[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 175 (Tuesday, November 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H11792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  APPOINTMENT OF HOWARD H. BAKER, JR., TO SMITHSONIAN BOARD OF REGENTS

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
joint resolution (H.J. Res. 110) providing for the appointment of 
Howard H. Baker, Jr., as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of 
the Smithsonian Institution.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                             H.J. Res. 110

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in 
     accordance with section 5581 of the Revised Statutes of the 
     United States (20 U.S.C. 43), the vacancy on the Board of 
     Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, in the class other 
     than Members of Congress, occurring by reason of the 
     expiration of the term of Jeannine Smith Clark of the 
     District of Columbia on August 25, 1995, is filled by the 
     appointment of Howard H. Baker, Jr. of the District of 
     Columbia. The appointment is for a term of six years and 
     shall take effect on the date on which this joint resolution 
     becomes law.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Thomas] and the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer] 
each will be recognized for 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California [Mr. Thomas].
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Joint Resolution 110, 
which provides for the appointment of Howard Baker, Jr., to the 
Smithsonian Institution's Board of Citizen Regents.
  I do not have to tell anyone that Howard Baker has had a long and 
distinguished career in public office. He served in the U.S. Senate 
from 1967 to 1985. He was President Ronald Reagan's Chief of Staff from 
February 1987 to July 1988.
  Mr. Speaker, rather than go into a more detailed background, it is my 
privilege to yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from 
Tennessee [Mr. Hilleary], who represents the once and current home of 
Howard Baker.
  (Mr. HILLEARY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HILLEARY. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding me 
the time.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to rise in support of House Joint 
Resolution 110 which provides for the appointment of Howard H. Baker, 
Jr., as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 
Institution.
  It is a pleasure and honor to be able to call Senator Baker my 
friend. He is a true patriot who has had a long, dedicated career in 
public service.
  I believe one of the earliest offices he held was that of student 
body president at the University of Tennessee in 1949. After receiving 
his law degree from UT, he began a career as an attorney and 
businessman in Huntsville and Knoxville, TN, where he soon developed an 
outstanding reputation in these communities and throughout the State.
  In 1966 Senator Baker was first elected to the U.S. Senate. He was 
the first Republican since Reconstruction to be elected to the Senate 
from Tennessee. Later he was reelected twice more by the people of 
Tennessee, in 1972 and 1978.
  While he is known to us in Tennessee as being instrumental in 
building it into a two-party State, the country knows him better for 
his dedication to setting partisanship aside for the good of our 
country.
  As vice chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973, he 
shouldered the difficult and unpleasant task of investigating a 
Republican White House. The leadership he provided on that committee 
propelled him into the national spotlight. His goal was the truth, 
wherever it might have led.
  Senator Baker then served as Senate Republican leader, first in the 
minority from 1977 through 1980, and then later in the majority from 
1981 until he retired in 1984.
  Senator Baker brought people together. When important legislation got 
bogged down in the Senate, he used his personal talent for bringing 
opposing factions together at the bargaining table to reach compromise 
suitable to all sides.
  In 1988 President Reagan asked Howard Baker to take over as his White 
House Chief of Staff, and always being the willing patriot, he readily 
accepted. His presence as the head of the White House staff gave it 
instant credibility and integrity. He completed his task given to him 
by President Reagan, and again retired from public service.
  He may no longer hold any public office, but his knowledge and 
understanding of both Tennessee and Washington continues to have 
tremendous influence. It is with great pride that I pay this tribute to 
my most famous and most distinguished constituent, Howard H. Baker, Jr. 
He is a great man who has dedicated his life to public service and we 
all owe him a great debt of gratitude.
  Senator Baker is interested in serving on the Smithsonian Board of 
Regents, and this country could not have a better person to serve 
there. It is with great pleasure that I urge all of my colleagues to 
support House Joint Resolution 110 to appoint Howard H. Baker, Jr., as 
a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 
Institution.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I think all of us know that Howard Baker is 
also an avid photographer and I look forward to being able to view 
future pictures of the Smithsonian from the inside out. I urge Members 
to support House Joint Resolution 110.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise once again in behalf of this resolution. On our 
side of the aisle, we know Howard Baker to be a partisan Republican, 
but he was much more and is much more than that. He was appropriately, 
as a leader in his party, partisan when partisanship was called for. 
But he was, as the gentleman from Tennessee has said, an American 
first, not only a great leader in his own right but the son-in-law of a 
great Republican leader as well, Everett Dirksen.
  Howard Baker is the kind of politician that America needs. In a time 
when we tend to yell and scream at one another, in a time when we tend 
to try to embarrass one another and show one another up, Howard Baker 
is an example of the best of public service.
  Howard Baker revered the U.S. Senate, and in his career brought 
luster to that institution as well as to his own name, because Howard 
Baker understood that Americans expected us and expect us still to work 
together, recognizing our differences but recognizing that consensus in 
the final analysis is the way we make progress.
  Therefore, as a member of the other party, if you will, but a friend 
of Howard Baker, and not only that, an admirer of Howard Baker, and an 
admirer of that for which he stood as a public servant, I gladly, on 
behalf of my party as well as on behalf of the Democratic side of the 
aisle and the committee, rise in support of this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Thomas] that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the joint resolution, House Joint Resolution 110.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. HILLEARY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5 of rule I and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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