[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3576-H3579]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2000
                  TRIBUTE TO A TRUE PATRIOT, RON BROWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Metcalf). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of May 12, 1995, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Payne] is 
recognized for 60 minutes.


                             general leave

  Mr. PAYNE of new Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks on and include therein extraneous material on the 
subject of the special order today by the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Pallone].
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, I wanted to take some time this evening to 
pay tribute to a man so many of us knew as a great friend and a real 
true patriot. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown was a person we all knew 
and loved. So many people across this Nation have been inspired by Ron 
Brown, it is fitting that we celebrated his remarkable life and legacy.
  Even in the midst of our grief over his untimely passing, we 
recognize that Ron was the kind of person who would want to be 
remembered for how he lived his life rather than how he died. It has 
been said that a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Throughout Ron 
Brown's wonderful life he kept reaching, seizing each challenge with 
boundless confidence, with enthusiasm, with energy, with vision. Both 
in the private sector and in the public life he displayed that all-
American can-do attitude, refusing even to entertain the thought that 
any obstacles would be insurmountable.
  It was this spirit that won him so many firsts. First black 
fraternity

[[Page H3577]]

member at Middlebury College. First black to hold the position of Chief 
Counsel of the U.S. Senate. First black partner at Patton, Boggs & 
Blow, and then on to becoming the first black chairman of the 
Democratic Party before being appointed by President Clinton as the 
first black Secretary of Commerce.
  Yet it was typical of Ron Brown that even as he built racial 
coalitions, he downplayed the significance of race as he sought to take 
on new challenges in his life. He said that race was not important as 
an obstacle. He simply said he can continue to move on up a little 
higher.
  I remember back in 1988, when I was a member of the Newark City 
Council and seeking election to the house of Representatives, Ron Brown 
was campaigning at that time to become chairman of the Democratic 
National Committee. I traveled to Washington with the New Jersey 
Chamber of Commerce early in February 1988 to their annual legislative 
visit, when we talked to legislators here and talked about policies for 
our State. During my stay I introduced our State Democratic chairman, 
Ray Durkin, to Ron Brown, knowing that Ron was seeking the office of 
chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
  After hearing Ron's ideas and observing his enthusiasm and his 
approach to problem solving and his enthusiasm and his approach to 
problem solving and his vision, the State Democratic chairman, Ray 
Durkin, made a decision right on the spot to support Ron Brown. He said 
this is the man we need to lead our party.
  I was pleased when our New Jersey U.S. Senator, Bill Bradley, 
immediately came on board to join in for the backing of Ron Brown to 
become the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In fact, New 
Jersey was the first State to endorse Secretary Brown when he made his 
run for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.
  Ron Brown did not run a narrow campaign based on race, he reached out 
to a wide range of Americans, as he always did in his life, ultimately 
convincing the electorate to return the White House to the Democratic 
party for the first time in over a decade. As a matter of fact, our 
State of New jersey went overwhelmingly for President Clinton for the 
first time in almost three decades. It was because of Ron Brown and his 
vision, his imagination, his creativity, his gumption, his stick-to-
itiveness. He embodied the power of positive thinking, always looking 
ahead, assuredness, and optimistic.
  Secretary Brown became involved in politics in 1971, when he was a 
district leader in Mount Vernon, NY, in the Democrat party there. He 
made a name for himself in the Urban League with his innovative ideas 
and creative approaches. He loved both public service and politics. 
Before working for Senator Kennedy on the Committee on the Judiciary, 
he served as director of the California for Kennedy committee and later 
organized for Jesse Jackson's run for President.
  Another point that needs to be made, in this era when it is popular 
in some quarters to bash those who work for the Federal Government, 
that Ron Brown and those who perished with him out there, risking their 
lives under very dangerous conditions on a mission to improve the lives 
of people in Bosnia and to promote American products, American business 
opportunities in order to create American jobs.

