[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO LES ASPIN

  (Mr. ROTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, America lost a real public servant this last 
weekend in the death of Les Aspin.
  Les Aspin was a young man. He was only 56 years old. He served 22 
years of those 56 years here in the Congress. He was also our Secretary 
of Defense.
  He was a summa cum laude at Yale, he attended Oxford, and MIT, so not 
only did he have a great deal of political savvy but he was also very 
much academically gifted. From his first close race against a person by 
the name of LaFollette, a magic name in Wisconsin, to the time he left 
to become Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin never lost a single political 
race.
  I remember the first time I was here on the floor with an amendment, 
Les Aspin helped me get the amendment passed. In an age when the 
Pentagon got everything it wanted, there was one person who started to 
holler, ``No, halt,'' and that was Les Aspin. ``Let's take a closer 
look,'' he would say, ``at defense spending.''
  Mr. Speaker, we in this House have not only lost a good friend but we 
have also lost a true public servant. Not only has America lost a good 
public servant and we in Congress, but also Marquette University, 
because Marquette is where he started teaching and Marquette is where 
he worked when he passed away.
  It is only appropriate that Marquette will be the place on Friday 
where we will say our last good-bye to Les Aspin. America truly has 
lost a wonderful public servant.


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