[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H10501-H10507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE JAMES H. QUILLEN ON HIS RETIREMENT FROM 
                                CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of May 12, 1995, the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. 
Duncan] is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I have requested this time tonight and 
have taken this special order to pay tribute to a great Tennessean, a 
true statesman, we think one of the finest men who has ever served in 
this body, and that is our good friend Congressman James H. ``Jimmy'' 
Quillen.
  Congressman Quillen has served the First District of Tennessee with 
great distinction and honor for 34 years. Now he is ending his 34th 
year and he has announced his retirement. Certainly he will be missed 
here, and he certainly has achieved and has earned the great respect 
and love of all of his constituents in east Tennessee.
  I will be saying more about Congressman Quillen as we move through 
this special order, and I will save most of my remarks for the end. But 
there are several of Congressman Quillen's colleagues here with me 
tonight who also want to take a few moments to pay their respects and 
say more things about Congressman Quillen.
  We want to start first with another distinguished veteran of this 
House. In this day in which term limits are so popular, many people do 
not realize that almost half of the House is new just since 1994, just 
in the last 2\1/2\ years. And so there is more turnover in elective 
office than at any time in history. But some of our finest Members have 
been some of the people who have served very long tenures in this 
House. I could name so many. Bill Broomfield of Michigan, John Paul 
Hammerschmidt of Arkansas, Chalmers Wylie of Ohio, many, many others. 
But one man who has served almost the entire time with Congressman 
Quillen and who, I think, without any question is his closest friend in 
the House is a great leader from Indiana, Congressman John Myers who 
has served in this House as a leader, as an outstanding member of the 
Committee on Appropriations since 1966.
  I want to pay tribute in introducing Congressman Myers because we are 
losing a great, great man in Congressman Myers, also, from this body, 
because he has also announced his retirement. But I want to yield at 
this time to Congressman John Myers of Indiana to make some remarks 
about Congressman Quillen.

  Mr. MYERS of Indiana. I thank very much Congressman Duncan, Jimmy. As 
you were reading off the names of people who served with Jimmy Quillen, 
you left one name off, the name of John Duncan, a colleague of ours 
from Tennessee, your father, that we had the honor of serving with, one 
of the true gentlemen also of the House of Representatives, certainly a 
gentleman from Tennessee. We miss, of course, your father John, but his 
shoes are filled most appropriately with his son Jimmy Duncan. Thank 
you for taking this time today.
  Madam Speaker, those of us who have served here for a few years have 
had the opportunity, the privilege of serving with a great many true 
Americans. Some have gone on to become President of the United States, 
some have moved down the aisle here to serve in the other body. Some 
have become Vice Presidents. Some have gone on to be ambassadors, 
Governors. Some have even retired.
  But tonight we honor truly one of the great Americans whom we have 
had the opportunity to serve with, a veteran of World War II, the Navy 
in World War II, a patriot, a statesman, certainly a gentleman at all 
times, James H. Quillen, whom we affectionately call Jimmy Quillen.
  Jimmy was born in Virginia 80 years ago. At a very early age his 
parents moved across the line, over into Kingsport, TN, where Jimmy 
graduated from high school. He went on to become publisher of the local 
newspaper, moving that newspaper into prominence, doing a great job as 
a newspaper publisher in Kingsport. TN.
  He then went on to the State Legislature. I believe he started 
serving in 1954, serving for 8 years in the State Legislature. He was 
nominated for Speaker of the Tennessee House, served in various 
capacities there, in the minority most often, and served honorably 
there. He has served in every Republican convention since 1956, most 
often as parliamentarian. And so we realize the potential and 
capability of our colleague from east Tennessee. He has received the 
Golden Bulldog Award, the highest award any Member of Congress can 
receive for their service, the conservative service, is the only way 
you can win the bulldog. He has received 27 consecutive. Every year the 
House Members have been awarded the golden bulldog, Jimmy Quillen has 
received that bulldog. It tells you something about the reputation, 
about the dedication of our friend Jimmy Quillen. He has served so many 
organizations in Tennessee. So many have honored him through the years. 
I think about anything in east Tennessee is named after him. I visited 
there on several occasions. In fact, Jimmy Quillen invited me my 
freshman year, 30 years ago, to come to his district and speak on 
Lincoln Day, a great honor for me to go into this very senior gentleman 
from Tennessee, to be asked as a freshman Hoosier from Indiana to come 
and speak in east Tennessee. I was honored, never been invited back, 
but it was a

[[Page H10502]]

