[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 55 (Thursday, April 25, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S4185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A PRESCIENT MOMENT 25 YEARS PAST

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, one of the great benefits that accrues to 
those of us who have served in the U.S. Senate over a period of time--
measured not in years but in decades--is that of perspective. Serving 
here since my election in 1960 has provided me with a gift of hindsight 
that only time and experience can produce.
  It was 25 years ago this week that I participated in a historic 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. We scheduled that hearing 
to provide leaders of the anti-war movement with a legitimate forum to 
focus their collective anger and voice their passionate resistance to a 
heart-rending war that was dividing this country.
  I remember this hearing clearly. It was held during the historic 
encampment of Vietnam veterans in our Capital City and the committee 
invited the veterans to testify. It was from the witness table in our 
hearing room, in what was then the New Senate Office Building, that the 
veterans sounded their call for an end to the war.
  What stands out most in my mind, however, was the testimony, the 
eloquence and the authority of a tall, lanky young man who testified on 
behalf of his friends and peers. A decorated hero, he was speaking for 
those who were paying the ultimate price for a disastrous foreign 
policy.
  The large hearing room was crowded and the tension was electric. As I 
sat behind the raised dais, with Senators William Fulbright, our 
chairman; Stuart Symington, George Aiken, Clifford Case, and Jacob 
Javits, I remember looking at the drama before us and saying that the 
young man who was testifying should be on my side of the dais.
  He had just returned from the war and had been decorated for heroism, 
having been injured in combat (three Purple Hearts) and saved the lives 
of his Swift Boat crewmen (a Silver Star and two Bronze Stars). As an 
early and outspoken opponent of the war myself, I knew him and had 
worked to win support for him and his fellow anti-war veterans.
  After his testimony, when it became my turn to address him, I 
welcomed him with these words: ``As the witness knows, I have a very 
high personal regard for him and hope before his life ends he will be a 
colleague of ours in this body''. That young man was John Kerry.
  Mr. President, since that historic time, one which truly marked a 
milestone in the shift of public opinion, I have come to know John much 
better. I am happy to find that history has proven me right--both in my 
opposition to the war in Vietnam and in my glimpse of a young man's 
future.
  When John Kerry, as the Junior Senator from Massachusetts, joined us 
on the Foreign Relations Committee, I could not have been more 
delighted with my prescience.
  During my service Chairman of the Committee, I asked him to handle 
the State Department authorization bill--one of the major annual bills 
that come before the committee--because I knew he had the knowledge, 
the mastery of the legislative process and the negotiating skills to do 
the job.
  I was right. Senator Kerry has skillfully managed that bill several 
times now. And in the past year he negotiated with the Chairman Jesse 
Helms, over an intensely difficult question, and acquitted himself 
superbly.
  Perhaps his greatest contribution, however, has been his chairmanship 
of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. Thanks to John 
Kerry's doggedness and leadership, we are finally on the path to 
healing the wounds and closing the last chapter on a painful time in 
American history--that of the Vietnam war.

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