[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO SENATOR HATFIELD

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to bid farewell to an 
outstanding U.S. Senator, Mark Hatfield of Oregon, upon his retirement 
from this Chamber.
  Serving in the U.S. Senate with Mark Hatfield, who was one of my 
personal heroes long before I aspired to join this body, has been a 
very meaningful experience in my career in public service. Senator 
Hatfield has made his mark as one of the finest Senators to serve in 
this body.
  In a New York Times article 2 years ago, Senator Hatfield 
characterized himself as having been out of step most of my political 
life. While it may perhaps be accurate that Senator Hatfield was out of 
step with political fashion, he was always in step with his conscience, 
his view of right and wrong, and his personal sense of integrity.
  As a student in Wisconsin during the turbulent Vietnam war era, Mark 
Hatfield's courage and leadership were well known to me. His persistent 
opposition to the United States' involvement in that tragic conflict 
drew attention to the costs, material and spiritual, of the war, and he 
took a bold step toward trying to avert further tragedy with his 
joining then-Senator George McGovern in sponsoring the McGovern-
Hatfield amendment to end the war.
  This was the stance of a man who had himself seen the terrible costs 
of war up close. He commanded landing craft at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, 
and he was one of the first Americans to see Hiroshima after the 
dropping of the first atomic bomb in 1945.
  A man of fiscal prudence, Senator Hatfield has consistently advocated 
more reasonable levels of military spending, even during the 1980's, 
when a President from his own party was calling for the largest 
military expansion in our Nation's history. He voted for a nuclear 
freeze and voted against the gulf war resolution.

  Mr. President, I have also admired Senator Hatfield's unwavering 
opposition to the death penalty, even in a time when increasing numbers 
of political leaders are suggesting that capital punishment is the 
solution to crime.
  Senator Hatfield once reminded us that, ``shallow symbols like the 
death penalty, only serve to further pummel the battered fabric of our 
decreasingly civilized society.''
  It has been an honor to stand with Senator Hatfield, voting against 
measures that would expand this barbaric practice of executions.
  Mr. President, I spoke moments ago of Senator Hatfield as a man of 
fiscal prudence. He demonstrated his fidelity to that principle when he 
withstood great pressure and voted against a proposed balanced budget 
amendment to the Constitution, asserting that the amendment was nothing 
more than a procedural gimmick. Senator Hatfield recognized that 
Congress must accept its responsibility to use its power to reduce 
spending and balance the budget.
  Mr. President, when Senator Hatfield announced his retirement, he 
said, ``I felt the call to public service and believed in the positive 
impact government can have on the lives of people.'' For 40 years, Mark 
Hatfield has been an example of a public servant who obeys the dictates 
of his conscience, who acts with the common good foremost in his mind, 
and who has tried to have a positive impact.
  It truly has been an honor, Senator Hatfield, one for which I thank 
you.

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