[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 111 (Thursday, July 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H8534-H8538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONTINUATION OF TRIBUTE TO HAMILTON FISH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Campbell). The time of the gentleman 
from New York under the majority leader's designated time has expired, 
and so under the Speaker's announced policy of May 12, 1995, the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Rangel] will be recognized for the first 
portion of that time designated by the minority leader.
  Mr. RANGEL. I thank the Chair, and I yield to the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Horn].
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I think each one of us in our own way and 
perhaps sometimes differently have seen one of the basic qualities of 
Ham Fish, a beloved Member of this House, and that is that he was a 
gentleman. He was a warm and wise man. He was compassionate. He not 
only cared about mankind, he also cared about his neighbors and his 
friends. He was decent, effective, and quiet spoken. And as many know 
in this Chamber, some of our most effective legislators are quiet 
spoken and work behind the scenes to bring people together and to build 
a consensus.
  Ham Fish had an engaging smile, and what you saw was what he was. He 
was not a phony. He was a person that was interested in people.
  And how I came to know him as a newcomer to this Chamber in 1993 was 
because my mother had been a devoted follower of his father. And like 
his differences with his father on foreign policy, I had those 
differences in my own family. His father was one of the great 
isolationists of the 1930's. My mother who had been an active seeker of 
world peace was a devoted isolationist, and she and Hamilton Fish's 
father used to exchange letters on occasion, and as most of us know, 
his father was going strong at 100.
  Ham Fish was part of an American political dynasty. Allen Nevins 
wrote a prize winning book on his great-grandfather, who served as 
Secretary of State under President Ulysses Simpson Grant. He was of our 
great Secretaries of State. Ham's family was grounded in public 
service. They devoted their lives to helping America through various 
crises. Sometimes they might have been wrong in the ultimate judgment 
of who had the right policy or the wrong policy at a given time, but 
they never wavered in terms of their courage and their dedication.
  When Judiciary Ranking Minority Member Hamilton Fish criticized the 
treatment of the minority by the then-majority during the formulation 
of the 1994 crime bill, he did not do it with rancor. He just laid it 
out in simple English and in simple declarative sentences. That is why 
we respected him. He was honest, to the point, and straightforward.
  He was a gentleman who was also a Republican. His father had been a 
Progressive and a Republican. His grandfather was a Republican. His 
great-grandfather had been a Whig and then a Republican. Those four 
spanned the century and a half of our two-party system. They saw the 
evolution of the two-party system. They contributed ideas and vigor to 
that two-party system.
  And to MaryAnn, the children, and the grandchildren: All of us will 
remember the wonderful things Ham did as a friend and as a Member of 
this Chamber. He consistently did the right thing. We honor him for 
that and we honor him for being a dedicated, warm human being.
  Mr. RANGEL. Thank you so much for that statement. I recognize the 
gentleman from Connecticut.
  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for 
yielding, and I thank both of my colleagues from New York, Mr. Gilman 
and Mr. Rangel, for allowing those of us who are not part of New York, 
but certainly part of this Congress, to just express our love and our 
admiration and affection for Ham Fish. But I want to claim him as 
someone who had tremendous impact on Connecticut because his district 
was in Westchester County, to the west of Connecticut and to the north 
of part of our district. In fact, I think Ham's home and my home are 
probably less than 20 minutes apart.
  Ham Fish was a good friend of my predecessor, Stewart McKinney. They 
were two very distinguished Members of this Chamber, both of whom are 
no longer living. But I remember thinking as a young person that I was 
represented by an extraordinary man, Stewart McKinney, but also I felt 
in some ways represented by another extraordinary individual, Ham Fish, 
because he was still part of our area, and he was just someone who 
stood out almost any time he spoke as someone who was thoughtful, 
someone who was quiet in one sense, but strong behind that quietness, 
and at times you do not always get to see the courageousness of