great honor for me to be honored by Jimmy Quillen, and his district in 
east Tennessee.
  He was elected to the 88th Congress back on November 6, 1962, and has 
been reelected to each consecutive session of Congress. He now has 
served Tennessee and the House of Representatives longer than anyone in 
the history of Tennessee.
  Our colleagues here from Tennessee, I doubt if any of you will 
anywhere near come close. As you have mentioned term limits and 
everything else, I just doubt if you will ever get the opportunity to 
serve as long as Jimmy Quillen. In any event it is going to be very 
difficult to follow in his footsteps, whoever follows him here.
  As I mentioned earlier, I visited his district this summer. So many 
things, the university, the medical school, so many things are named 
after James H. Quillen because they respect this service and appreciate 
his service in the Congress of the United States.
  His wife Cecile that he married in 1952 has not been in good health 
in recent years. Every afternoon as soon as we finish business on 
Thursday or Friday you are going to see Jimmy casting that last ballot 
here, inserting his card and rushing out to the airport so he can go 
home and have dinner with Cecile on Friday evening. A very dedicated 
husband. He is dedicated to the service of our country in the same way. 
The country is going to be at a loss when we lose a gentleman of the 
service, the dedication, the caliber and the experience of Jimmy 
Quillen.
  It has been an honor for those of us who have had the privilege of 
serving with Jimmy to say he is truly a great American and most 
importantly he is a friend. So we thank Jimmy for his service and 
whoever is his successor, use him as a symbol of the dedication, of the 
challenge that you will have. If you can follow in Jimmy Quillen's 
footsteps and do just any place close to the job that he has done, you 
will be a great American.
  Jimmy, thank you for your service.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, John Myers, for a very moving and eloquent and 
appropriate tribute to our good friend Congressman Quillen.
  I do want to mention before Congressman Myers leaves that all of us 
know that Congressman Quillen has for many years sat in the second seat 
on the second row right here, the main seat that has always been 
featured on C-SPAN, so when I first got here, I developed a habit of 
sitting next to Congressman Quillen, and Don Sundquist sat there in the 
same row of seats, Don Sundquist, who is now our Governor of Tennessee.
  John Myers has always sat in the first seat on this second row. So 
one night we told him that this was a Tennessee row and that if he was 
going to sit there, we had to induct him in and swear him in as an 
honorary Tennessean. So we made him raise his right hand, and we paid 
John Myers the ultimate compliment and made this loyal Hoosier an 
honorary Tennessean.
  So thank you very much for your remarks about Congressman Quillen and 
thank you for your service, your great service to this country.
  Our next Speaker on behalf of Congressman Quillen is a man who has 
also served this Nation with great distinction and is doing so in an 
especially active and leading role in this Congress, ``The historic 
104th Congress,'' as David Broder has referred to it, and that is a man 
who has been so very kind and has worked so closely with Congressman 
Quillen over the years, Congressman Jerry Solomon, the chairman of the 
powerful House Rules Committee on which Congressman Quillen has served 
for the past 32 years. He did not serve his first term, but I think 
that is a record for a Republican in the history of the Rules 
Committee.
  But perhaps you can straighten us out on that, Congressman Jerry 
Solomon of New York.
  Mr. SOLOMON. I thank you, Congressman Duncan. Let me just say that 
Tennessee seems to have a habit of sending really good gentleman to 
this body. Your dad was just one of those. Sometimes some of us who 
have a tendency to get a little excited, we wish we had that kind of 
demeanor that your dad had, that Jimmy Quillen and even this guy John 
Myers, who is sitting down in front of me, have. I think it is an old 
trait that we all certainly could learn from.
  I just want to say to you, Jim ever since you took your dad's place, 
one thing you have concentrated on since you came here was something 
that I cherish very much and that was the real line-item veto and, by 
golly, we finally got it through. On Ronald Reagan's birthday. That 
made him very happy, too.
  I know there are some other speakers here from Tennessee, some good 
men and women. So I will be as brief as I can, but I just want in 
rising to express gratitude to this great American, the distinguished 
chairman emeritus of the House Rules Committee, Jim Quillen, I just 
want to pay tribute to him for all of the guidance and help that he has 
given me personally over the years.
  When I first was elected to the House 18 years ago, I learned how the 
Rules Committee functioned by watching Jim, who was then the ranking 
member of that committee, Jim provided sage advice that just meant so 
much to me.
  As chairman emeritus, Jim has been a source of wisdom and the 
institutional memory of that committee. Believe me, over 32 years of 
the 34 years that he served here, he has seen so much history, and it 
all goes through that Rules Committee.
  I did a little research to find out just when it was that Jim joined 
the Rules Committee, as you said, and it turned out that he was elected 
34 years ago and sworn in as a new member of, my gosh, what would that 
be, the 88th Congress. Then he joined the Rules Committee at the 
beginning of the second term in 1965, and just to put it into 
perspective, when that was, it was the same time that a new member came 
to this Congress and the man's name was Claude Pepper; he joined the 
Rules Committee at the same time, and I had the privilege of serving on 
that committee with both of them.
  From a check of the official Rules Committee history, Jim's record of 
32 years on the Rules Committee makes him the longest-serving 
Republican ever on that committee. As a matter of fact, he may be the 
longest serving on any committee. I have not researched it that far. 
But it is a record which is certainly not going to be challenged any 
time soon, especially not by this Member of Congress, and may never be 
matched.
  It is a record that we can all be very, very proud of for Jim.
  Madam Speaker, there are some remarkable stories about Jim Quillen 
that have been passed down as a part of the verbal heritage of the 
Rules Committee. We sit up there night and day, sometimes 18 hours a 
day, and the one that I like best about the time when Jim was trying to 
get a dam built in his district.

                              {time}  2000

  And, Jim, I am sure you know about this. There was one small problem, 
and the place where the dam was supposed to be built turned out to be 
the home of a small fish called the snail darter. The snail darter was 
an endangered species which could not be disturbed, yet Tennessee 
needed that dam. And Jim persuaded that the fish could get along just 
as well whether the dam was there or not.
  So to demonstrate the adaptability of the snail darter, Jim put what 
he alleged was a snail darter in one of the clear glass water pitchers 
on the Committee on Rules table upstairs. And then with the snail 
darter swimming around in the water pitcher, Jim proceeded to remind 
the Member who was appearing before the committee at the time who had 
jurisdiction over the law that protected the snail darter just what an 
adaptable fish this snail darter really was.
  Madam Speaker, Jim figured the snail darters would be just as happy a 
little way upstream or a little way downstream as they were right at 
the dam site.
  Now, I do not know all the details, but I am told these snail darters 
are still swimming happily in that east Tennessee stream up above and 
both below the dam.
  Another story is that Jim Quillen does for the Committee on Rules 
that never got put in the same way. As chairman emeritus, Jim always 
makes the motion to report the rule or whatever other action that the 
committee is going to take. I yield to him for that purpose. Jim has a 
distinguished Tennessee accent. When he makes a motion, he does not 
rush through the