  Secretary Brown and his staff worked tirelessly over the years 
bringing in billions and billions of dollars of contracts to Americans. 
Let us hope that out of respect for the victims and their families this 
unfair debasing of Federal employees for cheap political mileage will 
cease.
  Let me take a moment to pay tribute to the victims of the tragedy who 
were connected to my home State of New Jersey who were on that ill-
fated trip that day. We are proud of their service and extend deepest 
sympathies to their families.
  Lee Jackson, who was born in Montclair, NJ, part of my district, was 
Executive Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and 
Development at the Treasury Department. He was a young, bright African-
American fellow whose father was a former newspaper person, who, as a 
matter of fact, was a very close friend of my Newark district office 
manager. We sat, Rick Thigpen and myself, watching the television, very 
saddened, awaiting the news from over in Croatia.
  Another person on that flight from New Jersey, Claudio Elia, was 
chairman and chief executive of Air and Water Technologies Corp. in 
Branchburg, NJ.
  Walter Murphy was vice president of global sales at AT&T Submarine 
Systems in Morristown, NJ.
  Our State also lost two young people who were serving our country in 
the military, as Secretary Ron Brown had done as a young U.S. Army 
captain early in his life. S. Sgt. Robert Farrington, Jr., was from 
Brierfield, NJ; and T. Sgt. Cheryl Turnege lived in Lakehurst before 
she joined the Air Force.
  Ron Brown left us too soon. He had so many gifts and yet he was not 
to have the gift of long life. We do not understand how life is given 
out, it is beyond us. Yet we can take comfort in the fact that his 
spirit, his zest for living, and his monumental achievements will 
definitely live on.
  Our heartfelt condolences go out to his loving family, his wife, 
Alma, his son, Michael, his daughter Tracey, and his grandchildren. We 
will keep them in our thoughts and in our prayers.
  At this time, I would yield to the gentleman from Virginia, 
Representative Bobby Scott.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey 
for having this special order. I rise to add my voice to the multitude 
of voices singing the praises of Ron Brown. With all that has been said 
about him in the last 12 days, some may feel that all that needs to be 
said has already been said; but as we frequently say, all that need to 
say it have not already said it.
  The fact is that we have all been affected by Ron Brown's life in 
general and in unique ways, and feel the need to ensure that the record 
of his life and his good works reflects some of those unique 
contributions.
  For example, Mr. Speaker, the Newport News shipyard in the Third 
Congressional District of Virginia, which I represent, was a 
beneficiary of his good works. Even before the collapse of the cold 
war, the shipyard knew it needed to diversify its business portfolio 
beyond just military shipbuilding, so it began to revive its commercial 
shipbuilding program.
  Ron Brown stood ready when called upon to help the Newport News 
Shipyard, just as he had helped so many other businesses before. For 
the Newport News Shipyard, he took Pat Phillips, the former president 
of the shipyard, to the Middle East to meet with business and 
government leaders in Israel, Egypt, Kuwait, and the United Arab 
Emirates to market the frigate ship program, and they were very 
successful. Bill Fricks, the current president of the shipyard, stated 
upon the news of Ron's death that, and I quote:

       Ron Brown was a great advocate of our yard and voiced his 
     support for Newport News Shipyard and other Tenneco 
     subsidiaries during numerous trade missions overseas. Not 
     only an advocate of stronger international ties, Brown was 
     also a friend of Newport News Shipyard. He will truly be 
     missed.

  Mr. Speaker, there have been a lot of words used to describe Ron 
Brown and his life: trailblazer, bridgebuilder, fence mender, power 
broker, coalition builder, energizer, visionary, humanitarian, public 
servant, crusader, lawyer, businessman, politician, husband, father, 
friend; all extraordinaire. And to this descriptive list I have to add 
shipbuilder and a friend of the Third Congressional District of 
Virginia. We are all grateful for his life and his contributions and 
for the lives and contributions of those who were with him on that 
fateful trade mission.
  Mr. Speaker, Ron Brown will truly be missed.
  Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. I thank the gentleman very much. I really 
appreciate the gentleman from Virginia for those kind remarks. Let me 
at this time recognize the gentlewoman from the great State of North 
Carolina, who has been doing special orders and has been talking about 
Ron Brown for the last day or two, the gentlewoman from North Carolina, 
Mrs. Eva Clayton.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Thank you, Mr. Payne.
  I am indeed grateful to Mr. Payne for organizing this special order. 
I wanted to participate in this special order

