[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 11, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6074-S6076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO MY FRIEND, SENATOR BOB DOLE

  Mr. SMITH. Madam President, today I rise to join so many of my 
colleagues in a tribute to my friend and my leader, Senator Bob Dole, 
who, as we all know, is leaving the Senate today, June 11, 1996.
  As a former history teacher, I could not help but sense the 
historical significance of this day. It really was a flashback to the 
old days of the great oratory that took place on the Senate floor, with 
the likes of Calhoun and Clay and others, when Bob Dole took the podium 
that he so many times has stood at and addressed the U.S. Senate. You 
could hear a pin drop in the Chamber and in the gallery, not always the 
case here on the Senate floor, with a lot of hustling and bustling and 
talking and people not paying attention.
  That was not the case today. Senator Bob Dole took that podium, 
addressed the country, the Chair, his colleagues and friends, many, 
many staff in the galleries, and the Chamber was hushed and quiet and 
everybody was listening--as well they should, Madam President, because 
when the history books are written, they will write about the great 
Senators who have occupied this Chamber: Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, 
Bob La Follette, Robert Taft and, yes, Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster 
used this very desk, Madam President, that I now have the privilege of 
speaking from.
  It reminds me that we are just a brief blip on the radar screen of 
time; here for only an instant. But Bob Dole is one of the great ones, 
and he will be remembered as one of the great ones.
  As a history student, I tried to catch a sense of what was happening. 
I looked at faces, watched people in this Chamber, as I watched, at the 
same time, Senator Dole. Without singling anybody out by name, I could 
not help but notice one page, a young lady, standing here on the floor 
of the Chamber during that speech and after the speech with tears 
running down her cheeks. It really was a very moving tribute to the 
kind of person Bob Dole is, because he commands the respect of not only 
his colleagues but every single man, woman, youngster, page. He could 
talk to a page as easily as he could talk to a President or world 
leader. That is what makes him such a great man.
  Today, he left the Senate to move on to other things. I remember many 
emotional private goodbyes that he shared with his colleagues. I 
remember when we had the meeting when he told us he was leaving. Most 
of us did not expect him to do it. If we were honest, we would say we 
did not expect him to say that. We thought he might leave the 
leadership post but not the Senate. But when he did it, and the way he 
told us, we knew it was the right thing. We knew it was right, because 
he needed to be out there debating, not other Senators on the floor of 
the Senate, but the President of the United States for the Presidency. 
We all knew that.
  Today, I think you saw with the type of speech that Bob Dole gave the 
kind of person he is: humble, gracious, and humorous, that great sense 
of humor. In all the tough battles we have here, he still finds that 
humor, which has always been a remarkable characteristic.
  So he is leaving the Senate. But he left today after that speech with 
the longest applause that I have ever seen given anyone in this Chamber 
or in the House Chamber. I have seen Presidents when we have gone to 
the State of the Union--great Presidents--receive a lot of ovations. I 
have never seen anybody receive a longer ovation than Bob Dole received 
here today, and that is a tribute to this great man who was elected to 
the House of Representatives where, Madam President, you and I both 
served together. He was elected in 1960 and served four terms in the 
House before he was elected to the U.S. Senate, which really has come 
to be, the past 27 years, his home.
  But he gave nearly 36 years of service to the State of Kansas and to 
the people of the United States of America. When you think about that 
many years of public service and reflect on the fact there is not one 
word or taint of scandal in any way, shape, or form, an unblemished, 
perfect political record, it is remarkable.
  He served his country and the Senate and the people with humor, with 
humility, and we will never forget him.
  His wife, Elizabeth, who has been by his side for so many years, is 
such a gracious woman and such an asset to Bob Dole. Those who serve 
here know how important the support of your family is as you put in the 
long, long hours that we have to endure in the Senate.
  Bob Dole said today in his remarks, ``My word is my bond.'' That is 
what it is all about. It is character. It is integrity and character. 
If you leave here, the legacy you leave, if no one says anything about 
you other than when he gave his word he kept it, you cannot do any 
better than that.
  I tried to think about what I might say here as my tribute in my own 
way, because so many people have so many wonderful things to say about 
this great man. I just want to share a couple of personal things, 
because they are important to me and I think it captures my feeling 
about Bob Dole.
  I come from a military family. My father served in World War II as a 
naval aviator and was killed at the end of the war, leaving my mother 
as a widow to raise my brother and me. She did that alone. I lost my 
dad, as I say, in World War II, and Bob Dole nearly lost his life in 
that same war. Severely injured, he had to fight his way back, not only 
from the brink of death but after that, paralysis, and became a U.S. 
Senator.
  But we, the sons and daughters of that generation, those of us who 
had parents who were in that war, World War II, we know, we are 
grateful. Perhaps we know and are a little bit more grateful than 
others for what they did and the sacrifices they made and how important 
they were to save the world from tyranny. It took heroes like Bob