[[Page H10503]]

reading. He takes his time and he reads it like a true Tennessean. The 
motions are never going to be made in the same way. We will miss Jim 
the way he used to do it.
  Then, finally, there was the time when the committee was questioning 
witnesses under the 5-minute rule, and Jim suggested that his time 
should be extended beyond the 5 minutes because he did not talk as fast 
as some of his Yankee friends, like me, on the Committee on Rules. And 
it was only fair to have more time for this Southerner because he took 
a little longer to get these words out.
  Madam Speaker, Jim Quillen has been a great Member of this body. He 
has set a record as a member of the Rules Committee. The committee is 
never going to be quite the same without the gentlemanly commentary of 
Jim Quillen. And yes, we will miss Jim. We will miss him because he is 
not only an outstanding Congressman, he is a great American.
  As our good friend John Myers said, we are so proud to call him a 
friend of all of ours, and I thank my colleague for yielding me this 
time.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you very much, Congressman Solomon, for those very 
kind words.
  Both of our first two speakers, Congressman Myers and Congressman 
Solomon, have been kind enough to say some nice things about my father. 
I appreciate that very much because I was very, very close to my own 
father. And I might say that he and Congressman Quillen were extremely 
close and came from very, very similar backgrounds, families of 10 
children, and very, very little money, no money. Both arrived here 2 
years apart.
  Of the 34 years that Congressman Quillen has served, for 32 of those 
years he has served alongside a Duncan. We have had such a wonderful 
relationship, our family has, over the years with Congressman Quillen .
  Our next Speaker is another great Tennessean. Tennessee has a history 
and a tradition of our State delegation, both Democrats and 
Republicans, working so harmoniously together for State projects. 
Certainly one of the leaders of that is our friend Congressman Bart 
Gordon, who has served on the Committee on Rules with Congressman 
Quillen and is here with us tonight to make some remarks about his 
friend and our friend Jimmy Quillen. Congressman Gordon.
  Mr. GORDON. Thank you, Congressman Duncan. I think you represent us 
very well when you mentioned working together from Tennessee, you 
illustrate that.
  Madam Speaker, let me also very quickly say that I had the good 
fortune also to serve with the gentleman's father. And no matter what 
humble background from where he might have started, he left a great 
inheritance. That inheritance was a good and honest reputation, and I 
know that you carry that with distinction.
  Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to rise 
today and add my salute to Jimmy Quillen. Mr. Quillen is a great 
American, a great Tennessean and a great friend and colleague to all of 
us. I think the First District knows how well he represented them and 
how he represented them with great distinction, but they probably do 
not know the service he performed for our entire State.
  There is not a manual when you get to Congress that says this is what 
you are supposed to do or even how you get to this Chamber or how do 
you get to the bathroom. It really is a word-of-mouth, and Mr. Quillen 
took all of us, all of us Tennesseans under his wing. He really was the 
mentor that showed us the right way, the responsible way to do things, 
and we are all very grateful for that.
  He was also the glue that really bound together the Tennessee 
delegation. He was our dean. He was the chairman of the Tennessee 
Valley Authority [TVA] caucus. And whether we had a need to work 
together to save TVA from being sold or whether it was a need to help 
one district or another district in some particular interest there for 
constituents, Mr. Quillen was the one that brought us together, that 
helped us work together. That is a great legacy not only for his 
district but also for the entire State of Tennessee.
  Madam Speaker, let me just very quickly say, Mr. Quillen thank you. 
You leave this body and this Nation a better place because of your 
service.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you very much, Congressman Gordon. Another great 
friend of all of ours is Congressman Hal Rogers, another one of the 
cardinals, one of the senior members of the House Committee on 
Appropriations who represents a district that touches on much of 
Tennessee and who has much in common with all of us from that part of 
the country, our good friend and outstanding leader, Congressman Hal 
Rogers from Somerset, KY.
  Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Congressman Duncan, for the time, and thank 
you for taking this special order.
  Madam Speaker, I rise as well as the others to pay tribute to this 
great man. In this age of candidates and officeholders blown dry and 
buttoned down, much of us looking alike, Jimmy Quillen stands out. He 
is of the old school, and I say that in a very complimentary way. He is 
of the old school. Jimmy Quillen is a character. Jimmy Quillen is 
himself. He does not try to be anybody else, and I am glad that he does 
not. He has lent advice and leadership and guidance for all of us as we 
came along.
  I represent a district in Kentucky just across the line from 
Tennessee, my district boundaries being on Tennessee. In fact, my old 
district before the reapportionments of the 1990's, my district 
boundaried that of Jimmy Duncan's father, John Duncan. In fact, he was 
born and raised in Oneida, TN, in Scott County, which is just across 
the line from where I live. So Jimmy Duncan and his father, John, and 
Jimmy Quillen and that bunch were all of the same attitude and same 
ideas.