[[Page H8535]]

a Member, but you saw it periodically in some very key votes where Ham 
Fish simply was kind of going against the tide of maybe his district or 
maybe his party. But you always felt that he was doing what he felt was 
right, not with a sense of arrogance, but with a sense of conviction 
and a willingness to accept however his constituents judged him.
  So as a member of Connecticut's Fourth Congressional District and 
someone who got to see him in his function not only as a Member when I 
came here but as someone who I loved and admired before I got here, it 
was a privilege to be able to have served with him.
  This would probably be hard for someone who is now 50 years old to 
say that he had a sense of a fatherly figure for me, but I did feel 
like I could go up to him and say, this is what I am wrestling with, 
and it was not a difficult issue for him to help me analyze. He just 
helped me sort out what my feelings were and what my constituents' 
feelings were, and then what did I think was right and why did I think 
it was right, and he just gave me a nice process to move forward.
  And once in a while when I felt that I was maybe taking a stand that 
might take a little bit of courage, it did not seem like courage when 
after you spoke with Ham you just felt like you were doing the right 
thing, even, and I make this very key point, even when it was voting 
against the way he wanted me to vote.
  I think one of the nicest things you can say about someone is that 
they will tell you the truth and they do not have any hidden agenda, 
and so there were times Ham wanted me to do something and vote a 
certain way, but he would know where I was coming from, and he said, 
well, given you, and given the way you think, and given your district, 
this may not be the way you want to go, and he would do that even if it 
risked losing a bill that he wanted very much.
  I just want to again thank my colleagues.
  Mr. Rangel, if Ham Fish could make you want to be a better person, 
that kind of drew me over here, and he made all of us want to be a 
better person, and I just want to express my love, my condolences, to 
his wife Mary Ann, to his sons, Nicholas and Peter and Ham Fish III, 
and to his daughter, Alexa Fish Ward, and to their eight grandchildren. 
You have a precious husband, father, and grandfather to always 
remember. You have benefited by his love and affection, but so have we.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Chairman, I like to take this time to thank my dear 
friend, the gentleman from California [Mr. Farr]. As he and we know, 
the time that was allotted to the New York delegation had expired and 
the time we are now on is his special order, and we deeply appreciate 
you giving this consideration on behalf of our lost colleague, and I 
would ask the remaining speakers to please take that in consideration 
as relates to the length of their statements because Congressman Farr 
still has his time remaining.
  I would like to yield to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Payne].
  Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a man 
who brought honor to the House of Representatives through his grace, 
kindness, and sense of decorum, Ham Fish. As a Representative from a 
neighboring State, I had long admired Ham Fish even before coming to 
Congress. After my election I was fortunate enough to develop a 
personal relationship with him. In August 1994 we traveled together as 
a part of a delegation attending a conference in Berlin under the Aspen 
Institute. Ham added so much to the experience because not only was he 
extremely knowledgeable, but he and his wife, Mary Ann, were two of the 
most gracious, accommodating and generous people I have ever met. Their 
helpfulness and sense of humor pulled us through, especially when one 
of our Members got into a funny predicament. I will not relate the 
details here, but Ham and Mary Ann's willingness to extend themselves 
for others was unparalleled and will not be forgotten.
  Ham Fish and I shared an interest in international relations, and 
although he lived in the cold war era and served in the Naval Reserve, 
he firmly believed that we could and should work together to achieve 
peace.
  During the 1950's he served as vice counsel in Ireland. I will be 
visiting there next month, and I will certainly think of Ham when I see 
that beautiful country which has been seeking peace for so long.