[[Page S6075]]

Dole--and he was a hero, he is a hero --it took heroes like Bob Dole to 
make that happen. We owe him, and thousands of others like him, a huge 
debt of gratitude for their service and their sacrifice to our country, 
because when the call came, they stepped up and they stopped tyranny.
  So Bob Dole did not get here the easy way. We hear a lot of stories 
about how everybody in the Senate is rich and everybody gets here the 
easy way and you live this great life, but Bob Dole made it the hard 
way. You cannot help but admire and respect a man like that.
  I turned to him in 1993 to be a part of one of the most personal and 
meaningful experiences of my entire life, and I want to share that with 
my colleagues and with the American people.
  When my father died in 1945, it was 2 days before my fourth birthday, 
so I only have two memories of my dad. My brother has no memories of 
our dad, because he was less than a year old. I had always wanted to 
have my father buried at Arlington, but I never wanted to bring that 
subject up with my mother because he was not buried at Arlington and I 
did not want to put my mother through that experience of having his 
remains moved from where he was buried in New Jersey to come here to 
Arlington where I believe he would have liked to have been laid to 
rest. So I put it off.
  Then in May 1993, my mother passed away. She used to say she was a 
one-man woman, and she was. She never remarried after she lost my dad. 
But she always would go by the cemetery and she would say, ``Put me 
there with him so that we can be together forever.''
  When I made the decision to bury my parents--both of them--at 
Arlington National Cemetery in May 1993, I asked Senator Dole if he 
would have the time to come and give a few remarks at that service. 
Within a matter of minutes, the response came back: ``Of course.''
  I asked Bob Dole to say just a few words. I listened as this man made 
connections to my parents that I just could not believe anyone could do 
so spontaneously. He did not know my mother. He did not know my father. 
But I listened to Bob Dole say very movingly of how my father had stood 
guard in the night and how he had made the ultimate sacrifice. I 
listened as he spoke of how my mother had stood guard here at home when 
my father went away to war. I listened, Madam President, and I knew how 
proud my father and mother were, looking down from Heaven to see this 
American hero, Bob Dole, speaking at their memorial service in 
Arlington National Cemetery.
  He even made the connection my dad served on the U.S.S. Wichita,. He 
said, ``Any man who would serve on the U.S.S. Wichita,, named after a 
city in Kansas, had to be a great man.'' He made that ceremony so 
personal that many of my relatives came up to me afterwards and said, 
``Did Senator Dole know your parents?'' I said, ``I think he did. I 
really think he did.''
  So holding Bob Dole in the esteem I do, I was honored that only 8 
months into my first term in the Senate, Senator Dole selected me to be 
vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. It was 
a great honor for me to serve in that capacity. I shall always be 
grateful to Bob Dole for giving me that opportunity. Of course, he also 
selected me for the Ethics Committee, and I may hold that against him 
for a little while.
  But, Madam President, in 1994, I had another moving experience. I 
attended the 50th anniversary commemoration of D-day at Normandy. I saw 
there a sight that I will never ever forget. My wife Mary Jo and I 
went, and Bob Dole went as well. He retraced his steps in Italy. To see 
him there back with those people who helped to save his life, and to 
walk those hills where he was wounded, and then to go to Normandy after 
he left Italy, to the beaches of Normandy with those rows and rows and 
rows of crosses, and to think of the sacrifices, and men in 
wheelchairs, men with lost limbs, hugging, saluting this man--it was a 
great honor just to be there for the celebration of Normandy, but to be 
there in the company of Bob Dole, I shall always be grateful to Senator 
Dole for giving me that opportunity. I have never seen such admiration, 
gratitude, respect, and love as there was for that man. They loved him. 
They absolutely loved him.
  Another just little thing, but last summer I had two young interns, 
just college kids, Jennifer Kilgus and Greg Annis. They were walking 
down the corridor of the Capitol, just taking a walk. They decided to 
stop in to the majority leader's office just to say they went in there, 
hoping maybe they might have the chance to meet Bob Dole.
  Not only did he agree to see them with no appointment, but in the 
midst of a very busy schedule he spent 15 minutes talking to them, two 
young interns in his office, giving them the thrill of their lives. 
That is the kind of man Bob Dole is. That is why there were tears in 
the eyes of that page when Bob Dole said he was leaving.
  Finally, Madam President, as the senior Senator from New Hampshire, I 
cannot help but note that somehow Bob Dole has managed to spend quite a 
bit of time in New Hampshire over the past few years. He lost a tough 
primary in New Hampshire but went across the Nation with a stunning 
series of smashing primary victories as he won the Republican 
nomination for President. Gracious in defeat and gracious in victory.
  He has been to New Hampshire just to enjoy its beautiful lakes and 
mountains and countrysides. Perhaps, Madam President, you never know, 
there might even be a summer White House in New Hampshire someplace.
  Final anecdote. I remember Senator Dole, I believe 2 years ago, 
saying to me, ``You know, my Elizabeth would really like to go water-
skiing. But we would really not like to have a crowd around. Could you 
arrange that so that we didn't have to have a bunch of people with 
cameras so she could relax and enjoy herself?'' And we did. She is a 
great water-skier, too.
  So, Madam President, I join my colleagues in saying farewell, but not 
goodbye, to Bob Dole. The last thing I said to Senator Bob Dole on the 
floor of the Senate, as I shook his hand after his remarks, was, ``I'll 
see you at your swearing in for President on the West Front of the 
Capitol on January 20, 1997.'' He said, ``I'll be there.'' I said, ``I 
know you will, Mr. President.'' I have been proud to serve with Bob 
Dole in the U.S. Senate. I will be prouder still next year to fight as 
a Senator to help President Bob Dole pass the agenda that he dreams 
about for America.
  Thank you, Madam President.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter that Senator 
Dole read at my parents' funeral be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

