[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 51 (Friday, April 25, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3725-S3726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       FROM RAGS TO RADIO RENOWN

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, Samuel Johnson said that ``Adversity has 
ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes 
acquainted with himself.''
  On April 7, Arch L. Madsen, a remarkable broadcast pioneer, died at 
the age of 83 in Salt Lake City. Arch's contributions to the world of 
radio and television were made all the more noteworthy by the 
formidable personal challenges he overcame. In rising above adversity 
with the help of an extraordinary woman, his wife Peggy, Arch 
discovered the potential within himself that only she and God knew 
existed.
  The half-century public career of Arch Madsen is a matter of record. 
He was president of KSL radio and television stations, founder and 
president of the Bonneville International Corp. media empire, and an 
influential member of national and international bodies fighting for 
freedom of speech. He was appointed by President Reagan to the nine-
member Board for International Broadcasting overseeing the operations 
of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. It was Arch's dream that truth 
carried on airwaves across the Iron Curtain would lead those on the 
other side finally to throw off the yoke of totalitarianism. He lived 
to see his dream fulfilled in Europe.
  For the inspiring story of Arch's private world we are indebted to 
his son, Erik H. Madsen, who spoke at the funeral on April 12.
  I ask unanimous consent that excerpts from Erik's remarks be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the excerpts were ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                       Remarks of Erik H. Madsen

       I spoke at my mother's funeral, and I thought that was 
     fair. I didn't think that I would be speaking at my father's 
     funeral. But I've always done every reasonable thing that 
     he's asked me to do. And so I'm here at his request.
       I am well qualified to speak about him, because I probably 
     knew him as well as anybody still living. I am his oldest 
     child and he was a master of delegation. Therefore I have 
     been his servant, and slave and gofer longer than any other 
     living person. There is a saying that no man is a hero to his 
     valet. But my father was a hero to his gofer. . . .
       He used to tell me that when he met my mother, he was a 
     totally defeated and broken man. And I believe that he was.
       His physical handicaps have already been mentioned. He had 
     polio at the age of five, and this made him physically weak 
     in general.
       He was emotionally scarred. He grew up in almost a frontier 
     situation, on a farm, where he was expected to do the work of 
     a normal person. And often, he had very little power to do 
     it.
       He was educationally disadvantaged. He had a high school 
     diploma and two quarters at BYU. But he confessed to me that 
     when he was a senior in high school, they had called him into 
     the office and encouraged him not to seek any further 
     education. Nevertheless, he persisted and went to the BYU. 
     When he was dismissed from the BYU for his inability to pay 
     his tuition, he was again told by the representative of the 
     college that he was really not college material and that he 
     should focus his life on manual labor. However, being 
     extremely weak, he found that focus impossible to pursue.
       Because he had been somewhat shunned by his peers and 
     frequently persecuted by them, his skill lay mainly in 
     occasionally clowning. And I think this may have developed 
     later in life into his remarkable flamboyancy. But, he was 
     uncomfortable in society.
       And he was destitute. Shortly after my mother met him, he 
     was admitted to the county hospital for malnutrition, because 
     he couldn't earn enough money to buy the food he needed for 
     adequate nutrition. He dressed in worn out overalls--the 
     clothing of a destitute person.
       His career aspirations were limited. He knew how to build 
     radio sets. And so, he thought that he might become some kind 
     of low level radio technician.
       His religious faith was broken. He believed in God. But he 
     felt so inferior that he didn't think that he would ever be 
     able to do enough to qualify for God's love.
       It was in this condition, while he was working as a janitor 
     in one of my mother's father's businesses, that she met him. 
     If we were to meet him today, as he was then, we would think, 
     ``This is truly an oddball. He is a nerd. He just doesn't fit 
     into normal society at all. He is one of those physically 
     weak, mentally weak souls, who has come here with a defective 
     mind and a defective body. He's not going to live very long. 
     And it's going to be sad.'' That's what we would have 
     thought.
       No one could understand what my mother saw in him. On their 
     first date, all he could think to do was to talk about how to 
     build radio sets. So, he taught her how to build radio sets. 
     And we still have a drawing on a napkin which she saved from 
     their first date, showing his explanation to her of a radio 
     circuit.
       On their second date, he talked about how it might be a 
     good thing for her to look into the LDS church. He told her 
     that he really couldn't get too involved himself because he 
     was not good enough. But he told her that she might get 
     involved, and perhaps find someone else who would be suitable 
     for her to marry in the temple.
       My mother saw that if she married my father she would have 
     to give up her family's approval and wealth, which would have 
     provided her with a lifetime of leisure and security. But she 
     said that she saw qualities in him that interested her. He 
     seemed to be a hard worker, to work long and diligently, and 
     she thought she could totally trust him. She believed that he 
     would be faithful to her for his life, that he would be 
     faithful to his marriage vows.
       When they were married, things looked bad for them. No one 
     thought their marriage would even last. How could my mother 
     give all this up? And how could my father earn enough to 
     provide for two people, when he couldn't even provide for 
     himself. . . .
       There are four themes of my father's life that I would like 
     to briefly illustrate. They were important to his success.
       The first theme is about the technician. My father was a 
     man who solved electronic problems. The key to his progress 
     was that first, he never stopped studying about how the 
     physical laws worked, and later about how political, economic 
     and social laws worked. How the world worked. But he always 
     felt outclassed by those with a far better education. And so 
     he had discovered a secret weapon--he would pray. And he 
     would pray like nobody else. He would continuously and 
     obsessively pray until I think he did weary the Lord. And 
     then it was given to him to know the answer, which usually 
     came to him in terms of seeing something. He often saw far 
     beyond that thing, far, far into the future. Not everything 
     that would happen, but just a laserlike view. He usually saw 
     something technical.
       An example of this occurred when I was 8 years old and I 
     didn't really think much about it at the time, but I 
     remembered it and I even wrote it down. He had asked me to 
     build a crystal set. And when I finally got it right (because 
     you see he gave me the directions and said build it and left) 
     it worked. And I asked him, ``How does it work?'' And he 
     said, ``The electrons have to run through certain patterns in 
     order to receive the signal. There are patterns inside the 
     crystal which make them do this.'' And I asked him, ``What 
     are the patterns?'' And he said, ``We don't really know what 
     they are, but they are probably like the patterns we make 
     with our tubes, and resistors, and wires.'' And then he said 
     something else. He said, ``Someday men will put patterns in 
     crystals. They will be far more complex than any patterns we 
     can find in a natural crystal. We'll put whole radio 
     receivers and television receivers into one tiny crystal.'' 
     And I said, ``Why do you think this?'' And he said. ``I 
     prayed about something a little different from this and then 
     I saw it. It will certainly happen.'' And I said, ``When?'' 
     And he said, ``Probably in your lifetime, but I'm not really 
     sure. When I see into the future, I can't tell exactly how 
     far I've seen. So, it could be anytime.'' I forgot about this 
     experience until the transistor was invented and then, I 
     guess what you'd call the computer chip appeared. And I 
     remembered everything he'd said about the crystal.
       And so this theme of my father's life is sort of a 
     testimony of the power of prayer, at least to me. And of the 
     reality that God answer prayers and inspires men to see and 
     know things which would normally be invisible and unknowable. 
     This is one of the great gospel truths which enabled my 
     father to succeed. Many people throughout the world have 
     wondered at his vision. It wasn't his vision. I mean, it 
     wasn't his IQ. He received it from a higher source.
       The second theme is love. My father attributed all his 
     successes to my mother. We often talked about why this was 
     so. He always said, ``When I knew that your mother loved me 
     and believed in me, my view of the world changed. I decided 
     to do everything I could to live up to her love and faith in 
     me. I decided to believe that God loved me too. I decided to 
     love myself, and to be as good as I could be, and to do all 
     the good that I could in this world.''
       The scriptures indicate that God personifies love. John 
     said ``Let us love one another,

