[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 112 (Friday, July 26, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S9002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page S9002]]



                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

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                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on 
the Executive Calendar: Nos. 560, 682, 683, 684, 685, and all 
nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Foreign Service.
  Mr. President, might I inquire, are any of those numbered nominations 
the OMB Director?
  I have just found out who they are. The OMB Director is not here.
  I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed en 
bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President 
be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then 
return to legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The nominations were considered and confirmed, en bloc, as follows:


                             the judiciary

       Robert E. Morin, of the District of Columbia, to be an 
     Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of 
     Columbia for the term of fifteen years, vice Curtis E. von 
     Kann, retired.


                          DEPARTMENT OF STATE

       Rod Grams, of Minnesota, to be a Representative of the 
     United States of America to the 51st Session of the General 
     Assembly of the United Nations.
       Claiborne deB. Pell, of Rhode Island, to be a 
     Representative of the United States of America to the 51st 
     Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
       Alan Philip Larson, of Virginia, a Career Member of the 
     Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be an 
     Assistant Secretary of State.
       Jeffrey Davidow, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior 
     Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be an 
     Assistant Secretary of State.


                         IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE

       Foreign Service nominations beginning Paul P. Blackburn, 
     and ending Veda B. Wilson, which nominations were received by 
     the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of June 
     26, 1996.

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, today the Senate will confirm the 
nomination of our dear colleague, Claiborne Pell, as the U.S. 
representative to the 51st session of the U.N. General Assembly. 
Senator Pell's career and accomplishments were what the Framers of the 
Constitution probably had in mind when they created the position of 
U.S. Senator.
  For 36 years Claiborne Pell has graced the United States Senate, 
providing thoughtful leadership on an exceptional range of issues.
  Millions of Americans have been able to attend college because of his 
historic role in creating the program which the Congress, in an 
unprecedented honor for a sitting Senator, named Pell grants in 1980.
  Thousands of American communities have been immeasurably enriched by 
the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the 
Humanities, which he helped create in 1965.
  Champion of international environmental concerns and nuclear 
disarmament treaties, crusader for human rights, primary sponsor of 
legislation to assist the handicapped, originator of the High-Speed 
Ground Transportation Act; his vision has helped transform this country 
he loves in so many tangible ways. But in light of his pending 
nomination, it is appropriate to speak of Claiborne Pell's first real 
job.
  In the spring and summer of 1945, millions of us left military 
service. Most of us went back, as I did, to the schooling or jobs we 
had left to fight for our country. Claiborne Pell did something a 
little different. He helped change the world.
  In June 1945, he went to San Francisco as a member of the 
International Secretariat of the U.N. Conference on International 
Organization, the conference that drafted the U.N. Charter.
  In all, 282 delegates representing 50 countries took part in drafting 
the U.N. Charter, though the bulk of the work was accomplished by the 
1,058 persons working for the International Secretariat. He may be the 
only government official of those participating in the organizational 
conference who is still in public office anywhere on this planet--young 
Claiborne Pell on assignment from his beloved Coast Guard.
  As Assistant Secretary of Conference III, the Enforcement 
Arrangements Committee, he helped draft articles 43, 44, and 45 of the 
United Nations Charter that gave the Security Council the right to take 
military action to prevent aggression.
  He collected the ballots at the vote to confirm the Charter. And to 
this day he is never caught without a copy of the Charter in his 
pocket. We in the Senate are honored to have the beloved former 
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Claiborne Pell, 
counted among those who were present at the creation of the Charter.
  He has lived the promise of the United Nations Charter for 51 years--
on State Department assignment in Eastern Europe during the harshest 
early days of the cold war; and as a private citizen organizing the 
rescue of over 100,000 Hungarian refugees after the betrayal of the 
1956 revolution against Soviet rule. In his efforts to enhance 
environmental protection, he is one of the few persons--the only United 
States Senator--who attended both the 1992 United Nations Conference on 
Environment and Development [UNCED] in Rio, and its predecessor, the 
1972 Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm.
  He has championed the adoption of an international legal regime for 
the peaceful use of the seas. As such he has participated in the 
creation of the Law of the Sea Convention. Beginning on September 29, 
1967 he introduced three Senate resolutions urging the President to 
negotiate such a measure. Those resolutions and a draft treaty that 
Senator Pell proposed in 1969 led first to the Seabed Arms Control 
Treaty, prohibiting nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass 
destruction from the ocean floor, ratified by the Senate in 1972.
  The Law of the Sea Convention would not be opened for signatures for 
10 more years until 1982. Senator Pell's long efforts in this regard 
are reflected in the achievements contained in the Convention which 
codifies, among other things, freedom of navigation rights, and the 
exclusive use of marine resources by countries within 200 miles of 
their shores.
  Claiborne Pell is a Senator for the ages. We in the Senate shall miss 
him. He will no doubt serve with distinction as the United States 
Representative to the 51st session of the United Nations General 
Assembly. I congratulate Senator Pell for his numerous achievements and 
wish him well in his future endeavors.

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