                              {time}  2115

  He was well loved by the Irish people because he shared their hopes 
for their homeland, as well as their characteristics and their 
friendliness and their love of life.
  As chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, I wanted to especially 
note that Ham Fish, although unassuming as an individual, was a 
passionate champion of causes in which he believed. A long-time 
supporter of civil rights, he continued to stick to his principles, 
even fighting for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 when it 
was unfairly assailed by his own party as a quota bill. He sponsored 
amendments to the Voting Rights Act so all Americans would have access 
to the political process.
  In addition, in conclusion, he pushed for passage of the Americans 
with Disabilities Act to ensure that no American would be unfairly 
denied opportunities the rest of us enjoy.
  Ham Fish was proud to be from the old school, when courtesy and 
civility were the marks of a true gentleman. The Fish legacy should be 
remembered and honored in this day and age. There is too much 
divisiveness, both here in Congress and throughout the Nation.
  Let us resolve to honor Ham Fish in the best possible way by 
following the outstanding example he set. Our condolences go out to his 
wonderful family: His wife, Mary Ann, his four children, his sister, 
and his eight grandchildren.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, and 
yield to the gentleman from New York, Eliot Engel.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New York for 
yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, as I was sitting in the Chamber and listening to all our 
colleagues speak about Ham, I could not help thinking if Ham were here 
right now he would be terribly embarrassed about it all. He would 
probably admonish us to not say the kind things we were saying, and he 
probably would say, ``Oh, you know, it's not really true.''
  But I think the fact, Mr. Speaker, that there have been so many 
Members who have come here after hours from both sides of the aisle, 
both parties, to speak from their heart about Ham Fish really says just 
the kind of person he was. Everybody loved him. Everybody cared about 
him.
  When you serve in office and you are elected again and again, as he 
was for so many years, it really means that the people in his district 
understood that he had a very special quality. Those of us that are 
privileged to serve in government, we meet people from both sides of 
the aisle. It is very quick and easy for us to figure out who are the 
real good ones.
  I think we all know that Ham Fish was one of the real good ones. He 
had a very laid-back demeanor, a very kindly demeanor, and that made 
him even more effective. You really knew that he cared about you. You 
really knew that he cared about people.
  I was privileged not only to serve with Ham Fish as a member of the 
New York State delegation, but there were four of us that shared part 
of Westchester County in New York State. Ham and I both shared parts of 
Westchester County, and so we worked together, the four of us, two 
Democrats and two Republicans, to try to get things for Westchester 
County. Never once can I remember a time where Ham embarrassed me or 
when Ham was not trying to help me.
  Politics was not important. It was helping people, caring about 
people, that was important to Ham Fish. Every conversation I ever had 
with him, everything we ever discussed, was always pleasant.
  I remember during reapportionment, and my colleague, the gentleman 
from New York, Charlie Rangel, and other colleagues from New York will 
remember that there was a lot of trepidation in New York because we 
were losing three congressional seats in reapportionment, so it was a 
very, very tense moment. Ham would always kind of crack a joke.
  There were many different maps that were drawn. One of the maps had 
me

[[Page H8536]]

going deep into Westchester County. Ham counted the number of golf 
courses that would be in my district, and he said to me, ``Boy, 19 golf 
courses. That is a pretty good district.'' That district was never 
meant to be, it was not a district that I had received, that I 
eventually wound up having, but every time I saw him afterwards he 
would always joke about the 19 golf courses and how perhaps we could 
play some golf.

