[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 5, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13955-H13957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     WALTER B. JONES FEDERAL BUILDING AND UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 840) to designate the Federal building and United States 
courthouse located at 215 South Evans Street in Greenville, North 
Carolina, as the ``Walter B. Jones Federal Building and United States 
Courthouse''.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 840

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The Federal building and United States courthouse located 
     at 215 South Evans Street in Greenville, North Carolina, 
     shall be known and designated as the ``Walter B. Jones 
     Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the Federal building 
     and United States courthouse referred to in section 1 shall 
     be deemed to be a reference to the ``Walter B. Jones Federal 
     Building and United States Courthouse''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant] will be recognized for 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest].
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 840, a bill to 
designate the Federal Building and United States Courthouse located in 
Greenville, NC as the ``Walter B. Jones Federal Building and United 
States Courthouse.'' Walter Jones was one of our most respected and 
accomplished colleagues ever to serve this Chamber. Born in 
Fayetteville, NC, Walter Jones began his career as a public servant 
when he was elected mayor of Farmville, NC in 1949. He served three 
terms in North Carolina State assembly and was in the midst of his 
first term in the State senate when in 1966 he won a special election 
to this Chamber to fill the seat left vacant by the death of former 
Member Herbert Bonner. He became a tireless advocate for the American 
worker and the American farmer. Walter Jones was reelected to 11 
successive Congresses, serving in this Chamber from February 5, 1966 
until his death in 1992. He was a member of the Agriculture Committee 
and served as chairman of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee 
from the 97th through the 100th Congress. As chairman of the Merchant 
Marine and Fisheries Committee, Mr. Jones committed himself to ensuring 
that the United States maintained a viable merchant marine fleet and 
marine industry. H.R. 840 is an appropriate and fitting honor to bestow 
on our former colleague and I urge all Members to support the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar], the ranking 
member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. 
Traficant] for yielding this time to me, and I also thank our chairman, 
the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest], for bringing this 
legislation to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, it was my great privilege and pleasure to serve with 
Walter Jones on the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. We 
served in Congress together on that committee, worked together on a lot 
of issues. But what struck me was first of all he succeeded Herb 
Bonner, who was chairman of that committee and then in his own right 
became chairman of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. It 
is very unusual for one State, let alone one district, to have a 
succession of chairmanship of one particular committee.
  But Walter Jones served in that capacity in a very unassuming, very 
affable, very warm, but also very knowledgeable manner, with a quiet, 
unsuspecting country humor. He would often break the tension in a very 
hotly contested markup over some very difficult and hotly contested 
issues with just a bit of folk wisdom, or country humor, or an 
observation that would devastate one side or the other. He had that 
remarkable knack, that personality that just fitted the occasion, and 
he did not have to say much, and he usually did not, but what he said 
was compelling, and whether, as I said earlier, it was humor, or 
whether it was a bit of folk wisdom to enlighten a point, or whether it 
was to hurry a vote; when he called a vote, he said all those in favor 
say aye, aye, and everyone else jumped in, and, before they knew it, 
the bill was passed.
  Mr. Speaker, maybe some of them wanted it passed or not, but they 
followed his leadership, and his wisdom, and his care about America's 
merchant marine, about our Coast Guard, about our marine environment, 
about endangered species, and that committee had jurisdiction over the 
Marine Mammal Protection Act, and he saw to it that that jurisdiction 
was carried out and that America's concern for our Marine Mammal 
Protection Act and for the endangered species of the great oceans of 
this country was carried out appropriately.
  Mr. Speaker, for us to name a building in his honor is a very small, 
but deserved, honor, one that we can and that we should pay. The 
greater tribute to Walter Jones is the legacy of legislation that he 
left. But more importantly, the care that he had for the people he 
represented; he loved them and spoke of them often, and he represented 
them with great honor and dignity, and his legacy will carry on in the 
name that we give to this building in his honor.

  Mr. Speaker, this honor is long overdue. Walter Jones' career spanned 
over four decades beginning in 1949 with his election as the mayor of 
Farmville, NC, then in 1955 to the North Carolina State Assembly, in 
1965 to the State senate and finally in 1966 to the U.S. House of 
Representatives.
