[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 39 (Monday, April 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2786-S2787]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TARTAN DAY

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, as a result of the recent recess of the U.S. 
Senate, I did not get the opportunity to come to the Senate floor and 
recognize Sunday, April 6, 1997, as Tartan Day. This day is set aside 
to honor the millions of Scottish-Americans who have made outstanding 
contributions to our great country.
  This date has a special significance for all those of Scottish 
heritage. It is the 677th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath--
the Scottish Declaration of Independence which was signed on April 6, 
1320.
  This declaration of independence includes these inspirational lines: 
``* * * we fight not for glory, nor riches, nor honors, but for freedom 
alone, which no good man gives up, except with his life.''
   Mr. President, Scottish-Americans have left their mark as pioneers 
and innovators in the fields of science, technology, medicine, 
government, politics, economics, architecture, literature, the media, 
and the visual and performing arts. Their contributions to the history 
and development of the United States are invaluable.
  Some of these great past and present Scottish-Americans include: Neil 
Armstrong, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Julia Child, Hugh 
Downs, Thomas Alva Edison, Malcom S. Forbes, Katherine Hepburn, Billy 
Graham, Brit Hume, Washington Irving, Robert MacNeil, William Holmes 
McGuffey, Andrew Mellon, Samuel B. Morse, Grandma Moses, James 
Naismith, Edgar Allen Poe, Willard Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, 
Gilbert Stuart, Elizabeth Taylor, and James McNeil Whistler just to 
mention a few.
   Mr. President. Almost 11 percent of all the Nobel Prizes awarded 
have gone to people of Scottish ancestry.
   Mr. President. A Tartan provides an instant recognition of a family 
and its kinship.
  By recognizing Tartan Day we are commemorating all that is best in 
Scottish heritage. I believe it is important for the Senate to pause, 
even if it is belated, and to recognize Tartan Day. I firmly believe it 
will further emphasize the many Scottish contributions to the growth 
and development of the United States.
   Mr. President. As I look around the Senate Chamber I see many who 
can claim Scottish ancestry. I see my colleague and friend, John 
McCain. His family ancestry and my mother's actually goes back to four 
Scottish families who migrated to Carroll County, MS, back in the 
1830's. I see others in this Chamber--Judd Gregg and Kay Bailey 
Hutchison, and there are many more. Every day the Scottish in this 
Chamber live by the words in the Declaration of Arbroath that I 
quoted--they are here to advance freedom.
   Mr. President. When our Nation was founded, almost half of the 
signers of America's Declaration of Independence were of Scottish 
descent. Throughout the history of our country three-fourths of our 
Presidents have been of Scottish ancestry. This tells me that despite 
the fact they are few in number, Scots tend to take seriously the word 
from the Declaration of Arbroath.
  Many organizations were involved in making the observance of Tartan 
Day on April 6 a success. There are clan societies, clubs, and 
fraternal associations and individual Scots-Americans representing 
literally millions of

[[Page S2787]]

Americans nationwide that participated. They include the Scots' 
Charitable Society (the oldest charitable society in the United 
States), the St. Andrew's Society of the City of Charleston, SC (the 
first St. Andrew's Society in the United States), the Saint Andrew's 
Society of New York, (the second oldest society in the United States); 
Scottish Society of Martha's Vineyard, MA; the American-Scottish 
Foundation, Inc.; the Association of Scottish Games and Festivals; the 
Caledonian Foundation, Inc.; the Clans of Scotland, USA; Council of 
Scottish Clans and Associations; Scottish Heritage USA, Inc.; the 
Illinois St. Andrew's Society; the Tartan Education and Cultural 
Association, Inc.; Highland Light Scottish Society, Massachusetts; 
Scottish Historic and Research Society of the Delaware Valley, PA, and 
numerous individual Scottish Americans including those from my own 
State of Mississippi.
   Mr. President. I am proud to declare my Scottish-American ancestry 
and it is an honor to recognize the 677th anniversary of the 
Declaration of Arbroath. Tartan Day is indeed a significant day for all 
Americans.

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