[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 32 (Thursday, March 13, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E478-E479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO A GREAT CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 13, 1997

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today with 
my colleague from Texas, Ms. Jackson-Lee, to honor a lifelong crusader 
for civil rights, Arnold Aronson, as he celebrates his 87th birthday. 
His distinguished career in civil rights began nearly 60 years ago and 
he has been at the center of nearly every major civil rights fight 
since the New Deal.
  Most notably, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Aronson was one of the founders of the 
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in 1950. The single-most 
important event forming this conference was a historic gathering of 
over 4,000 delegates from 33 States in Washington, DC, to protest 
racial injustices throughout the Nation. Arnold Aronson and Roy Wilkins 
organized this, the national emergency civil rights

[[Page E479]]

mobilization, and many of the civil rights' accomplishments which we 
herald today resulted from this gathering.
  The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights not only played a crucial 
role in organizing and mobilizing African-Americans throughout the 
Nation, it also framed the civil rights issue in a way that all 
Americans could relate to and understand. In fact, it is important to 
note, that most of Mr. Aronson's work on behalf of the civil rights 
movement was performed while he was the program director for the 
National Jewish Community Relations Council. He thus serves as a living 
symbol of the historic alliance between the Jewish and Black 
communities.
  Many of the successes that we point to today in the area of civil 
rights is as a result of Arnold Aronson's hard work and dedication. He 
was directly involved in the development of President Roosevelt's 
Executive order barring discrimination on the basis of race, creed, or 
national origin, and in the drafting of the report issued by President 
Truman's Citizens Committee on Civil Rights in 1947, which became the 
basis for the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
  Mr. Aronson once said, ``the struggle for civil rights cannot be won 
by any one group acting by or for itself alone but only through a 
coalition of groups that share a common commitment to equal justice and 
equal opportunity for every American.'' One of the most impressive 
aspects of the work of Arnold Aronson has always been his commitment to 
peaceful demonstration, civility, and coalition building.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join with my colleagues to recognize the 
lifelong achievements of Arnold Aronson and to honor him today on his 
87th birthday. This is a man who represents what is right in America, 
and while there is much work which remains in the area of civil rights, 
we must never forget the commitment and dedication of individuals like 
Arnold Aronson who were responsible for the historic progress of the 
civil rights movement in our lifetime.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to close with a quote from the late civil 
rights leader Clarence Mitchell, Jr., the former Washington director 
for the NAACP, who once referred to Arnold Aronson as ``one of the 
giants who labored longer and earlier than many * * * none of our great 
achievements would have been possible without him.'' Our Nation is 
forever indebted to Arnold Aronson for his life's work and I am pleased 
to have been able to honor him today on the floor with my colleagues.

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