  Ham Fish was a wealthy man. He was one of the wealthiest men in 
Congress, but you would never know it. You would never know it because 
he never flaunted it. He truly cared about people. It did not matter 
how much money people had, it did not matter what they looked like, it 
did not matter the color of their skin, their race, their religion. Ham 
Fish cared about them all.
  After he left Congress, a couples of times in the Shuttle coming back 
and forth from new York to Washington I bumped into him. Again, he 
always had a smile, always had a good word, always was asking me how I 
was, how my wife was, how Congress was. This was the kind of person 
that Ham Fish really was.
  The New York delegation in particular has lost a good friend, but he 
will certainly live on in our hearts and in our minds. When I look to 
see what kind of a legislator, what kind of a person, indeed, that I 
try to be, Ham Fish is a perfect, perfect role model: Hardworking, 
quiet, and effective.
  So I want to say to his family, the Fish family, to Mary Ann and to 
his children, whom I know, and to everyone, we will certainly miss Ham 
Fish, but we will never forget him. I know Ham Fish is looking down at 
us now, being a bit embarrassed by it all, but everything that has been 
said by every Member today is true. It is the way we feel about Ham 
Fish. He will truly be missed and he was truly loved.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the remaining speakers that the 
time that we are on is that of our colleague, the gentleman from 
California, Sam Farr, who has yielded such time to us in memory of 
Hamilton Fish. I think we should take that into consideration as it 
relates to the length of our remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York, Jerry Nadler.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I 
want to thank my colleagues, the gentlemen from New York, Mr. Rangel 
and Mr. Gilman, for organizing this, and to join my colleagues in 
remembering a distinguished Member of this House and a dear friend of 
every American, Hamilton Fish, Junior.
  When I was first elected to the House a few years ago, Ham was 
gracious in welcoming me and providing expert guidance as I learned my 
way around. As the ranking minority member at that time of the 
Committee on the Judiciary, on which I was privileged to serve with 
him, he was always a model of collegiality and decency. As we lament 
the sometimes bitter tone our work has taken in these recent days, we 
would do well to recall Ham Fish's leadership and his civility, his 
rationality, and his courage.
  Ham Fish was an outstanding and expert advocate always for human and 
civil rights. I remember first being impressed and becoming admiring of 
Ham Fish when I was a young law student and I watched on television as 
Ham Fish, as a member of the Watergate subcommittee of the Committee on 
the Judiciary, voted to impeach a President of his own party, based on 
his view of the evidence and his view of the defense of the 
Constitution against aversion.
  America will remember Ham Fish for his legacy as a major architect of 
the Voting Rights Act of 1982, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the 
Americans with Disabilities Act, and much other legislation that 
advanced civil rights.
  My home State of New York owes much to the Fish family, which has 
served this Nation and our State from the early days of the Republic. 
Ham carried on that tradition with grace. Whether taking the initiative 
to ensure agreement on vital fair housing legislation, or voting the 
Americans with Disabilities Act into law, he was a master of the 
legislative art, and used those abilities to the benefit of the Nation 
always.
  We will miss Hamilton Fish. I want to extend my sympathies to the 
Fish family, to Mary Ann, to Ham III, to Alexa, and to my friend and 
constituent, Nick. This House and this country is the better for his 
having served it, and it is the less for his absence from it.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York [Mr. 
Schumer].
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader of our delegation, 
Charlie Rangel, for helping with this special order. I just want to add 
my words of condolence and consolation to Mary Ann, whose my good 
friend, Ham, who was my college classmate; Nick, who I have met in West 
Side politics; and to the rest of the Fish family.
  Let me just say that Ham was the best. He was the best of the old 
school, he was the best of this Congress, he was the best of America. I 
served with Ham for a long time before jerry Nadler came. We were the 
only New Yorkers on the Committee on the Judiciary, so we would have to 
spend a great deal of time together.
  On that committee, Ham was the swing vote. The way Ham went, the 
committee usually went, and not for any accident. Ham was thoughtful, 
he was decent, he was rarely pulled in any direction by any special 
interest. So when Ham voted a certain way or spoke a certain way, 
people followed. Ham was what a legislator should be. He had the 
interests of the people of his district at heart in Westchester and 
Putnam and Duchess County, but he also had the interests of this 
country at heart.
  He was a true patriot, and that is why he cared so much, I think, 
about civil rights. It really was not a big issue in his district. He 
just cared about it. That is why he cared so much about having fair and 
reasonable immigration laws, and would often resist the tide of those 
who were trying to just cut back for cutting back's sake. That is why, 
on antitrust laws, he did not go after companies with a vengeance, but 
he knew they had to be curbed at certain times.
  Ham was just the best. He had a twinkle in his eye half the time. He 
would have that droll sense of humor. He would be saying something that 
at first you thought was serious, and then you realized, no, this is 
Ham. He is pulling my leg. He was just a wonderful, wonderful person.
  He kept his dignity despite his illness. He kept his strength and his 
wisdom for his many years, and the legacy he leaves is twofold: A 
wonderful wife, and what a twinkle there is always in her eye, and I 
think a lot of that was because of Ham, and what wonderful children; 
and his legacy that he really helped make this country a better place.
  When I worry about the future of this Congress, the devisiveness, the 
partisanship, the fear of always looking over one's shoulder because 
there will be a 15-second sound bite, or some group that you anger, I 
think if the Congress had a few more Ham Fishes, if the Ham Fish way of 
legislating were here, this Congress would have a great and glorious 
future.
  So he is something, in summation, that all of us should aspire to and 
live up to, and there is sadness in all of us that Ham is no longer 
with us, but there is also a lot of joy because he left so much that we 
can all aspire to and follow.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California 
[Ms. Pelosi].
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for 
calling this special order, and for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, heeding his admonition and that of Mr. Gilman to be 
brief, I will associate myself with the remarks of our colleagues who 
went before, but just take a moment to immediately associate myself 
with the remark of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Schumer] who said 
that Ham was the best. That was part of my remarks, too. He was the 
best that our system had to offer.
  If there was an aristocracy in America, he would certainly be part of 
it, an American aristocrat, almost a contradiction in terms; not by 
dint of his birth, which goes back to the pre-Revolutionary days, his 
family was here in the pre-Revolutionary days of our Republic, nor also 
for his wealth, but by

