[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 52 (Monday, April 22, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E595]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO THE LATE EDMUND G. (PAT) BROWN

                                 ______


                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 22, 1996

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, on February 16, 1996, the State of 
California lost Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, one of its most beloved 
statesmen. All Californians have mourned the passing of this great 
leader, who was unmatched in his political skill, courageous 
leadership, and benevolence. He used his talents to make government an 
instrument of public good and his accomplishments as California's 
Governor from 1958 to 1966 are legendary.
  Pat Brown embodied all of the qualities the American people yearn for 
in their elected officials. Columnist David Broder captured him in a 
way we can all appreciate in a column he wrote shortly after Pat died. 
April 21, 1996, would have been Pat's 91st birthday. In memory of his 
long and rich life, I invite you to take a moment to read David 
Broder's words, which are reprinted below.

                       California Is His Monument

                           (By David Broder)

       If California were a nation, and not just a nation-state, 
     the visage of Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Sr. would be carved into 
     the Sierra equivalent of Mount Rushmore. Brown, who died last 
     week at 90, shaped his megastate as surely as the greatest of 
     the presidents have shaped this country. Reporters who 
     covered him during his eight years as governor, from 1958 
     through 1966, and visited with him over the last 30 years 
     mourn him as one of the true blithe spirits of 20th century 
     politics. He was the most amiable of companions, a grand 
     storyteller who liked nothing better than to tell or hear 
     jokes at his own expense.
       For years after it happened, you could get ``the Guv'' 
     laughing so hard that his eyes teared by describing to him 
     the spectacle he made when he missed John Kennedy's campaign 
     train during a whistle-stop tour of California's Central 
     Valley in September 1960. Brown had introduced the candidate 
     from the back platform in one of the Valley towns, then 
     climbed down and began schmoozing with people in the crowd.
       Engrossed in conversation, Brown missed Kennedy's cue lines 
     for departure--a quotation from ``Colonel Davenport'' that 
     staff members and reporters took as a signal to jump back 
     aboard--and made an unsuccessful lunge for the back platform. 
     As Kennedy joined the others laughing, the portly governor 
     jogged down the track, puffing heavily until the train was 
     halted so he could reboard.
       But there was nothing comical about what Brown accomplished 
     in Sacramento. Elected at a time of burgeoning population and 
     economic growth, Brown put in place the three ingredients 
     vital for sustaining his state's progress: improved 
     transportation, education and water systems.
       His administration built 1,000 miles of freeways to keep 
     the state from traffic gridlock. He opened almost a dozen new 
     campuses of the University of California and the state 
     colleges, giving California--for a time--the most accessible 
     and inexpensive higher education system in the world. The 
     Berkeley campus was one of the crown jewels of research and 
     graduate education.
       Perhaps his greatest achievement was the legislation 
     creating the California water system. A native of San 
     Francisco, Brown recognized that water was the issue that 
     could deepen the long-simmering division between his own 
     northern California, eager to protect its rich water 
     resources, and the fast-growing but arid south.
       At that time, before the Supreme Court's one-man-one-vote 
     edict, small rural counties dominated the state Senate, where 
     Los Angeles' millions of people had only one vote. It fell to 
     Brown to cajole and pressure the Senate to authorize a 444-
     mile aqueduct that brought almost 2 billion gallons of water 
     a day to the south, and later to obtain approval of the 
     project in a closely fought referendum.
       It was a battle that only a visionary would have waged, but 
     Brown was a man who believed--in a way few politicians do 
     now--that government has enormous capacity to improve life 
     for people.
       He also had an enormous capacity to enjoy people, whatever 
     their politics. He started life as a Republican and once 
     gained both Democratic and Republican nominations for 
     attorney general under California's now-defunct cross-filing 
     system.
       Martin Smith, the retired political columnist of the 
     Sacramento Bee, recalled Brown saying of Ronald Reagan, who 
     thwarted his bid for a third term in 1966, ``What an 
     extraordinary human being. . . . Of course, I disagree with 
     him 90 percent of the time.''
       Lyn Nofziger, Reagan's former press secretary, who was here 
     helping Sen. Bob Dole, told me that just a few years ago, 
     when he was crossing a street in Washington, ``a big car 
     rolled up, and Pat Brown rolled down the window, and asked, 
     `How the hell are you, Lyn?' He tied up traffic for 10 
     minutes just wanting to talk.''
       Jack Burby, who handled the press for Brown, recalled a 
     different kind of encounter in 1963, a year after Brown beat 
     Nixon to win his second term. The governor and Burby and 
     their wives were having dinner at a restaurant in Paris. 
     ``The Nixons and a small entourage walked in. Pat, being Pat, 
     wanted to jump up and lick his face. I suggested that he send 
     him a note and invite him to join us for coffee and dessert. 
     The waiter took the note over--and a few minutes later, the 
     Nixon party walked past us without a word, and left the 
     restaurant.''
       ``It used to drive me crazy,'' Burby said, ``that Pat had 
     no mean streak. I would tell him, `Even FDR got even.' but he 
     wasn't interested in that.''
       The things he was interested in gave California its future. 
     The whole state is his monument.

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