[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11267-S11268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO SENATOR MARK HATFIELD

  Mr. EXON. Mr. President, a record number of our colleagues are 
retiring from the Senate this year. I am among those who have 
voluntarily decided to not return and I do so knowing how much I will 
miss the nearly day-to-day contact with many of the great statesmen and 
women our country has known.
  I consider Senator Mark Hatfield among this pantheon of accomplished 
public servants. While some may speak highly of Senator Hatfield for 
his length of service to Oregon and the Nation as a whole, I have been 
most impressed by the strength of conviction he has brought to his job 
of U.S. Senator over the past 30 years. The fire of purpose has burned 
brightly and consistently within Senator Hatfield during this time and, 
on so many occasions too numerous to recount here, Senator Hatfield's 
voice has been the voice of the forgotten, the weak, and the 
disenfranchised.
  The steadfast humanity and moral judgment Senator Hatfield has 
displayed transcends political affiliation or partisan alignment. From 
what I have observed of him during my own 18 years in the Senate, I 
would sum up Mark Hatfield's credo in a simple and straightforward way: 
Senator Mark Hatfield has committed his energies to the betterment of 
all persons through the fight against the destructive forces of war, 
disease, ignorance and want. This raising of the human condition, this 
crusade against needless suffering and the ravages of mankind's self-
destructive tendencies, has been Mark Hatfield's rich legacy to the 
Nation and the world.

  Above all else, I salute him for his unswerving dedication against 
heavy odds at times to his dedication to end nuclear testing, and 
without his steadfast leadership the treaty that was signed yesterday 
at the United Nations in New York would not have come to pass.
  I was there, and many people came up to me and talked about this 
great accomplishment. To each and every one of them I said I wished 
Senate duties would have allowed Mark Hatfield to be there along with 
myself and Senator Pell. I know he was invited.
  At year's end, he will leave this institution a lion among his peers. 
But lest anyone be fooled, beneath the chiseled and proud visage of 
this lion is the true source of his strength, a compassionate heart 
that has kept him humble and grounded, his path straight, his words 
true, and his conviction undiminished.

[[Page S11268]]

 The career of Senator Mark Hatfield should be an inspirational model 
to all those who aspire to public service, for to follow in his 
footsteps is to embrace all that is admirable in the pursuit of elected 
office and service to the people.

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