  So when I came here in 1981, January of 1981, Jimmy Quillen, of 
course, had been here by that time a long, long time, as had John 
Duncan. And those were two people that I just sort of fell in with 
because we talked the same language, and we had the same ideas, and we 
came from the same roots and identified with people who did not speak 
with an accent.
  So Jimmy Quillen became sort of a mentor for a lot of us. And in this 
seat right down here, I am sure it has been mentioned in the special 
orders tonight, this second seat from the end on the second row in 
front of the leader's table, the Jimmy Quillen seat, is the place where 
we sort of headquartered around. We all knew that when you tried to 
occupy that particular seat, when Jimmy Quillen came along, he simply 
stood there until you got up and left. This was his seat.
  Now, people that are not Members of the House may not recognize that 
we do not have assigned seats in this body. We can sit wherever we want 
to, and you are entitled to sit where you want to, except that seat. 
That is Jimmy Quillen's seat. It does not have his name on it, but it 
has his imprint on it. We all knew this was where he sat. When he came, 
we all got up and left and let him have his seat. But we all hung 
around him, we still do, and for the reason that Jimmy Quillen embodies 
intelligence and custom and tradition and leadership and stability and 
the continuity of this great institution.
  Madam Speaker, we are going to miss his stalwart--I mean, this is an 
institution in and of himself inside this institution, and those of us 
who over the years have gone to Jimmy Quillen for advice on how to vote 
on a given issue or what he thought about this position or that 
position, we are going to be bereft without his guidance. We wish him 
well in his retirement.
  Fortunately, Jimmy Quillen has his good health and he has good 
intelligence, superior intelligence, and he is going to fare well 
whatever he may choose to do, if anything. But we hope that he will 
come back here and from time to time give us his advice on the issues 
that confront our country, as he has over these years.
  The service this man has rendered to his Nation over these decades is 
going to be hard to judge. It is going to be hard to comprehend because 
he served so long and so well. His tenure has spanned that of many 
Presidents, of great eras in our country. He has, above all, 
represented his people so well.
  Here we talk about great issues and we talk about great movements in 
the Nation, but all of us represent people back home. Jimmy Quillen did 
that better than anybody I know. His first

[[Page H10504]]

interest was that of his people back home. What do they think about 
this? What should I do about this issue as it affects them? And so his 
example for the rest of us, I am going to say, is almost unexampled 
because Jimmy Quillen is one of a kind. His example for the rest of us 
is going to last a long, long time.
  I thank the gentleman for taking this time to honor our friend and 
our leader and our mentor and colleague and our friend for life. We 
wish him well in his retirement, and we hope that he will come back 
here and give us his sage advice every moment that he can. I am just as 
sure of this, whenever he comes back, whoever is sitting in that chair 
is going to get up and leave so that Jimmy Quillen can sit there as 
long as he wants. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you very much, Congressman Rogers. You mentioned a 
couple times Congressman Quillen's seat, and we have already referred 
to it. I have to tell you one week Congressman Quillen had to leave to 
go home before our last vote of the week. I knew Congressman Quillen 
was on a plane flying home, so I sat down in his seat. And in a few 
minutes I got a note from the cloakroom. It said on there, message from 
Congressman Quillen: Get out of my seat. Congressman Quillen's staff 
had seen on C-SPAN I was sitting in his seat, and they sent me a 
special message.
  Mr. ROGERS. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DUNCAN. I will yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. ROGERS. Rumor has it, and only rumor has it, that during a 15-
minute vote, when we are milling around here waiting for the next vote 
or event to take place, as Mr. Quillen is seated in his seat, usually 
you are seated beside him. And John Myers is there, and I may be there 
or Zach Wamp or Ed Bryant or somebody, the Tennessee row here, 
Tennessee-Kentucky row. Rumor has it that during those votes the page 
would come running down the aisle with a message for Mr. Quillen to 
call so-and-so at his office. He would, of course, retire to the 
cloakroom to take the telephone call, in which case you, Mr. Duncan, 
would take his seat.
  Now, the rumor has it that you were the one making those phone calls 
to page him off the floor. Is there any truth to that, Mr. Duncan? Come 
clean now.
  Mr. DUNCAN. I will deny that on the record. But Congressman Quillen 
has always accused me of having that as my system of getting him out of 
his seat so that I could take it over. But I can assure you and the 
Nation watching on C-SPAN that I am not trying to take Congressman 
Quillen's seat.
  But thank you very much for participating tonight. Since you 
mentioned Congressman Quillen's record, let me just read one brief 
statement from the Bristol Herald Courier.

                              {time}  2015

  And it says the Bristol newspaper said this at one point about 
Congressman Quillen. This is from October 1994. It says:

       Quillen's unmatchable record of constituent service and 
     aggressive representation for the region's interest have 
     built him the reputation of someone who puts people first, 
     leaving fancy Washington ways for others.
       His seniority has earned him the respect and deference of 
     Presidents and Governors of both parties over the years, as 
     well as the admiration of the legions of constituents at 
     home. Once elected for a new term, Quillen always has 
     approached his job as being everybody's Congressman, not just 
     a representative of Republicans alone.