[[Page H8537]]

dint of his great dignity, his respect for the principles on which our 
country was founded, and his love for our country.
  Others have talked about his fight for civil rights, et cetera. I 
want to just acknowledge that he was a leader in fighting any and all 
forms of discrimination: discrimination in voting, discrimination in 
education, discrimination in housing, discrimination in the workplace, 
and discrimination against the disabled, which has been mentioned 
earlier.
  The legacy that he leaves here, as a person who was a champion of 
human rights throughout the world, is the legacy of respect for every 
person. He taught us about the issues, he taught us about the 
procedure, and he taught us about the respect that we must have for 
each other in this body.
  Over 12,000 people have served in the House of Representatives since 
its origin. I think each of us who served with Ham Fish have had a 
special privilege. I hope it is a comfort to Mary Ann and to the Fish 
family, the entire Fish family, that Ham's distinguished service was 
highly recognized with the many awards that he received in his life, 
for the reasons my colleagues have mentioned. I hope they are comforted 
by the fact that he was a recognized champion of human rights in 
America and throughout the world, and as I said, that every Member of 
this body who served with him over those many years will consider it a 
fortunate honor to have had that association, and that it will be part 
of our legacy that we were exposed to the greatness of Ham Fish.
  On behalf of many of my colleagues in California, whom time prevents 
from participating in this special order, and certainly on behalf of my 
own constituents, who benefited greatly from the leadership of Ham 
Fish, I extend my deepest condolences to Mary Ann and to the Fish 
family. I thank my colleague from New York for yielding me this time 
and his leadership.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, 
George Gekas.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  One day several years back I wandered onto the floor and discovered 
there was a meeting going on of the former Members of Congress. They 
gather every year and they have a program and an agenda, as everybody 
knows. Very soon I learned that they were saying hello to Hamilton 
Fish, the former Member of Congress, who was in his nineties, who 
happened to be sitting with his kid, and his kid was our Hamilton Fish. 
They were talking together.

                              {time}  1930

  It dawned on me that there is a line of consanguinity that goes back 
in American history to the Cabinet of Ulysses S. Grant. We had the 
privilege of serving with that long line of American heroes who have 
served this country in good times and in bad, but always with that 
purest sense of patriotism and in the posture of a gentleman's 
gentleman that our Ham Fish was.


                             general leave

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
on the life character and public service of the late Honorable Hamilton 
Fish, Jr.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Campbell). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, as I yield to the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Farr], let me once again thank him for the courtesies that he 
extended to his Members in the House and especially the New York 
delegation.
  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, if I may, on the remainder of 
the time of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Rangel], I wanted to give 
this time because when I arrived here, I just wanted to say that one of 
the Members that I remembered first meeting was Hamilton Fish. The 
reason that I remember it so distinctly is that his cousin Stuymie Fish 
lives out in California and as anybody who has ever been on the 
Monterrey Peninsula knows, the Fish Ranch is this beautiful piece of 
property that everybody can see. So you have the Fish family well known 
all the way from New York to California and from Monterrey and Carmel 
all the way back to the East Coast. It was a pleasure to be able to 
give you some time since you could pay this tribute to a well-respected 
friend of us all and even friend to those like me. He was only here a 
short while while I was here but I was very impressed and we got to 
talk a little bit about the family relationship between the East Coast 
and the West Coast.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, may I thank Ben Gilman. We have always 
considered ourselves as colleagues rather than partisan. There is 
hardly anything that we do here that we do not try to do in a 
bipartisan fashion as well as this order. I also thank our former 
colleague, Robert Garcia, for taking the time out to pay a tribute to 
his friend and former colleague.
  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues, the 
distinguished members of the New York congressional delegation, Ben 
Gilman, Sue Kelly, and Charlie Rangel, for reserving time on the House 
floor today. We gather to pay tribute to Hamilton Fish, Jr., our former 
colleague and good friend.
  Ham Fish passed away earlier this week. With his death, we mourn the 
loss of a distinguished individual and a committed public servant. When 
Hamilton Fish, Jr., was elected to the Congress in 1968, he continued a 
political lineage dating back to the American Revolution. He followed 
in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, 
each of whom served in Congress.
  For over a quarter of a century, Ham represented New York's 19th 
Congressional District in the Halls of Congress. I share the sentiment 
of others who state that Ham Fish was one of the outstanding Members of 
this body in the century. America mourns the loss of an individual who 
was a real champion of justice and fairness.
  Mr. Speaker, Hamilton Fish, Jr., earned respect from his colleagues 
and the Nation for his leadership on civil rights, immigration, and 
judicial issues. He is credited with helping to fashion compromises 
which resulted in the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1988 and the 
Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990. He was also a sponsor of the 
Civil Rights Act and a backer of the Voting Rights Act and the Fair 
Housing Act.
  As a Member from the other side of the aisle, Ham played a key role 
in helping the House to operate in a bipartisanship manner. Many of us 
recall the leadership and wisdom he displayed during the impeachment 
hearings of President Nixon. Hamilton Fish was able to work beyond 
party lines and take courageous stands. He was a man of the highest 
integrity and principles.
  Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed a close personal friendship with Hamilton 
Fish. In fact, we both came to Congress in 1969. I recall that for a 
period of time our offices were next to each other and it was common 
for us to see one another every day. He was always cordial and friendly 
and we enjoyed a personal friendship. I had great respect for him as a 
legislator and as a colleague. I admired him for his very principled 
stands on issues of national concern and his leadership on civil rights 
matters. Ham Fish was a man who distinguished himself in this body and 
I deem it an honor to have served with him.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have served in the Congress with Hamilton 
Fish, Jr. He was a credit to this institution, a true gentleman, and a 
close personal friend. I join my colleagues in expressing our sympathy 
to his wife, Mary, his children, and grandchildren. We hope they find 
comfort in knowing that others share their sorrow.
  Mr. BEVILL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to my long-time friend 
and former colleague, Hamilton Fish, Jr., who passed away this week.
  As you know, Ham served the Hudson Valley region of New York from 
1968 until his retirement in 1994. He was a wonderful man who came from 
a long line of fine public servants. His father, grandfather, and 
great-grandfather--all named Hamilton Fish--also devoted themselves to 
public service.
  Hamilton Fish, Jr., was one of the most dedicated people I ever had 
the privilege to serve with. Everyone liked him and respected him. I 
was always very impressed with him and I enjoyed his friendship. I felt 
that he rendered outstanding service not only to his constituents in 
New York, but also to the entire Nation.
  Hamilton Fish, Jr., is someone who will always be remembered as the 
kind of person every public servant should aspire to be. He was 
gracious and kind. He cared about people and he displayed a great deal 
of common sense and good humor.
  He will be greatly missed by all who knew him, but his achievements 
and his contributions to our country will always be remembered.
  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise with my colleagues to commemorate the 
passing of

