[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 23, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3894-S3895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATOR EDMUND S. MUSKIE: THE SENATE'S FIRST ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President. As all senators know, former Senator 
Edmund S. Muskie passed away on March 26, two days before his 82d 
birthday. Senator Muskie served in this body from January, 1959, until 
May 1980, when he resigned to become Secretary of State in the Carter 
administration.
  As a freshman Senator, Ed Muskie ardently desired a position on the 
Foreign Relations Committee. He was disappointed to be appointed to the 
Public Works Committee instead. But his loss proved to be the Nation's 
gain. As a member of the Public Works Committee, later the chairman of 
the Environmental Pollution Subcommittee, Senator Muskie became the 
chief architect of America's first environmental laws.
  At the funeral service for Senator Muskie, his protege and former 
chief of staff, George Mitchell, who took Muskie's Senate seat and went 
on to become the Senate majority leader, delivered a wonderful tribute 
to Senator Muskie's environmental leadership. I would like to share his 
remarks with the Senate today by asking unanimous consent that they be 
printed in the Congressional Record at this point.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                       Remarks of George Mitchell

       Jane, Steve and Lexi, Ellen and Ernie, Melinda and Eddie, 
     Martha, Ned and Julia, and other members of the family, 
     Cardinal Hickey, Bishop Gerry and other members of the 
     clergy, President and Mrs. Carter and other distinguished 
     guests and friends of Ed Muskie. Senator Muskie once said 
     that he didn't like being called ``Lincolnesque'' but it fit. 
     With his lanky frame, his long and craggy face, his powerful 
     voice, he was an imposing figure. He was loved and trusted by 
     the people of Maine because they saw in him the qualities 
     they most admire, independence, fairness, the lack of 
     pretense, the willingness to speak the truth even when it 
     hurt. He was plain spoken even blunt at times and they 
     admired him for it. He had his faults and he made mistakes 
     as do all human beings but he conquered his faults and he 
     learned from his mistakes and as a result, he became the 
     greatest public official in Maine's history and one of the 
     most effective legislators in our nation's history. He 
     accomplished much in a long and distinguished career. In 
     that impressive record, nothing surpasses what he did to 
     protect America's natural environment.
       Harry Truman once said that men make history, not the other 
     way around. In periods where there is no leadership society 
     stands still. Progress occurs when courageous skillful 
     leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the 
     better. Ed Muskie changed things for the better. When he went 
     to the Senate, there were no national environmental laws, 
     there was no environmental movement, there was hardly an 
     awareness of the problem. Industries and municipalties dumped 
     their wastes into the nearest river and America's waters 
     were, for the most part, stinking open sewers. The air was 
     unhealthy the water polluted, Ed Muskie changed that.
       It's one thing to write and pass a law, its another thing 
     to change the way people live, it's yet another and a far 
     more difficult thing to change the way people think. Ed 
     Muskie did that. With knowledge, skill, determination and 
     patience he won approval of the Clean Air Act and the Clean 
     Water Act and America was changed forever for the better. Any 
     American who wants to know what Ed Muskie's legacy is need 
     only go to the nearest river. Before Ed Muskie it was almost 
     surely not fit to drink or to swim or to fish in, because of 
     Ed Muskie it is now almost surely clean. A source of 
     recreation even revenue. Despite the efforts of some to turn 
     back the clock, these landmark laws will survive because the 
     American people know what a difference he has made in their 
     lives
       It has been said that what we do for ourselves, leaves this 
     world with us, what we do for others remains behind. That's 
     our legacy, our link with immortality. Ed Muskie's legacy 
     will stand as a living memorial to his vision. It is his 
     immortality.
       Each of us could say much more about Ed Muskie's public 
     career but we are here today to pay tribute to Ed Muskie the 
     man, so I would like to say a few words about the man who was 
     my hero, my mentor, my friend. Thirty-four years ago this 
     week, I received a telephone call that changed my life. It 
     was from Don Nicoll, Senator Muskie's Administrative 
     Assistant and close friend who is here today. he invited me 
     to come up to Capitol Hill to meet the Senator who was 
     looking for someone from Maine to fill a vacancy on his 
     staff. To help him evaluate me, Don asked that I prepare a 
     memorandum on the legal aspects of an issue that was then 
     being considered by the Senate. I prepared the memo and went 
     up for the interview. I thought the memo was pretty good, but 
     unknowingly I had made a huge mistake. I reached a conclusion 
     that was the opposite of the Senator's. I had never met him 
     but he didn't bother with any small talk. Within minutes of 
     our introduction, he unleashed a ferocious cross-examination. 
     He came out from behind his desk, he towered over me, he 
     shook his finger at me and he took my memo apart, line by 
     line. I was stunned, so intimidated that I couldn't control 
     the shaking of my legs even though I was sitting down. I 
     tried as best as I could to explain my point of view and we 
     had what you might call a lively discussion. As I left he 
     said the next time you come in here, you'll be better 
     prepared. That's how I learned I'd been hired and I sure was 
     better prepared the next time.
       Ed Muskie was even more imposing intellectually than he was 
     physically. He was the smartest person that I ever met with 
     an incisive analytical mind that enabled him to see every 
     aspect of a problem and instantly to identify possible 
     solutions. He challenged everyone around him to rise to his 
     level of excellence. No one quite reached his level, but 
     those who took up the challenge were improved by the effort. 
     Those who know him learned from that relationship, those of 
     us who worked for him, most of all. just about everything I 
     know about politics and government I learned from him. Just 
     about everything I have accomplished in public life, can 
     be traced to his help. No one ever had a better mentor or 
     a better friend.
       No discussion of Ed Muskie would be complete without 
     mention of his legendary temper. After he became Secretary of 
     State, a news magazine in an article described his temper as 
     entirely tactical, something that he turned on and off at 
     will to help him get his way. I saw him a few days later, he 
     showed me the article, in fact he read it to me, and then he 
     said laughingly, ``all these years you thought my temper was 
     for real.'' Well, I said, you sure fooled me, and a lot of 
     other people. I think the reality is that it was both. When 
     he yelled at you it was terrifyingly real, but you could 
     never be sure that it wasn't also a tactic to move you his 
     way, to get you to do what he wanted done and that's the way 
     he wanted it and liked it.
       Almost as unnerving as one of his eruptions was the 
     swiftness with which it passed and was forgotten. He was a 
     passionate man and expressed himself with emotion. His point 
     having been made, he moved on, he didn't believe in looking 
     back or nursing grudges and maybe that's how he got past the 
     disappointments he suffered. It surely also helped that he 
     was a secure man, confident in, and comfortable with his 
     values. Those values were simple, yet universal in their 
     reach and enduring in their strength. They were faith, family 
     and country. He was constant in his faith. He was comforted 
     by it and he was motivated by its message. The prayer printed 
     on the back of the program today written by Senator Muskie 
     more than a quarter century ago with its emphasis on 
     compassion and tolerance was the essence of his faith. He was 
     totally devoted to his family, especially to Jane. They would 
     have celebrated their 48th anniversary in May and for all 
     those years, she supported him, she comforted him, she helped 
     him. He was a passionate believer in democracy and especially 
     in American democracy.
       I have the privilege of traveling all over Maine and all 
     this country with him. Back when I was on Senator Muskie's 
     staff we didn't have the resources available today so we used 
     to share a motel room in small towns all across Maine as I 
     drove him from one appearance to another. And I can recall 
     the many times he spoke of his Father who he greatly admired 
     and who he was very much influenced by. His Father was a 
     Polish immigrant who, like many others who fled from tyranny, 
     flourished in the free air of this blessed land. No person I 
     have ever heard and few in our history could match Ed 
     Muskie's eloquence on the meaning of America. Once in public 
     office, his profound respect for American democracy led him 
     to act always with dignity and restraint, lest he dishonor 
     those he represented. As a result, he was the ideal in pubic 
     service, a man who accomplished much without ever 
     compromising his principles or his dignity. Character is