  It is a model others can only hope to emulate.
  Before I yield to some who are following in Congressman Quillen's 
footsteps, another man who has requested a couple of moments to speak 
on behalf of Congressman Quillen is the longtime chairman of the House 
Committee on Agriculture, Congressman Kika de la Garza.
  Mr. de la GARZA. Thank you very much, my colleague. Let me preface my 
words about our dear friend, Jim Quillen, by saying that when I came to 
this Congress, the gentleman's father came with me, and Mr. Quillen was 
already here and was very kind and generous with his time, advice, and 
counsel to a very lonely freshman Member. We enjoyed sometimes 
traveling both with the gentleman's father and his mother. And my 
service has been enhanced by those two gentlemen, among a few others, 
Mr. Quillen I consider to be a friend. He has been a dedicated servant 
to the Nation, to his State, to his district, working always, as has 
been mentioned, in a quiet, gentlemanly manner.
  The Myers and Quillen seats all of us respect, no matter what, the 
same as the Montgomery and the Gonzalez seats. I have been here 32 
years and I do not have a seat yet, but I will be leaving this 
Congress, so there goes my seat, but I leave with very pleasant 
memories of individuals with whom I have served. Even though when they 
are your peers you really do not appreciate the greatness of the 
individuals, it is only when you see that they are leaving, or you 
leave and look back, then you see how many great Members we have had in 
this Congress. And certainly Congressman Duncan and Congressman Quillen 
were some of the great Members. Wise, dedicated, always generous with 
their time.
  One of my most pleasant associations with Congressman Quillen is that 
he likes Texas onions. I have to bring some Texan onions whenever they 
come, to him. And I have always enjoyed doing that.
  We do hope that all of us will one day be remembered as kindly as he 
will be for all he has done. And there was no, I will say it in a 
manner as best as I can, there was no partisanship to his service here, 
even though all of us knew that he belonged to the Republican Party. 
But he did not live in a partisan way. He did not act in a partisan 
way. He did not treat individuals in a partisan way. And that is how I 
came up in this House, with both right and left, Democrat and 
Republican, those Congressmen that legislated without the partisan 
intervention.
  We are missing some of that now, but hopefully it will come back to 
that era when these great Members participated in debate, very eloquent 
debate and very in depth debate on the issues. And certainly both the 
gentleman's father and Mr. Quillen were that type of individuals.
  I thank the gentleman for allowing me the time to pay tribute. This 
is Mr. Quillen's hour, but you cannot separate Duncan and Quillen 
because they worked together for all those years. And we revere their 
memory, Duncan's memory, and we hope that Mr. Quillen will continue 
serving in whatever capacity he chooses to serve.

  Mr. DUNCAN. Well thank you very much, Congressman de la Garza, for 
those very kind remarks. You came to Congress with my father after the 
1964 elections, in January of 1965, and you have had a great record. 
And the country owes you a great debt of gratitude for your service to 
your State of Texas and to this Nation, and thank you very much for 
participating in honor of Congressman Quillen tonight.
  Next, I talk about--I read the editorial in which the Bristol 
newspaper said that Congressman Quillen's model is one that others can 
only hope to emulate. We have three gray freshmen from Tennessee who 
are striving very hard to follow the great example set for them by 
Congressman Quillen, and all are doing outstanding jobs. And I would 
like to call on, first, Congressman Ed Bryant.
  Mr. BRYANT of Tennessee. Thank you, Congressman Duncan. I see that we 
are going by alphabetical order in our freshmen from Tennessee and I 
think that is appropriate.
  It is somewhat daunting to stand here in the well and follow such 
outstanding Congressmen and to try to match or emulate them and praise 
Mr. Quillen like they do. I think would be impossible. But I too have 
known Mr. Quillen's long time through Tennessee, even though I am on 
the opposite end of the State. He is known certainly there by 
reputation and for what all he has done for Tennessee over the years. 
But it seems to me as one of the freshmen that has come in and tried to 
do a lot of things here, we also are responsible to honor the tradition 
of this Congress and those that have preceded us, and it seems to me 
this year that we are losing an awful lot of people. I am not going to 
try to name them all, but I see Congressman de la Garza there who has 
been the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture; our speaker tonight, 
Mrs. Meyers from Kansas; people like Sonny Montgomery from Mississippi, 
and Tom Bevill from Arkansas and John Myers who has spoken tonight so 
eloquently about his

[[Page H10505]]

friend, Mr. Quillen, and we are going to miss all of these people, but 
Mr. Quillen especially, being from Tennessee, is close to our heart and 
of course we are here to talk about him tonight.
  He has a fantastic record and history that many have alluded to 
earlier. He was one of the youngest if not the youngest publisher of a 
newspaper in the United States at age 20. He was a decorated veteran in 
the war and served in both theaters in World War II. He has been 
married, by my calculations, some 44 years to Mrs. Quillen. And I think 
she continues to serve as an inspiration to him.
  An interesting story that I heard about him. When he was first 
elected some 34 years ago, and I was probably back in junior high or 
high school in those days, I understood that the people who were with 
him that night took the door off the hinges of his office to indicate 
the open door policy that he would have. And throughout the years he 
served the First District of Tennessee, he has taken his staff with him 
to each county he represents to fully hear the concerns of his 
constituents.
  Congressman Quillen truly, truly does love his constituents. He loves 
the medical school in Kingsport. It is named after him but he truly 
loves the First District. He has taken that power that they have 
entrusted to him by reelecting him year after year, and brought that 
power to Washington and brought that representation of the First 
District of Tennessee here and represented them so well. Such big shoes 
to follow.

