[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 45 (Thursday, March 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3148-S3149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNITION OF EDWARD L. KING

  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the contributions 
to the Senate and to the Nation that have been made by Edward L. King 
who is leaving the staff of the Senate for the private sector.
  Ed King retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1969 
after a distinguished military career, including combat infantry duty 
in Korea and assignments in important staff positions with an emphasis 
on NATO and inter-American matters.
  After his military service, Ed turned his hand to writing and 
authored ``The Death Of the Army: A Pre-Mortem'' which was selected by 
the New York Times Review of Books as one of the 12 best current events 
books of the year for 1972.
  In 1971, Ed came to the Hill for the first time, serving as a staff 
consultant to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and later that 
same year as special consultant for NATO affairs to Senator Mike 
Mansfield. Ed returned to the Hill in 1975 and served as Administrative 
Assistant to Senator William Hathaway until 1979. Ed subsequently 
served as special assistant to Senator Paul Tsongas in 1984, during 
which time he acted as an intermediary to the La Palma--El Salvador--
peace talks. From 1985 to 1987, Ed served as a consultant on Central 
America to Senator Robert Byrd. Finally, Ed served on the Senate 
Democratic Policy Committee from 1987 to the present time.

[[Page S3149]]

Over the last 10 years, Ed has worked as a senior foreign policy 
advisor for Majority Leaders Robert Byrd and George Mitchell and for 
Minority Leader Thomas Daschle.
  I first came to know Ed King while he was working on the Democratic 
Policy Committee. I also came to respect and admire Ed as he went from 
legislative crisis to crisis with the same calm but determined and 
effective demeanor that I am sure served him and his troops so well as 
a combat infantry officer. Whether the issue was pop-up legislation 
dealing with the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Haiti, or Bosnia or setting up 
a routine meeting for Senators with a visiting foreign official Ed was 
always on top of the situation, always in full control of the facts, 
and ready with a solution to bridge ostensibly irreconcilable 
positions. And despite the stress and the raised voices on the part of 
some, Ed never lost his good nature and sense of humor.
  But what I remember most of all were the numerous occasions on which 
a long stint of negotiations ended with the parties agreed on the 
general framework of a solution and leaving it to Ed to come up with 
the specific text that embodied that general solution. And you knew 
that the specific text would be ready the first thing the next morning 
and that it would have been agreed to on all sides at the staff level 
and vetted with and acceptable to the administration.
  Mr. President, the Senate is losing one of its finest staff members. 
The Nation is losing a fine public servant whose contributions will, 
for the most part, remain unknown. I, for one, want the record to 
reflect that this Senator appreciates the service that Ed King has 
rendered to the Senate and the Nation. I know that he will be 
successful in the private sector and that he will continue to make a 
contribution in whatever he does in the future.

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