  From his days in Congress, Mr. Jones worked hard and long for his 
constituents. He became a tireless advocate for the American worker and 
the American farmer. He was reelected to eleven successive Congresses, 
serving in the United States House of Representatives from February 5, 
1966, until his death in 1992. He was a Member of the House Agriculture 
Committee and served as chairman of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries 
Committee from the 97th through the 100th Congresses. As chairman of 
the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, Walter Jones committed 
himself to ensuring the United States maintained a viable merchant 
marine fleet and maritime industry.
  His stewardship of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee was 
recognized for its fairness and openness. I had the pleasure of serving 
under Chairman Jones on the Merchant Marine Committee. He was not only 
known for his dedication, hard work, humility and humanity, but he also 
had a quiet way about him that oftentimes brought great results.
  Walter B. Jones was one of the most respected and accomplished 
Members ever to 

[[Page H 13956]]
serve in the House of Representatives, and H.R. 840 is a fitting and 
appropriate tribute to his honor.
  I urge passage of H.R. 840.
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar] for his very kind and most appropriate words 
to one of the finest Members of this Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from North Carolina [Mr. Jones].
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. 
Gilchrest], the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant], and the gentleman 
from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar]. This obviously is a very special 
privilege for me, one that I doubt very few sons in the history of the 
Congress have. I am honored and humbled, quite frankly, to be on the 
floor at this time to say thank you to the U.S. House for remembering 
my father in such a special and very permanent way.
  The gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar] was right about my 
father. He loved the Congress, he loved the people in the Congress, and 
was a man that has served, that did serve, I should say, for 26 years. 
I certainly must tell my colleagues that not only am I and my family 
honored by them remembering my father, but also the constituents that 
elected my father to 13 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
  My father appreciated the work of this wonderful and great 
institution and the men and women that made this institution and are 
today making this institution so great. My father also appreciated the 
staff that worked with him as chairman of the Committee on Merchant 
Marine and Fisheries, and also the staff in his office, both in the 
district and also in Washington, as well as the members of the staff 
that work around the House and the Capitol and the women that operate 
the elevators. He was a man that appreciated his fellow man and a 
person that never forgot his roots, and that is why I think my father 
for so many years, even when his health because of age was beginning to 
fail him and he had to campaign, quite frankly, in a wheelchair back in 
the district, and many times candidates much younger would oppose my 
father. Yet my father would get better than 70 percent of the vote each 
and every time, and the reason for that was because my father never 
forgot the people back home that gave him the privilege and the honor 
to represent them.
  So I say to my colleagues again that this is an honor for me to be on 
this floor to thank my colleagues of the U.S. House of Representatives, 
that they thought so much of my father that they would want to remember 
him in this very special way. If I may close, because I see one of my 
father's many friends, and before I close let me say that it has been a 
very humbling experience to have men and women from both sides of the 
aisle to tell me how much they respected and thought of my father, and 
the two words that they used that made me feel so proud of my father 
was that he was a gentleman and that he was fair. That to me, they are 
two of the best words that can be said about a person, that he is a 
gentleman and that he is a fair person.
  I see my good friend, the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Taylor], 
who among many that came down to my father's funeral, and I think the 
second or third month that I was here, maybe in February or March, that 
Gene came up to me, and he handed me this index card, and he said, 
``Walter, I think it is only appropriate that you have this,'' and I 
would like to close with this, if I may, Mr. Speaker.
  Gene handed me this, and he said, ``It is a note that I took at your 
father's funeral,'' and he said, ``I wrote it down right after the 
minister used this quote from Everett Hale,'' and the quote is, and I 
think this fits my father and many of us that served in the U.S. House 
of Representatives; it says: ``I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do 
everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I should do, and, 
with the help of God, I will do it.''
  Mr. Speaker, I close with that because I think they are very powerful 
words, and again I know I am being repetitious, but this is a very 
emotional time for me. I can only say in very simple, simple words, 
``Thank you so very much.''