  I know that there is an election now going on in Tennessee for that 
seat, and I know Bill Jenkins is running in that seat and he well have 
the opportunity to come here and serve and I know will do a fine job. 
But it is going to be awfully difficult to follow someone like Jimmy 
Quillen. Mr. Quillen has served with dignity. He has served with quiet, 
effective power as has been mentioned.
  He has been on the Committee on Rules some 32 years, the very 
powerful Committee on Rules, and has tremendous influence on the 
legislation that is passed in this House. You do not often see him on 
C-SPAN or on television, and that is not bad or good. He is behind the 
scenes working quietly and not asking for praise and not asking for the 
honors or asking for or seeking the publicity that does with this job.
  I am just so proud to have been associated with him before I came up 
here, but especially these last 2 years that I have served with him in 
Congress. That has probably been one of my greatest joys, and I would 
like to direct this comment directly to Mr. Quillen. My being able to 
and having the honor of getting to know him even closer and finding out 
that reputation, and it is true that he is indeed a great gentleman, to 
just deal with him as a person has been a wonderful privilege and it 
has been exciting.
  And when people back in Tennessee continue to ask me, what has been 
one of your great thrills of being in Congress, that certainly has been 
in terms of getting to know Mr. Quillen better and just seeing how 
effectively he works and how much he loves the First District and all 
of those people in the First District of Tennessee.
  Again, it is my pleasure to come up here and add in a small way to 
this great tribute tonight. I know that we are going to run out of 
time. I will cut my remarks shorter. It has been a wonderful occasion 
my 2 years to serve with you, Mr. Quillen, and I look forward to 
continuing to work with you and seeking your advice and counsel.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, Congressman Bryant.
  Our next speaker is the great Congressman from the Third District of 
Tennessee, from Chattanooga, Congressman Zach Wamp.
  Mr. WAMP. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, tonight I want to make reference to four retiring 
Members, and there are many great Members from both parties that are 
retiring, but four that have particularly meant a lot to me: Sonny 
Montgomery of Mississippi, a Democrat, Tom Bevill of Alabama, a 
Democrat; John Myers of Indiana, a Republican; and Jimmy Quillen from 
Tennessee, a Republican.
  All four of these men have meant so much to this institution and this 
Nation, but so much to me personally, and it is two Democrats and two 
Republicans that I got to know extremely well that are all wonderful 
human beings and they will be sorely missed. And we do have an 
extraordinarily high amount of senior Members retiring that need proper 
tribute during these final days of the 104th Congress, the final 
legislative days of the 104th Congress.
  Madam Speaker, as you know, there are 435 men and women in this 
institution, but there are very few of those human beings that are 
actually institutions themselves. Jimmy Quillen is an institution. 
Many, many years ago the love affair of east Tennesseans began with 
Jimmy Quillen. I believe that love affair developed because Jimmy 
Quillen was willing to do whatever it took to please those people in 
the First Congressional District of Tennessee where he is such 
an institution.

  I think if they called and said their cat was in a tree, that usually 
is reserved for the fire department, but Congressman Quillen's staff, I 
am sure, would make sure that those people got their cat out of the 
tree. It does not matter how small the request or how large the 
challenge, Jimmy Quillen would get it done. He was a doer, a man of 
action his entire career here in this institution and we are going to 
sorely miss that.
  You know, I was about as scared when I first met him as Dorothy was 
in the Wizard of Oz before she met the Wizard of Oz. It is that kind of 
awe and reverence in the State of Tennessee in which Congressman 
Quillen has held for many, many years, and I was scared of him but I 
got to know the man behind the institution and I have found him to be a 
very funny, warm, compassionate human being with an incredible memory. 
Even though he is 80 years old he does not forget a thing. Sometimes I 
wished he would. He remembers all those stupid things that I have said 
in my brief career, and some of those things that I wished I had not 
said he does not let me forget. We have a standing joke in east 
Tennessee that he treats Congressman Duncan like his son and he treats 
me like his stepson but I will take that.
  Madam Speaker, Jimmy Quillen is a great human being, and he really is 
like a father to me, and I just cherish the moments that I have spent 
with him here. I know for a fact because the man gets up and walks and 
stays healthy; he walks at 5:45, 6 o'clock in the morning and his chief 
of staff, Frances Light, is also an institution here. She has been with 
him basically the whole time. And Frances deserves a lot of tribute 
here tonight as well. As we pay tribute to this brilliant career of 
this man, we better remember that staff, especially Frances, who has 
meant so much to that office.
  You know, it is the constituent service that built that institution 
called James H. Quillen in east Tennessee, and it was her effectiveness 
day in and day out that made that office second to none, world class 
congressional office in terms of efficiency and effectiveness and 
reaching the people's needs of east Tennessee.

                              {time}  2030

  He gets up and walks and stays healthy so I know he is going to live 
a bunch more years and I will get to enjoy a lot more time with him.
  I tell you, Madam Speaker, I love Jimmy Quillen and I really 
appreciate that my life has been blessed by knowing him personally over 
these last few years and hope that we have many together. I appreciate 
the gentleman yielding me this time.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. 
Wamp] for those very appropriate remarks. Certainly Ed Bryant mentioned 
Mrs. Quillen, who Congressman Quillen gives the most credit to for him 
being here in the first place. It is very appropriate that Congressman 
Wamp mentioned Frances Light Currie, because she has been the real 
mainstay of Congressman Quillen's staff and maybe the person most 
responsible for him staying here for so many years. She deserves a lot 
of credit and tribute here tonight also.
  Mr. Speaker, we have our third great freshman from Tennessee. We 
sometimes save the best for last. Congressman Van Hilleary represents a 
district that covers really the whole State

[[Page H10506]]

