 
are getting colder, not warmer.
  But it is still interesting to read the book, to get the other side. 
I like books. I have 4,000 at home. You have seen every one of them.
  Mr. HUNTER. I am going to return his book. I have one of his 
MacArthur books that I promised to return for several years, and I 
promise, once again, that I will return that book soon.
  Mr. DORNAN. We should have a carrier, the U.S.S. Douglas MacArthur.
  Mr. HUNTER. I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Missouri, in 
just a second.
  Let me just say with respect to remuneration, in terms of what you 
can do to make money in this world, there is probably nothing more 
democratic, nothing more open, nothing more populist than to make your 
words available to millions of people, and if a person wants to buy 
your book, he pays through the book-purchasing process $5 or $6 to the 
author, and there is nothing that is less of a special interest than an 
average American purchasing a book to read because he wants to see 
someone's ideas.

                              {time}  1540

  And I think it does a disservice to the House, and I will tell the 
gentleman that he is going to have leaders on his side of the aisle who 
want to share their ideas with the world.


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