[[Page H3578]]

under the guidance of the Black Caucus, because I think it is 
appropriate in this leadership that we also have an opportunity to have 
a special order.
  Mr. Speaker, Ron Brown was a bridgebuilder, a peacemaker, a soldier 
for souls, a fisher for young men and young women.
  Out of the ashes and wreckage of that faraway mountain in Bosnia--
something remains--a blade of grass, an idea.
  The idea--Ron Brown's living legacy--is that you can grow up in 
Harlem, and progress in Washington.
  He left with us a prototype to follow, a style, a design, a mold, a 
model that we may never duplicate, but we can certainly replicate.
  Under the careful counsel of his father and mother, he learned that 
it is far better to build bridges than to burn them. He knew that a 
bridge could arch a flood.
  And so, he built bridges between the rich and poor, between people of 
every hue, between cherished views and fresh beliefs. Perhaps that is 
why his motorcade journey to his resting place in Arlington was as 
appropriate on U Street as it was on Constitution Avenue.
  Ron Brown was a bridgebuilder.
  His time spent in service to America, as an officer of the U.S. Army, 
apparently taught him that the best way to preserve world peace and 
avoid war is by doing business.
  That is why he travelled to China, journeyed to India, took a trip to 
Turkey, and voyaged to Africa. And, that is why he risked a rainstorm 
to get to Tuzla.
  He was opening doors, cementing relationships, serving his country, 
and promoting peace, even in a region torn by war.
  Ron Brown was a peacemaker.
  His rapid rise to the top was by measured steps from the bottom.
  He worked by day and attended law school by night. He was a welfare 
social worker, a leader with the Urban League, a brilliant political 
strategist, a lawyer, the pilot of the Democratic Party and the 
architect of one of the greatest Presidential campaign victories in 
history.
  Through it all, he never lost the common touch.
  He was as comfortable playing pick-up basketball in the Shaw 
neighborhood of Washington, DC as he was conversing with Kings and 
Queens and Prime Ministers.
  Ron Brown was a soldier of souls.
  But, perhaps the mark that he made that is most worthy of note is his 
mentoring, wherever he went, he took others with him, especially young 
men and women.
  Ron knew how tough it was for an African-American to move from 125th 
Street in the heart of Harlem to the Commerce Building at the center of 
power in Washington.
  With each career step he took, he embraced young people, forming and 
fashioning the Ron Brown's of the future.
  They are there, at the Department of Commerce, at Democratic National 
Headquarters, in the public sector and in the private sector--the next 
Ron Browns.
  He was a fisher of young men and young women.
  Whether he was building bridges or closing divides, fighting the good 
fight or making peace, reaching with a helping hand or bringing others 
along--he always did his duty with dignity, pride, graciousness, vision 
and boundless energy. He filled each unforgiving minute with 60 seconds 
of long distance run.
  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his lovely wife Alma, his loyal 
son Michael and his darling daughter Tracey. They have every reason to 
be proud.
  Ron was a trailblazer, a tireless champion for all, a role model for 
role models. He has left his permanent imprint on the sands of time. 
God's finger has touched him, and he now sleeps.

                              {time}  2015

  Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Thank you for those remarks.
  As you know, we are talking about the life of Ron Brown, but there 
were a number of people. I mentioned several of those who lived in my 
great State of New Jersey who lost their lives on that mountainside in 
Croatia and return flight from Bosnia. There were other people who 
worked for the government.
  As we talked about the fact that all too often it is made trite about 
working for the government, we hear people saying that Americans should 
not have to pay taxes. Why should we be involved in such things? What 
right do we have to take their money? We heard some of that dialog 
earlier here tonight.
  Well, because we live in a country that is great. We live in a 
country where you can get on a road and the road will take you where 
you need to go, with pavement, with utilities, with lights. We live in 
a place where you can drink clear water and not worry about having 
bacteria in it. We live in a place that you can call the authorities or 
go to a courtroom and find that you can have your cases heard. And that 
is why it is a responsibility of Americans to have a responsibility.
  As a matter of fact, at some other time we will get on to this 
subject, but people make it seem that here in America we are overtaxed. 
We pay about 29 percent. Japan used to pay 19 percent; they paid 29 
percent. In the Western Europe countries, most pay 38 to 39 percent. We 
should take a look at the global situation, and I say that to say that 
Ron Brown was a person who had to take this unnecessary bashing. People 
in government took unnecessary bashing. We heard people criticize the 
Department of Commerce, but billions of dollars worth of business have 
been brought back to this country.
  There were other people who gave their life for this country.
  Bill Morton was a fellow who was always at Ron Brown's side. Bill was 
a deputy assistant secretary for international trade. He was a long 
time aide of Ron Brown. He graduated from Georgetown University, a 
native of Colorado, was always there when Ron Brown had to go. Did not 
like to fly at all, did not like travel at all, but he felt that it was 
his responsibility to his boss, Ron Brown. it was the responsibility to 
his country, and he went when called and did not want to go on that 
trip to Bosnia, but he was there.