of Tennessee. It goes from east Tennessee all the way over the west 
Tennessee, but much of it joins Congressman Quillen's district and I 
would like to yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Van Hilleary.
  Mr. HILLEARY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Everything almost has been said. I want to associate myself with 
everything that has been said about Jimmy Quillen, the great man that 
we are honoring.
  In Washington it has been mentioned he was the dean of our 
delegation. What does that mean? It means you are a leader. Congressman 
Gordon mentioned that we all get along up here in Tennessee in the 
Tennessee delegation, Republican and Democrat. That is absolutely true. 
That is especially true when Tennessee's interests are at stake, and I 
think Jimmy Quillen deserves a lot of credit for that.
  He exerts that leadership when the time comes, when there is 
something that comes along that has to do with Tennessee. And he has 
done a super job of it. I think he has presented quite a role model for 
the fellow that is going to follow him to look up to and he has done a 
super job at that.
  He has also exerted leadership in other ways. He has been a mentor to 
so many of us up here. I think for those of us who are freshmen from 
Tennessee, that is especially the case. And he has been a good friend 
and a good mentor the whole time we have been up here. He has done so 
much to put us under his wing, show us the ropes. And I cannot count 
the number of times we have asked his advice on so many different 
things. He was always happy to give it. Frances Light Currie was 
mentioned a while ago.
  I think he has also shown leadership inside the walls of that office, 
as she has as his chief of staff. You can tell a lot about a fellow, it 
seems to me, when you look at the staff that he or she has as a Member 
of Congress up here. How loyal is that staff. How long have they been 
there; is it a revolving door going in and out of that office. In the 
case of Jimmy Quillen, that staff has been there an awful long time. 
Many of those members have been there about the whole time with Mr. 
Quillen. That says a lot about the staff.
  It also says a lot about the gentleman embodied in Jimmy Quillen with 
regard to their staff and their loyalty. They have been a super staff 
to him. He has been an institution in east Tennessee, and I think they 
have done an awful lot to make him that institution. I think he would 
tell you the same thing if he was sitting here.
  A Member of Congress' job is split. You have a job up here and you 
have a job back home. Back home Jimmy Quillen truly is synonymous with 
east Tennessee, where he has been for so many years after being born in 
Virginia. Everything is just about named Jimmy Quillen or James H. 
Quillen in upper east Tennessee. I have been up there many times.
  I was in his district not too long ago at a Lincoln Day dinner. It 
was in Sevier County. Jimmy Quillen will tell you real quickly that 
that is the home of Dolly Parton and he is awfully proud of that. But I 
was there and really the whole Lincoln Day dinner was a tribute to 
Jimmy Quillen.
  He got up finally to speak. He did not talk a very long time, but 
what he said was, he said, Folks, I hope that you will remember me as a 
people's Congressman. In fact, that is exactly what they are going to 
do. Zach Wamp mentioned a while ago that there was no task too large or 
too small, no challenge too great or too small. That is exactly the 
case. He has been a people's Congressman, and I am quite sure that that 
is how he is going to be remembered for many, many years to come.

  Finally, I would just like to say, we have a saying in east Tennessee 
that you can take the boy out of the hills but you cannot take the 
hills out of the boy. I think more than anybody I have ever known that 
applies to Jimmy Quillen. He has always remembered where he came from. 
He never did get Washingtonitis, and he is going back home where he 
loves those mountains of east Tennessee and his wife, Cecile. We are 
going to miss you, Mr. Quillen. We love you and appreciate everything 
you have meant to us. Look forward to working with you in the future.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Hilleary for those very fine 
remarks. I yield to another long time friend of mine and Congressman 
Quillen's, Congressman Duncan Hunter, the outstanding Congressman from 
San Diego, CA.
  Mr. HUNTER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I 
could not help but join this delegation of Tennesseans and talk a 
little bit about, I could not help myself from joining the other member 
of the Duncan caucus, Jim Duncan, who was such a good friend and was 
preceded by such a wonderful colleague also, John Duncan. To my other, 
my co-colleague in the Duncan caucus, thanks for letting me have a 
minute, and to watch my friend Kika de la Garza and John Myers talk 
about Jimmy Quillen and about the great tradition and all of the good 
things that he brought to the House that sometimes are tough to see.
  I have often thought of politicians, some politicians, some members 
of the political establishment make a great 30-minute impression. If 
they have a 30-minute meeting with you, you think you are the hottest 
thing in the world. But other politicians and statesmen make a 30-year 
impression. And Jimmy Quillen is one of those guys who made a 30-year 
impression.
  He is a guy whose word was as good as his bond. When he told you he 
was going to do something, he did it. He was a great ally of mine, a 
great friend of mine in the House and a friend to so many of us and had 
that great wisdom that he expressed in that quiet, calm Tennessee 
manner.
  I think in Jimmy, when you watch Jimmy and you talk with him, you had 
a little bit of an idea of the tradition that has gone before us in 
this House of Representatives. I am going to miss that. I am going to 
miss him. But it is neat that he is leaving such a great delegation of 
Tennesseans to follow in his steps. I thank my friend, my co-founder of 
the Duncan caucus, for letting me speak just a little bit.

  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Duncan Hunter, a 
wonderful man, Duncan Hunter. I know Congressman Quillen will really 
appreciate those remarks.
  Let me just conclude this special order by saying that in our book, 
tonight is Jimmy Quillen's night in the House of Representatives, a 
body in which he has served so proudly and with such distinction for 34 
years.
  As has been mentioned earlier, Congressman Quillen now has the all-
time record, the record for longest continuous service in the United 
States House of Representatives for anybody from the State of 
Tennessee. Many great Tennesseans have served in this body, Davy 
Crockett. President Andrew Johnson was a Congressman from Congressman 
Quillen's district from 1843 to 1853. James K. Polk served here and, of 
course, our current Vice President, Al Gore, Cordell Hull served in 
this body; many other leading Tennesseans have served in the United 
States House of Representatives. But Congressman Quillen has a record 
that will never be broken and has served his constituents with 
kindness, compassion, with honor and dignity and has made his mark, 
certainly, coming up the hard way, coming up from I think what would be 
described as dire poverty today to reach this body and serve in the 
United States Congress.
  As so many others have said tonight, Congressman Quillen, you deserve 
this night and this tribute and so much more for all you have done for 
the people of east Tennessee. All of us love you. We respect you. We 
admire you, and we appreciate the great service that you have performed 
for the United States of America. You are not only a great Tennessean 
but a great American. We thank you for your service to this Nation.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure today to honor 
one of the House's longest serving and most highly respected Members. 
Congressman James Henry Quillen, of the first district of Tennessee, 
came to the House of Representatives in 1962 already a veteran of the 
Tennessee Legislature. Congressman Quillen holds the record for the 
longest continuous service by any Tennessee Member of the U.S. House of 
Representatives since Statehood in 1796, and is Dean of the Tennessee 
delegation in Washington. He became a member of the House Rules 
Committee in 1965, and is currently serving as Chairman Emeritus, and 
as such, is the first member to be bestowed with such an honor.