 A TRIBUTE TO LT. COMMANDER DONALD SMITH AND MARGARET ELDRIDGE SMITH, 
     ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, BY SENATOR BOB DOLE, MAY 24, 1993

       Members and friends of the Smith family; I never knew Lt. 
     Commander Donald Smith, but we shared a great deal in common.
       We were of the same generation. We served together in World 
     War II--he flew the skies of the Pacific, and I walked the 
     hills of Italy. And since I'm from Kansas, I note with pride 
     that Lt. Commander Smith served aboard the U.S.S. Wichita.
       The author Herman Wouk wrote that ``If America is still the 
     great beacon in dense gloom--then we still need heroes to 
     stand guard in the night.''
       Like so many others before and after him, Lt. Commander 
     Donald Smith stood guard in the night. And like so many 
     others, he made the ultimate sacrifice.
       He was and he is an American hero, and it is very fitting 
     that he has been brought here, this final resting place of 
     American heroes.
       There is another name we add today to the list of heroes at 
     Arlington. The name of Margaret Eldridge Smith.
       Throughout our history, as American soldiers have ``stood 
     guard in the night,'' their family members have ``stood 
     guard'' here at home, supporting their country and their 
     military in countless ways.
       When Margaret Eldridge married Donald Smith, she did so 
     knowing there would be times when they would be separated by 
     miles of land and ocean.
       She also knew that the time might come, as it did in 1945, 
     when they would be separated by more than just territorial 
     limits.
       And for the past half century, Margaret Smith honored her 
     husband and her country by continuing to stand guard.
       She raised a family on her own, bringing up two fine sons 
     who would both serve their country in the military and in 
     government.
       She, too, is an American hero.
       I am very honored to be here this afternoon, as these two 
     heroes are reunited forever, and the best way we can honor 
     them is to continue to love freedom, to love our country, and 
     to always ``stand guard through the night.''


[[Page S6076]]


  Mr. LAUTENBERG addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. I thank you, Madam President, for recognizing me for 
some comments on the budget reconciliation.

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