[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11246-S11248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SENATOR CLAIBORNE PELL

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise this morning to speak not to an 
issue but to speak to a man--about a man.

[[Page S11247]]

  Mr. President, I rise this morning on the floor of the Senate to 
perform a task that I am anxious to perform but, at the same time, 
reluctant to perform.
  I have been in the Senate now for 24 years. I have had the 
opportunity in those 24 years to serve with some very famous, 
significant political figures in modern American history. When I 
arrived here in 1972, Richard Nixon was President. The Senate was 
markedly different in terms of its makeup and membership, so much so 
that I now find myself--I was No. 100 in seniority--I now find myself 
somewhere in the low teens in seniority, and finding only a half a 
dozen or so Democrats who have been here longer than I have.
  The reason I bother to mention that is I have had an opportunity to 
meet and work with and become friends with some truly great and famous 
Members of the U.S. Senate. The loss--in some cases by death, such as 
in the case of Hubert Humphrey and Dewey Bartlett and others; in some 
cases as a consequence of having lost an election, in the case of 
people like Frank Church and other great leaders such as Jacob Javits; 
the loss in some cases on the part of a Senator deciding he did not 
wish to run again, like Senator Mansfield and others--has impacted on 
the Senate and has impacted on the country.
  I know my Grandfather Finnegan--God rest his soul--was right when he 
always used to say, ``Joey, don't forget Paddy's a 9-day wonder. When 
you're gone, you're gone.'' In one sense that is true. In another sense 
it is not true because every once in a while someone passes this way. 
Every once in a while someone assumes a position in the U.S. Senate, or 
takes the place on the floor of this august body, who changes not only 
the nature of our laws and the attitude of our country about major 
issues but who impact upon how this institution functions.
  In my mind, and I believe I reflect the view of the American public 
in this case, one of the things that is most troubling in our discourse 
is a growing lack of civility, not only in our public discourse but in 
our private discourse.
  You need only go down this long aisle to the next, patterned after 
the Parliament in Great Britain. Look out this door. Many people who 
watch us on C-SPAN don't realize that you walk through the door of this 
institution, this floor, and look out that door, and you look straight 
all the way through, you will see a similar set of doors at the other 
end that lead into another Chamber called the House of Representatives. 
For years and years, we have avoided the kind of invective that seems 
to have infected the debate on that end of the Capitol. And one of the 
reasons we have avoided it is because there have been men and women on 
the floor of this Senate who will not tolerate that kind of discourse 
and constantly remind us of our moral conscience: that we, as the 
greatest institution--not as individuals, but as an institution--should 
not stoop to the level of engaging in uncivil conduct.
  If the Presiding Officer, the former Governor of Missouri, will 
excuse my personal reference, it is like using profanity. You know that 
one may engage in using profanity in the locker room with a bunch of 
guys when you are in high school, but you would never do that in front 
of your mother. You would never do that in front of your grandmother. 
You would never do that in front of the people you most respected, even 
if you slipped and did it in front of the guys.
  Well, the presence of Claiborne Pell on the floor of the U.S. 
Senate--just, literally, his physical presence on the floor--
inhibits Members from yielding to the temptation of engaging in uncivil 
conduct, in conduct that, quite frankly, we should all realize is 
beneath us and demeans the public debate and demeans this institution. 
And I can say, without reservation, that in the 24 years I have served 
here there is not a single, solitary person whose mere physical 
presence in a committee, in a caucus room, on the floor of the U.S. 
Senate--just his presence inhibits negative behavior on the part of all 
of us. He is a man of such character, such gentility, such class, and 
such persuasion by his actions. I mean it. Think about it. I say to my 
colleagues who may be listening to this in their offices: Name for me a 
single solitary person with whom we have ever served who has that kind 
of impact--he walks into a room, and his mere presence exposes 
demeaning conduct that any of us, including myself, may be engaging in 
in the course of political discourse.

  He likes to point out--and he never lectures, but he likes to point 
out--that he has never negatively referred to any one of his opponents.
  I remember one of the highest compliments I ever received. We were at 
a candidate forum. The chairman and I, Senator Pell, a Democratic 
candidate, were getting ready for the last election. And one of the 
leading political advertisers for Democrats was up there showing us the 
latest ad, all the Members of the Senate who were running in the 1990 
race, when Senator Pell and I ran together the last time. He was 
saying, ``This is what works, and this is what the Republicans are 
doing, and this is what we should do.'' This particular guy has great 
wit and was actually the guy doing my advertising, and may have been 
the one doing Senator Pell's as well. I can't recall. His name is Bob 
Squire, one of the leading political advertisers in the country, and a 
fine man. Actually he was doing the President's campaign, if I am not 
mistaken. Bob Squire with his dry wit looked down at all of us, and 
said, ``There are only two men in America that do not get it''--that 
you must respond to negative ads and you must be negative.
  And I do not know whether it is true, if it was only two. It does not 
matter for purposes of what I am going to say. He literally said, 
``Claiborne Pell and Joe Biden.'' Just for me to be mentioned in the 
same sentence with Claiborne Pell--just to be mentioned in the same 
sentence--was one of the highest compliments I have received since I 
have been in the Senate.
  I am not in Claiborne Pell's class. Few are. If you will forgive me, 
as we say, a point of personal privilege here, when I first came to the 
Senate, I say to the Presiding Officer, I came under circumstances that 
were not the most ideal. I was not anxious to come. There had been an 
accident involving my family, and I lost my wife and daughter.
  Almost everybody, when I came, embraced me, Democrat and Republican, 
and they were very generous with their time and their concern. But I 
remember four people, only one of whom I will name today: Claiborne 
Pell. Claiborne Pell came to me, and in his inimitable way. He did not 
do what Hubert Humphrey did. Hubert Humphrey literally came over to my 
office and sat on my couch and cried with me, I mean literally cried 
with me. Claiborne Pell did not do that.
  I give you my word that there was not a week that went by without him 
at least twice a week personally coming to me and inquiring of me how I 
was doing, inviting me to his home, inviting me to stay with him in his 
home, offering me a room in his lovely home in Georgetown because he 
knew I commuted and my boys were still in the hospital. And that did 
not stop when my boys became healthy. That has continued for 24 years. 
And his wife, Nuala, is equally as wonderful.
  In addition to that, Claiborne Pell did something few were able to do 
for me at the time, and again continuing on this point of personal 
privilege. He invited me to dinner parties, private parties, private 
dinners at his home, knowing that it was important for me, in 
retrospect, just to get out, just to be somewhere with someone. He 
never did it in a way that made me feel beholden. He never did it in a 
way as if he were doing me a favor. He never did it in a way other than 
the way he does everything: in a purely genuine, straightforward, 
embracing way.
  Mr. President, that has characterized everything about Claiborne 
Pell.
  Let me conclude by saying that everything about Claiborne Pell's 
public life has in fact emulated his private life. There are not many 
people who can say there is simply no distinction between their private 
conduct and their public conduct. Claiborne Pell would not say that, 
but he can say that, and I can say that for him.
  The last point I wish to make, and I will elaborate on this later 
when we finish this treaty or at another time before we leave, is this 
man is a man who is, to use a trite-sounding phrase, a quiet visionary. 
This is a fellow who wrote about the transportation system in the 
Northeast and predicted what would be needed and used a word I

