[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 67 (Tuesday, April 25, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S5636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        TRIBUTE TO DAVID MARTIN

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to David Martin, 
a distinguished public servant, an inquisitive adventurer, and a 
uniquely warm individual.
  I came to know David when he served on the staff of my father, the 
late Senator Thomas J. Dodd. To my siblings and me, however, David 
Martin was much more than an employee of one of our parents. He was 
more like a beloved uncle and insightful teacher wrapped into one.
  I recall spending a number of delightful evenings at David's home 
with my family engaged in stimulating conversation. One could not come 
away from talking with David Martin without learning something new. He 
was a gripping conversationalist.
  He was very unassuming and did not aggressively advertise his 
superior knowledge. You had to probe to find that rich vein, but once 
you succeeded, your reward was real and immediate.
  David had such a dynamic and engaging intellect that he was a magnet 
for some of the 20th century's foremost authors and thinkers. He 
counted Ralph Ellison, George Orwell, Norman Mailer, William F. 
Buckley, Jr., and Edward Teller among his friends.
  David's biography is so varied and fascinating that it reads more 
like that of a protagonist in a novel than a real-life individual. He 
was a veteran, a war correspondent, a noted author of political 
science, a human rights advocate and a legislative expert. He even 
coordinated Richard Byrd's last expedition to the South pole. David 
Martin was a true renaissance man.
  His three books on Yugoslavia are still required reading for anyone 
who wants to understand that troubled part of the world. He was a 
passionate advocate for refugees, and as executive director of the 
Refugee Defense Committee from 1946 to 1947, he was instrumental in 
ending the inhumane practice of forcible repatriation of war time 
refugees to the Communist eastern bloc.
  David was legendary in the Senate for the breadth and depth of his 
expertise. During the 11 years he served on my father's staff, David 
was a key mover behind the eventual adoption of the limited test ban 
treaty. He also advised my father on a range of foreign policy hot 
spots, from Germany to Africa, from the Dominican Republic to Southeast 
Asia.
  After working for my father, David went on to the Senate Judiciary 
Committee, where he organized hearings on marijuana that are generally 
credited with alerting the public to the true danger of the drug.
  David's first wife, Judy Asti, whom he married in 1947, died in 1971. 
He remarried in 1974 to Virginia Worek Levy. He is survived by 
Virginia, as well as his two children, Joe and Rebecca; his brother, 
Maurice Manson; and two stepsons, Ian and Raoul Levy.
  Today we live in a better country and a better world thanks to David 
Martin. I think that is among the highest praise that can be given to 
an individual who has passed away, and in David Martin's case it is 
richly deserved.


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