  These are the types of Americans who are the unsung heroes, people 
who dedicate their time, their life, their energy, time away from their 
family. The Bill Mortons of the world are the type that makes this 
country run, that make it as great as it is.
  There were a number of people on that flight. Duane Christian, who 
was Ron Brown's chief security officer, a person who had been in this 
government for many years, used to work for the Office of Personnel 
Management, a former school teacher.
  On that trip was Adam Darling, just a 29-year-old person, a 
confidential assistant for the Deputy Secretary of Commerce. He worked 
in international trade, wanted to make America strong, wanted to 
increase our balance of trade, wanted to reduce the balance of trade 
deficit, a young 29-year-old person was there serving our country.
  Gail Dobert, acting director of the office of business liaison, a 
person who had worked many years on the Hill, who was there serving our 
country.
  Carol Hamilton, the press secretary for Ron Brown, who was a person 
who had worked in business and industry, worked for Chase Manhattan 
Bank, but decided to give her time, her talents to the United States 
Government and came to work in the Commerce Department so that the work 
that that great department was doing could be better told.
  We have Kathryn Hoffman, a special assistant to Ron Brown who was a 
person who was interested in politics, worked in the Clinton campaign 
during 1992, and actually was the person that produced the first 
African-American inaugural gala and leadership forum at the 
inauguration of the inaugural committee for President Clinton, a person 
who worked for Sony Pictures and in the past for Senator Biden and 
Julian Bond. A person with tremendous amount of ability, also lost her 
life.
  We have Stephen Kaminski, who was a senior commercial officer who 
traveled a great deal, who tried to see that the market access of 
American companies could be enlarged in places like Japan, and worked 
in capitals of Hamburg and Dusseldorf and Vienna, and was a person, a 
real world leader.
  Kathryn Kellogg, a confidential assistant, office of business 
liaison, who came to that office from a background with the Jay 
Rockefeller office and did a tremendous amount.
  And we had a very senior person with us on that trip with Ron Brown, 
Charles F. Meissner who was the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for

[[Page H3579]]

International Affairs, has been very active in government, and his wife 
was the Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner, Miss Doris 
Meissner, and certainly our heart goes out to her, a person who is 
still contributing to our Government.
  Also a part of our Government team was Lawrence Payne, a special 
assistant, office of domestic operations. He was a person who added a 
great deal to the mission.
  Naomi P. Warbasse, who was a deputy director of Central and East 
Europe Business Information Center.
  We had James M. Lewek, who was an intelligence analyst who worked on 
European economic issues. He was a person who was an analyst, a very 
bright individual who served very well.
  So these were people who worked for our government who felt it was 
important, who felt they had a contribution to make, who felt that this 
great Nation of ours could do better. They never accepted enough was 
enough. They went on to move to higher heights.
  Ron Brown had gone on a mission to India. No one ever looked at India 
as a place where we should take trade missions. It was never on the 
radar screen. But Ron Brown looked at the population, a population of 
over 900 million people, a country that in the next 20 years will have 
a population in excess of the population of the People's Republic of 
China.
  It is estimated by the year 2020 the population of India will exceed 
1 billion 250 million people--1 billion 300 million people. This is 
awesome.
  The People's Republic of China currently has 1 billion 100 million 
people. The population of the United States is 250 million.
  Ron Brown looked at India and said, after analysis, that India has as 
many middle-income people as the entire population of the United States 
of America. He was one that looked around and saw the poverty and saw 
the problems, but he also looked at the aggregate number, 900 million 
people, and found out that 250 million were middle-income people in 
India. And so he took a trade mission and, in less than a week, did 
over $7 billion worth of business on that trip. It was Ron Brown 
conceiving that there is opportunity in that great country of India.
  He took trade missions to South Africa, worked with Mr. Mandela. As a 
matter of fact, Ron Brown was one of President Nelson Mandela's 
favorite persons. Mr. Mandela, who, as you know, is probably one of the 
greatest leaders in this world, has tremendous insight, and he was a 
person that opened his doors to his personal home to Ron Brown because 
of the camaraderie between the two. Of course, President Mandela, being 
much older than Ron Brown, Ron just looked up to him and went to South 
Africa, and through Ron Brown's creativity the Mbeke-Gore Bilateral 
Commission for Trade, directly the deputy president, Tabo Mbeke, Vice 
President Al Gore cochaired this trade development that will increase 
imports and exports from these two great countries.