[[Page H8538]]

one of my good friends, Hamilton Fish, Jr. Together with my family, I 
want to extend my deepest sympathies to Ham's family and urge them to 
be strong in this time of loss.
  Ham was a respected Member of this institution and a mentor to me 
when I was a young Member of this body. He was respected by all who 
knew him for his deep and abiding respect for the Constitution, his 
knowledge of the law and his wisdom as a legislator, his sense of 
decorum and the importance of this institution, and for his ability to 
work on both sides of the aisle to find consensus on controversial 
issues.
  Ham was also a fighter for the things he believed in, a fighting 
spirit that was demonstrated in his courageous battle against cancer. 
Unfortunately, he has now lost this battle.
  As chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education 
Subcommittee, I want the Members of this body to know that I take the 
heart the courage shown by Ham in his battle against cancer, courage 
that too many Americans facing this dread disease must muster every 
day. And I want the Members to know that I will continue to do all that 
I can to bolster research funding for the National Institutes of 
Health, including the National Cancer Institute, in the hope that we 
can make greater progress against this disease and, by so doing, honor 
Ham's memory and the memories of those who, like him, have shown such 
courage.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in tribute to the late 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, Jr., an outstanding American of great compassion, 
decency, and dignity.
  Known to this friends as ``Ham,'' he dedicated his life to serving 
the United States. As a young American, he interrupted his education to 
enlist in the Navy during World War II. Later Ham joined the U.S. 
Foreign Service and served in Dublin as Vice Consul to Ireland from 
1951 to 1953. In 1968 he began his 26 years of dedicated service to the 
people of New York's 19th Congressional District as their 
representative to Congress. His constituents appreciated his leadership 
and hard work, electing him by overwhelming margins as a result.
  I observed Ham's legislative skills while serving with him on the 
Judiciary Committee. He was a master at working together with all 
Members to achieve a consensus. While in Congress, Ham focused his 
skills on passing legislative landmarks, such as the Americans With 
Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act. In addition, he was a leader 
in crafting copyright and antitrust law.
  While he was well known for his legislative accomplishments, Ham Fish 
was best known as a great American. Friends and foes alike respected 
and admired Ham. His affable and kind personality positively impacted 
all who knew him.
  Today America has indeed lost an outstanding citizen. I offer my 
condolences to the family and friends of the late Hon. Hamilton Fish, 
Jr.

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