[[Page H10507]]

  The vast popularity and support Congressman Quillen enjoys in his 
district has resulted in numerous accolades and awards, a variety of 
honorary doctorates and establishment of the Quillen Historic Tree 
Museum. He was named Tennessee Statesman of the Year in 1986. In 1996 
Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist declared January 11th ``James H. 
Quillen Day'' in Tennessee to celebrate the Congressman's 80th 
birthday, a fitting tribute to a man who has devoted over half his life 
to serving both the State of Tennessee and this Nation.
  Congressman Quillen has dedicated substantial time, effort, and money 
to further the course of medicine in Tennessee, even donating $800,000 
of his re-election fund to Tennessee hospitals and colleges. His most 
significant achievement in this area was the securing of a medical 
school for Upper East Tennessee, now named the James H. Quillen College 
of Medicine in recognition of his tireless efforts.
  Congressman Quillen's dedication to his district is well illustrated 
by his ``Open Door'' sessions, which he has held every nonelection year 
since his election in 1962. These sessions were triggered when, on his 
election night, supporters took the door off the hinges at his campaign 
office in Kingsport to illustrate Quillen's election pledge to always 
be accessible to his constituents. This spontaneous symbolic 
demonstration of his campaign promise led the Congressman to initiate 
the practice of taking his entire district office to each of his 
congressional counties to endeavor to meet face to face with all those 
constituents who needed his assistance. This practice has proved a 
great success with constituents and has played a central role in 
developing the popularity and support that Congressman Quillen  enjoys 
within his district.
  In addition to his tireless efforts on behalf of his constituents Mr. 
Quillen is also well known for his anecdotes and unique sense of humor, 
with which he is known for enlivening house and committee sessions. A 
member of my staff who is a former teacher from the Congressman's 
district informed me of the time he brought his class group from 
Washington College Academy to meet with Mr. Quillen in the Capitol 
Buildings. When the children noticed his neon red tie emblazoned with 
ghost, cartoons, he replied that it was ``to scare the girls away!''.
  When campaigning during his first race for the House in 1962, 
Congressman Quillen was fond of telling the ``Redbird Story,'' a tale 
that soon became his classic trademark. He told of a very bright boy 
who took great pride in his ability to think intelligently. One day he 
found a small redbird and decided to test the wisdom of a local hermit 
who was the region's recognized Guru. The youngster completely enclosed 
the small bird in his hand and asked the hermit if the bird was alive 
or dead. If the hermit said the bird was alive, the boy would kill it. 
If the hermit said that the bird was dead, the boy would release it 
unhurt. When he asked the Great One the alive or dead question, the 
hermit simply replied: ``Its life is in your hands''. For Quillen the 
story had great significance, and after telling the story at campaign 
stops, he would add that ``My political future is in your hands.'' This 
is an observation that has never been forgotten and is constantly 
reflected by Mr. Quillen's overwhelming commitment to his district.
  Congressman Quillen has enjoyed the support of a highly committed and 
loyal staff--many of whom are constituents of mine. I would like to 
commend Dee Kefalas, Brenda Otterson, Ellen Phillips, Ben Rose, Sue 
Ellen Stickley, Richard Vaughan, and long time chief of staff Francis 
Light Currie for their years of support.
  Mr. Quillen's professionalism, dedication, and humor will be greatly 
missed both by his constituents and this Congress. May I take this 
opportunity to wish Congressman Quillen and his wife Cecile the very 
best for a long and happy retirement.
  Mr. TANNER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
Honorable Jimmy Quillen, the distinguished dean of the Tennessee 
Congressional Delegation, who will be retiring at the end of this 
historic 104th Congress. Mr. Quillen's attributes and accomplishments 
are well known. We should all be proud of his outstanding length of 
service to the people of the First District, the State of Tennessee, 
and the Nation. He holds the record for having the longest continuous 
service by any Tennessee Member of the U.S. House of Representatives 
since Tennessee statehood in 1796. This is truly a record that will 
probably never be matched.
  When you travel in Mr. Quillen's district, as I do when I drive back 
to west Tennessee, one cannot help but notice the beautiful mountainous 
region that he represents that was home to former U.S. President James 
K. Polk. In addition, one cannot help but notice the many wonderful 
tributes that have been bestowed upon Congressman Quillen and his 
family throughout east Tennessee. You literally cannot drive through 
east Tennessee without passing by a facility, or traveling on a road, 
that has been named in honor of Mr. Quillen and his family. He has 
served his constituency for 33 years and the institutions in Tennessee 
that bear his name are a testament that he serves with honor and 
dignity. Voters trust Mr. Quillen to be fair and to adequately 
represent their views in Congress. His famous ``open door'' policy that 
he began on election night in November of 1962 was not only one that he 
practiced with his constituents, but also was extended to every member 
of the Tennessee Delegation, regardless of party affiliation.
  I have had the honor of serving with Mr. Quillen, and his wonderful 
staff, since 1989. Mr. Speaker, I know that you join with me, my staff, 
and the great people of Tennessee and the Nation in saying thank you to 
Congressman Jimmy Quillen for a job well done. I wish him and Mrs. 
Quillen Godspeed during his retirement. We all will certainly miss him.

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