[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  A TRIBUTE TO MADELINE TAYLOR DUCKLES

                                 ______


                         HON. RONALD V. DELLUMS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 16, 1996

  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize an extraordinary human 
being in my district, Madeline Taylor Duckles, on the occasion of her 
80th birthday. The phrase, ``my district'' only serves to highlight the 
world-wide breadth of this woman's interests and achievements. Madeline 
Duckles, born in rural California, was fortunate to have attended the 
tuition-free, University of California at Berkeley and to graduate in 
1937, as the first in her family to go beyond high school. While she 
reveled in her academic pursuits, her earlier awareness of the 
commonality of humankind was strengthened by the diversities of the 
people she met at Berkeley.
  Her life at the University of California confirmed her childhood 
understanding that differences in peoples' outward appearance were not 
measures of their worth, that discrimination and hatred based on such 
attributes had no place in her life. The seeds of her work in 
opposition to discrimination, inequality, hate and war were firmly 
implanted during these university years.
  In the 1950's the Congressional House Un-American Activities 
Committee [HUAC] loomed large over the country. California had its 
``Little Hoover'' commission, and the University of California felt its 
own anticommunist pressures as the specter of the loyalty oath blighted 
freedom and integrity. Madeline, joined the Women's International 
League for Peace and Freedom in the mid-1940's, braved the pressures 
and spoke out, with WILPF, against the witch hunting.
  The Vietnam war grew from a buzz heard across many campuses to an 
early roar in Berkeley and the bay area. Madeline was one of the first 
American women to visit North Vietnam and was accused of providing aid 
and comfort to the enemy. Providing no aid or comfort, she did bring 
out the first information on prisoners of war held in the north. In the 
1960's Madeline accepted an invitation from a women's group to address 
an outdoor rally in Florence. Her speech on Vietnam did not advocate 
the violent or otherwise overthrow of the American Government, but a 
report on her speech in the press brought a warning from the U.S. 
Consul that she might be dismissed from Italy.
  A dossier on Madeline's activities exists in the FBI files, over 
several decades. This FBI surveillance led to concern by her family, 
particularly during her first trip to Vietnam, whether she would return 
in one piece. Despite the official intimidation, hate mail and 
telephone calls, Madeline visited areas and spoke with people thought 
by others as enemy. In each case, her choice to make that visit has 
been based in part or in whole on the belief that the way to peace 
begins by talking with those with whom one currently has no peace. 
Madeline has consistently used her skills and strengths to join with 
those of others to make positive differences in this world.
  In late 1966 physicians and concerned individuals formed the 
Committee of Responsibility, which sent observers to Vietnam to find 
war-injured children who could benefit from medical treatment in the 
United States. Madeline became the west coast organizer at the outset, 
and supervised the transit, treatment, housing, and other activities 
necessary for the numbers of children treated under this privately 
funded program. Every child whose injuries allowed for safe return to 
Vietnam was sent home; those who would not survive at home were helped 
to remain in this country where available medical skills would allow 
them to live. Each child, now adult, who remained in the United States 
is self-supporting. Madeline continued her work with WILPF/Women for 
Peace, which became synonymous with peaceful protest, and finally, the 
end to the American war in Vietnam. She served during this time as 
chair of the World Council for Peace.
  Her activism continued after the Vietnam war. She educated us on the 
growth of American military power and the continued high level of 
armaments. She supported congressional efforts to eliminate arms 
stockpiling, reduction of nuclear weapons, and to focus governmental 
spending on strengthening our social infrastructure to enhance the 
lives of the children today and tomorrow.
  Madeline Taylor Duckles' 80th birthday, on May 19, 1996, is the 
occasion for celebration by her family, friends and colleagues, and 
provides us the opportunity to recognize her life and dedicated work of 
more than half a century in support of the cherished American 
principles of the freedoms of speech, liberty, and equality and the 
right to live one's life, anywhere in peace. Madeline Taylor Duckles is 
a visionary who has been practicing the concept of thinking globally 
and acting locally throughout her lifetime; she has been a feminist 
before the term was coined, a humanist of the greatest kind and an 
American with a world vision. I am proud to have had a chance to work 
with her and join with her many friends in the ninth Congressional 
District, and all over the world to recognize her work and to salute 
this wonderful American.

                          ____________________