[[Page S3895]]

     what you are when you are alone in the dark as well as with 
     others in the daylight. Ed Muskie's character was strong. 
     Strong enough to light up other people's lives. He taught us 
     that integrity is more important than winning. That real 
     knowledge counts more than slogans or sound bites. That we 
     should live our values rather than parading them for public 
     approval.
       Many years ago, Maine's greatest poet, Henry Wadsworth 
     Longfellow, wrote of another great man these words: ``Were a 
     star quenched on high for ages would its light still 
     traveling downward from the sky shine on our mortal sight. So 
     when a great man dies for years beyond our kin, the light he 
     leaves behind him lies upon the paths of men.'' A great man 
     has died and for years his life will shine upon our paths. 
     Goodbye Ed, may God bless you and welcome you.

  Mrs. BOXER. Finally, Mr. President, I would also like to share with 
my colleagues a beautiful prayer, written by Senator Muskie for the 
occasion of the Presidential Prayer Breakfast in January, 1969. The 
message of this prayer--a plea on behalf of all public officials for 
mutual trust and understanding, cooperation and compassion--is more 
relevant today than ever. I ask unanimous consent that the full text of 
the prayer be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                          Presidential Prayer

(Written by Senator Edmund S. Muskie and delivered at the Presidential 
           Prayer Breakfast January 30, 1969--Washington, DC)

       Our Father--we are gathered here this morning, perplexed 
     and deeply troubled.
       We are grateful for the many blessings You have bestowed 
     upon us--the great resources of land and people--the freedom 
     to apply them to uses of our own choosing--the successes 
     which have marked our efforts.
       We are preplexed that, notwithstanding these blessings, we 
     have not succeeded in making possible a life of promise for 
     all our people in that growing dissatisfaction threatens our 
     unity and our progress toward peace and justice.
       We are deeply troubled that we may not be able to agree 
     upon the common purposes and the basis for mutual trust which 
     are essential if we are to overcome these difficulties.
       And so, Our Father, we turn to you for help.
       Teach us to listen to one another, with the kind of 
     attention which is receptive to other points of view, however 
     different, with a healthy skepticism as to our own 
     infallibility.
       Teach us to understand one another with the kind of 
     sensitivity which springs from deeply-seated sympathy and 
     compassion.
       Teach us to trust one another, beyond mere tolerance, with 
     a willingness to take the chance on the perfectibility of our 
     fellow men.
       Teach us to help one another, beyond charity, in the kind 
     of mutual involvement which is essential if a free society is 
     to work.
       We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

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