  Mr. FIELDS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. JONES. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. FIELDS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have no prepared statement. In 
fact I wandered into the Chamber on another matter, but, in knowing 
that this is in recognition of the gentleman's father, I felt compelled 
to stand up and say that, when I entered Congress in 1980, as a 
Republican, a freshman Republican, and was on the Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries Committee, the gentleman's father took me aside, as he did 
everyone who served under his tutelage, and gave advice, and was 
helpful and lent guidance, and he always did it with great compassion 
for the constituencies that we represented, and he always did it with a 
great deal of honor. When we look around the Chamber, the people who 
served under the gentleman's father, Republican, Democrat, liberal or 
conservative, there is universal admiration for what his father 
represented, and we are all very appreciative.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas [Mr. 
Fields].

                              {time}  1545

  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my 
good friend, the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Taylor].
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from North Carolina [Mr. Jones] for his compliment. His dad meant a lot 
to me, as he did to every Member of this body. I must confess I was not 
smart enough to remember what the preacher said, but I was smart enough 
to ask the preacher for his notes that day, and they actually came from 
one of the two ministers who presided over your father's funeral.
  I was always very much impressed with your father's desire to serve 
the public. I really noticed at your father's funeral that everyone I 
spoke to there always mentioned that your dad was there to serve his 
fellow citizens; in this day of cynicism and skepticism, where people 
run for Congress based on saying how terrible a place it is and that 
they are the only good one, that so many people felt so strongly and so 
positively about your dad, and I am glad we did not have to wait the 
full 5 years to see to it that your father is honored.
  I want to compliment the sponsor of this bill, and above all, I want 
to compliment your dad for being a great American, and hope that you 
turn to be every bit as great as your father.
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, many of us around here, just speaking off the cuff, 
loved Walter Jones. I did not serve on the committee with him, but 
because one of his probably closest allies. He imparted much advice and 
counsel to me, many times advising me to shut up and sit down, and 
cautioning me on some of the unusual behavior traits I employed to try 
and help my district in my early days in the Congress.
  Without reading from a prepared text, like many others, I loved 
Walter Jones. He embodied what a Congressman should be like. I think 
back of Bill Natcher, Walter Jones, and Jamie Whitten and individuals 
like that, and we conjure up in our minds great leaders from our 
country that many times had gone without a whole lot of fanfare and 
much recognition. I am absolutely honored to be the sponsor of this 
legislation.
  In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely honored to find 
that such a fine son is here to carry on the legacy for North Carolina. 
The attitude that he brings is much like his dad's. I guess the apple 
does not fall too far from the tree.
  I am proud of the fact that we are doing this today. This is right 
that we should do this. We passed this legislation last year. I cannot 
understand the reason why we had to revisit this, but because of some 
of the political dynamics occurring in the other body. Let there be no 
political dynamics that would in fact derail this particular piece of 
legislation. This is fitting. I am proud to be associated with it.
  I thank the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest] and all who 
played a part in helping to bring this legislation to the floor. I ask 
all to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H 13957]]

  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Virginia [Mr. Bateman].
  Mr. BATEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me.
  When I first came to the Congress in 1983 and was assigned to the 
Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and attended its first 
meeting, Mr. Speaker, I was almost taken aback by the fact that Walter 
Jones, the chairman, had bothered to look at the biographies of those 
members who were being assigned to his committee and had learned that I 
was indeed born in his district in North Carolina. He reminded me of 
that fact.
  I would say to my colleagues that in people like Walter Jones, if we 
were to emulate them in all of our activities here in the Congress, our 
work product would be improved, the atmosphere of this institution 
would be more in keeping with what it should be, and the American 
people would hold us in a higher regard. Walter Jones, as someone 
mentioned, was indeed a great gentleman.
  Mr. HEFNER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BATEMAN. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. HEFNER. Mr. Speaker, I had a few words to say. Walter Jones for 
many, many years was a very close friend of mine. We worked very 
closely together. What a lot of people do not realize was what a great 
sense of humor Walter Jones had.
  If I would be permitted, I would just like to give a little story. We 
had a Member, and I will not quote any names, but the Member had a 
tendency and he would say, ``If there was a good, qualified candidate 
in my district, I just would not run this year.'' He continued to say 
that.