  Ron Brown went to Asia and was very popular.
  The Japanese trade officials enjoyed working with Ron Brown. They 
felt that he was very astute, and he did outstanding business in Japan. 
He was one, and we heard of Mickey Kantor and his debates in Geneva 
with the auto parts, but Ron Brown would go over to Japan, and it was, 
they call it, the ``bad cop, good cop,'' Mickey Kantor being the bad 
cop, tough guy, mean guy, never smiled, and Ron Brown would come with 
his smile. He was a good cop. But Ron would always get the signature on 
the dotted line. So, as we have recently heard, the tremendous increase 
in the amount of autos and auto parts being sold to Japan, a record for 
this country. Part of that success for our big three auto makers is 
because of Ron Brown and the work that he has done.
  He went to the People's Republic of China and was ready to do 
business all over the place. It was just that it was so large, Ron just 
took a little piece of it, but billions of dollars' worth of People's 
Republic of China.
  And so I mentioned these various missions that he took. He was 
interested in the whole relationship between Mexico and the United 
States. He felt that Mexico has tremendous potential, but that the 
human rights of people in Mexico must be observed better. He talked 
about changing over the type of government, making it more people 
oriented, and he was a person that saw that one way that we could stop 
illegal immigration is that Mexico itself becomes a place that people 
feel they should stay, their country. Most people prefer living in 
their own country. They do not like traveling to other countries. They 
do not want to learn a foreign language. They do not want to be put in 
substandard jobs. They do not want to be pointed out as the problem. So 
most people, wherever they live in the world, prefer to stay where 
their home country is.
  Ron Brown felt that, with Mexico developing, with opportunities in 
Mexico for Mexicans, that would be the biggest way to slow down and 
eventually stop illegal immigration and actually have people emigrate 
back to Mexico once opportunities developed there. But he also said 
that, as Mexico developed, that there would be markets for the United 
States, there would be trade opportunities, that it would not be a one-
way street, but we would be able to solve a tremendous social problem 
in our country of illegal immigration.

                              {time}  2030

  So Ron Brown's policies really affected the world, whether it was in 
the Far East, the Pacific rim, whether it was in the new independent 
States, or in Africa. He was a person who felt that we could do things 
best in this country, we make the best products, once we put our minds 
to it. He felt that all we had to do was to get an opportunity to 
introduce our business people to foreign markets, and that they would 
really jump on board on getting our products.
  So as we wind down on our commemoration of Ron Brown, the man, Ron 
Brown, the leader, Ron Brown, the father, Ron Brown was a person that 
even when he was under attack, and I sat at a hearing of the Committee 
on International Relations where there was the move to abolish and 
eliminate the Department of Commerce. Some mean-spirited questions were 
asked, and the manner in which some of the questioners on the other 
side of the aisle were lashing out at the Secretary of Commerce. He 
answered every question. He answered the questions well. He had the 
facts.
  As a matter of fact, when the hearing ended, most of the Members who 
started out with this mean-spirited slash and burn type of philosophy 
had to admit that the Department of Commerce had done an outstanding 
job; had to admit that, truly, this is the first Department of Commerce 
Secretary that the American people can say the name of the person. This 
is a Commerce Department person that people felt was doing the job. But 
in their fallacy, their preconceived notion was to eliminate the 
Department of Commerce. I think that that started to sort of slow down 
once Ron Brown really gave the facts to people.
  We are here to say, Mr. Speaker, that we hope that we will remember 
Ron. We will once again say that he was a great American. We will once 
again say that he is the type of person that we can have young men and 
women, African-American, Caucasian, native American, whatever, point to 
and say that he is the measure of a man. Anyone can succeed if you try 
hard enough, that all you have to do is to have a vision, have 
creativity, and be ready to step up to the plate.
  Once again, I would like to thank the Speaker for this time, and to 
express to my colleagues who came out tonight that I appreciate their 
participation this evening. I also appreciate the participation of 
many, many Members who have expressed their views during the past week 
that we have been back here, Monday, Tuesday, and today.
  As a matter of fact, concluding, it was going to be on a week from 
today that he was going to visit the Congressional Black Caucus' weekly 
meeting. We talked before his trip, and April 24 was the date that he 
was scheduled to come to talk about women's opportunities, small 
business, the census. So we will certainly even more remember him next 
week when we meet in our weekly Wednesday meeting. He is a true 
American, a real American hero.

                          ____________________