[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S12373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO SENATOR NANCY KASSEBAUM

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, for many years I was privileged to sit in 
the back row of this side of the Senate next to the distinguished 
Senator from Kansas, Nancy Kassebaum. That was a privilege for this 
Senator because, as one knows, you often have the opportunity in the 
course of debate and other times in the Senate to engage in 
conversation with your colleague that adjoins you. Senator Lugar was 
there.
  I shall most dearly miss her departure from the Senate. We came to 
the Senate together. She virtually decided to reclaim her life from 
public service after a long and distinguished period in the Senate and 
other responsibilities. I have to recount with some reluctance a story 
about my first encounter with the distinguished then junior Senator 
from Kansas. I had been in the Senate only a year or so, and she 
approached me one day and asked if I would travel to Kansas to give a 
speech to a local university or college, as the case may be. Memory 
dims, but memory does not dim on the events of that visit because I was 
looking forward to meeting her distinguished father, Alfred M. Landon, 
who was the nominee of the Republican Party for the Presidency of the 
United States in 1936.
  So I had done my homework about her father and very much looked 
forward to meeting that historic figure. We arrived. I do not recall 
much about the speech, but we were invited to have lunch with her 
father.
  Now, I have to add that at that time I had a very unusual and 
beautiful wife, and upon arriving at the Kassebaum-Alfred M. Landon 
household, it quickly became evident to me that I was not invited to 
come to Kansas to give a speech; it was immaterial whether I was to 
come or not. What Alfred M. Landon wanted was to meet my wife. That was 
his sole ambition, sole reason that Senator Kassebaum invited me out 
there.
  We stepped on to the front porch of that wonderful, old, quaint 
house, very unpretentious. The candidate, the Presidential candidate, 
came out, greeted us and then he took command of the situation. He 
pointed his finger at me, and he said, ``You sit there on the front 
porch,'' and pointed his finger at his daughter and said, ``You sit 
there and entertain the Senator. I'm going inside and I'm going to 
visit with a really historic figure, his wife.''
  The two of them disappeared. So Nancy and I engaged in some idle 
conversation, and pretty soon we heard the level of laughter rising 
steadily to where it was a roar. The noise was rolling out the door of 
the house, and Nancy said to me, ``Something unusual must be taking 
place.'' And she walked in to find that--I hesitate to tell the story 
but it is a true fact --Alf Landon had secreted, shall we say, a bottle 
that contained certain vapors, certain elixir of life, which he was 
precluded from enjoying but he secreted for this occasion, and both had 
taken liberally and were enjoying the benefits of a very excited 
conversation.

  I shall always remember that day. I hardly got a word into the 
conversation and went back home thinking that perhaps I was not a very 
important U.S. Senator. But I remember that warm greeting of her father 
and how well she handled it, and we have been close friends all these 
many years in the Senate.
  I was proud to join other Senators when she broke the logjam and put 
through historic legislation time and time again relating to matters 
within the purview of her expertise, particularly the health 
legislation.
  What a gentle person; what a thoughtful person; what a sensitive 
person. I do not think I ever saw her without a smile on her face. 
Maybe once. but that was her hallmark, civility--civility that she felt 
so important for this Chamber and for personal relationships. Yes, a 
very distinguished legislative career, set of accomplishments, of which 
her father would have been very proud had he lived to see this, her 
last day as a U.S. Senator.
  We say a fond goodbye to our colleague and wish her well in the next 
chapter of challenges of life, and hopefully she will, like others, 
reclaim a little bit of that personal life to share with others of her 
family, to pursue some joys she has earned through her contributions to 
our country and to the great State of Kansas.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The absence of a quorum has been noted. The 
clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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