  One day we were having lunch and he said, ``If there was a good, 
qualified candidate in my district, I wouldn't run anymore.'' Walter 
said, ``Let me name off a few.'' So that is the last time. He named off 
about five or six different well-qualified people that lived in that 
district. That was the last time it was ever brought up, if there was 
ever a qualified candidate.
  Walter Jones, as his son said, was a fair man. He was a good man. We 
have a saying down in North Carolina: He is the kind of man, if you had 
to be away from home for a week, that you would like to have Walter 
Jones agree to do up your things for you. He was a gentleman, he was a 
fair man, and we miss him. I think this is more than appropriate, what 
we are doing for him today. I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me.
  Mr. BATEMAN. I am delighted to have yielded.
  Mr. Speaker, let me conclude. I will not take the 5 minutes 
allocated, but let me conclude by saying that my personal disagreements 
with the very esteemed Walter Jones were very, very few; but one of the 
things that is a mark of the fact that he was a great gentleman, and 
his great sense of how this institution should conduct itself, that 
never was there any occasion when in any disagreement there was 
anything disagreeable. He was a wonderful, wonderful man, and like all 
my previous colleagues, I miss him sorely.
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to an esteemed 
colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Coble], to speak on 
behalf of the bill.
  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me.
  Mr. Speaker, if I appear out of breath, I am out of breath. I was in 
my office and I turned on the television in the office while I was 
working and saw my good friend, the gentleman from Ohio, whom I know 
was one of Walter's dearest friends, but my volume was not turned on so 
I could not hear what the gentleman was saying. I usually listen to the 
gentleman when he is talking.
  Subsequently the gentleman from North Carolina, [Mr. Jones], young 
Walter, came on. My volume was not tuned up as well. Then when I 
finally did activate the volume, I learned that we were over here 
honoring the late Walter Jones, and I ran over here. I am still huffing 
and puffing, Mr. Speaker, but I would be remiss if I did not say a word 
or two about him.
  I used to refer to Walter junior, when I would talk to his dad, as 
``young Walter.'' ``How is young Walter doing? '' I would ask old 
Walter from time to time. One time he said to me, he always called me 
Coble, and he said ``Coble, I wish you would not refer to him as young 
Walter, because by definition, that makes me old Walter.'' I did not 
break that habit. I still call him young Walter, even to this day.
  But Walter Jones probably conducted the most, I guess evenhanded 
would be an accurate way to describe him, evenhanded, fair, hearings, 
and his hearings and meetings were always very, very nonpartisan. 
Oftentimes, Mr. Speaker, people will be critical of certain committees 
in the House: ``Oh, they are too partisan.'' That in and of itself does 
not bother me. This is a partisan body. We are supposed to be partisan 
from time to time. I think some of these committee chairmen, though, 
could take a lesson from the late Walter Jones. I think sometimes we 
are overly partisan in expressing our own views and the views of our 
colleagues.
  I am very pleased and honored to take part in this, I say to my 
friend, the gentleman from Maryland, and my friend, the gentleman from 
Ohio, and of course, my good friend, the gentleman from eastern 
Carolina, Walter Jones, Jr. The building is in Greenville, NC, home of 
East Carolina University, where many of us attended Walter Jones' 
funeral when we laid him to rest that day. The funeral was in 
Greenville and the interment, I think, was in Farmville, subsequently. 
But Walter was a good man, beloved by many, beloved by all who knew 
him.
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
New York [Mr. Gilman].
  Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have had a great regard for Walter Jones 
over the years, a true gentleman and one that was always willing to 
reach a hand out to advise all of us in this Chamber, so I am pleased 
to join with the gentleman with regard to honoring Walter Jones.
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
   Mr. Speaker, my last comments would be to echo those of my 
colleagues who addressed Mr. Jones, Chairman Jones, Congressman Jones 
as a fine man, one who fought throughout the course of his career and 
his life for justice, for tolerance, for freedom, for fairness, for 
liberty. And it is quite obvious here this afternoon, Mr. Speaker, that 
he was also a very fine father, because he raised a fine son who is now 
a Member of this Chamber.
  On behalf of the present gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Jones], I 
urge my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on this bill.
   Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Everett). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest] that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 840.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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