[[Page S11248]]

learned as an undergraduate that no one had ever heard of--
``megalopolis''--and he talked about Richmond to Boston and what would 
have to be done to accommodate the needs of this area of the country. 
He is the guy who came up with the notion of ACDA. He has been the 
single most consistent, persistent spearheader of the notion of 
bringing about the diminution of the number of nuclear weapons that 
exist in this world. He is the man who has been devoted to the notions 
and concepts embodied in the United Nations. He is a man who has been 
the leader in education and learning, a man who comes from considerable 
standing in terms of his own personal wealth and education but has bent 
down to make sure that people of competence, regardless of their 
economic status, would be able to achieve the same intellectual 
competence, capability, and background as he has achieved.
  This is a wonderful man, I say to my friends. You all know it. But 
not many have passed this way who have his personal characteristics and 
capabilities, and I doubt whether very many will come this way again. I 
will truly miss his presence in the Senate.
  I yield the floor and thank my colleagues.
  Mr. HELMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I appreciate the remarks of the 
distinguished Senator from Delaware. He was unable to come to a meeting 
of the Foreign Relations Committee this morning at which we spent 1\1/
2\ hours paying tribute to this wonderful man, and I agree with 
everything that Senator Biden has said about Senator Pell.
  At the meeting this morning, a resolution of commendation for Senator 
Pell was adopted by standing ovation, and I ask unanimous consent that 
this resolution be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the resolution was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

Resolution of Commendation for Services Rendered by The Hon. Claiborne 
                               deB. Pell

       Whereas Senator Claiborne deB. Pell has been a member of 
     the Committee on Foreign Relations since January 8, 1965; 
     served as Ranking Minority Member from January 5, 1981 until 
     January 6, 1987; served as Chairman from January 6, 1987 
     until January 3, 1995; and served again as Ranking Minority 
     Member from January 4, 1995 until the present;
       Whereas by serving as Chairman of the Foreign Relations 
     Committee, Senator Pell became the second Rhode Islander, 
     following The Honorable Theodore F. Green, to serve the State 
     of Rhode Island as Chairman of this distinguished Committee;
       Whereas as a Member and Chairman of the Committee Senator 
     Pell has always been courteous, extending to all Members true 
     respect for their views, and leaving an indelible mark on the 
     Committee as a true gentleman of diplomacy;
       Whereas in the discharge of his duties as chairman, Senator 
     Pell has at every opportunity encouraged the development and 
     furtherance of a bipartisan foreign policy;
       Whereas Senator Pell, having served on the International 
     Secretariat of the San Francisco Conference which drew up the 
     Charter of the United Nations, has always worked to find 
     international solutions to global problems in such areas as 
     the environment, the oceans, climate control, human rights, 
     the plight of refugees, and the rights of oppressed 
     minorities throughout the world;
       Whereas Senator Pell has steadfastly argued for greater 
     contact and dialogue between all nations so as to reduce 
     tensions, resolve differences, and promote the development of 
     democracy, advocating negotiations and diplomacy as an 
     alternative to armed conflict and military action;
       Whereas Senator Pell has been instrumental in the 
     initiation of arms control accords such as the Environmental 
     Modification Treaty and the Seabed Arms Control Treaty, in 
     the successful Senate consideration of numerous arms control 
     treaties with such goals as the limitation, reduction and 
     elimination of various classes of nuclear weapons, in the 
     passage of legislation to restrain the proliferation of 
     weapons of mass destruction, and in the inception, fostering 
     and strengthening of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency;
       Whereas Senator Pell, through his energy and vision, has 
     contributed immeasurably to the development of United States 
     leadership in world affairs and the establishment of better 
     relations among nations;
       Whereas Senator Pell has announced his intention to retire 
     from the Senate in January 1997; and
       Whereas Senator Pell's leadership and wisdom will be sorely 
     missed by his colleagues on the Committee and his many 
     friends in the Senate: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Relations expresses 
     its warm and deep affection for Senator Claiborne Pell, its 
     profound appreciation for his devotion to duty and its 
     sincere gratitude for the outstanding service which he has 
     rendered to the Committee, the Senate, the United States of 
     America, and to the entire world through his great ability, 
     initiative, and statesmanship.

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