[[Page S3726]]

     for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God 
     and knoweth God.'' (1 John 4:7-8).
       So, my father learned to know God because of the love of 
     one other person. It's a great example. We all could help 
     each other in this way. My father loved my mother. He loved 
     the Lord and the church and many people of many creeds and 
     nationalities. And many of the honors that have come to him 
     have come because he just reached out to these people.
       The third theme is: My father included people. He tried to 
     understand them, communicate with them, and bring them into 
     involvement with all of the good things that he could.
       My mother told me a story which illustrates this theme in 
     an unusual way.
       At the conclusion of a meeting of the Interamerican 
     Association of Broadcasters in South America, there was a 
     celebration of the achievements and agreements which had been 
     accomplished. The principal participants were broadcasting 
     leaders from Catholic countries. They were all Roman 
     Catholics. They were standing in a circle, and each of 
     them was given a large cup filled with strong, alcoholic 
     drink. Each man in turn proposed a toast and then drank 
     the whole cup. There were no substitute drinks available. 
     As the turn worked its way around to my father, my mother 
     thought, ``What can he do but refuse?'' It would have been 
     easy for him to say, ``I am a member of the Church of 
     Jesus Christ, and we do not consume alcohol.'' The other 
     participants would certainly have understood. But it would 
     have put a little chill, a little distance between my 
     father and his colleagues. And remember, he wanted to be 
     included and to include them. Instead, when the turn came 
     to him, he proposed a toast just like everyone else. Then 
     he poured a little bit of the drink into his hand and 
     sprinkled it on his head. Then he said, ``I baptize myself 
     with our toast.'' This made perfect sense to all of them 
     because that is the way there were all baptized. They all 
     laughed, and slapped him on the back, and hugged him, and 
     gave him ``abrazos'' which is what they do.
       By seeing life from their Catholic point of view, he had 
     accepted them, and he had accepted their toast, and he had 
     still kept the word of wisdom. So, he had a certain way of 
     including others.
       In every business that he managed, he tried to include as 
     many employees in the process of continuing education and 
     training and career advancement as he could. He believed in 
     his own personal growth and he included those he worked with 
     in growth. He offered them opportunities to participate in 
     seminars and conferences, to implement the things that they 
     had learned, and to advance and grow in their careers.
       He involved himself and included many others in worthwhile 
     charitable, humanitarian, economic and civic associations.
       Even his vigorous efforts to communicate the benefits and 
     blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 
     were expressions of his desire not to prove something, but 
     just to include others in one of the very best things in his 
     life.
       I suppose that this theme of including others is really 
     just an extension of the theme of love that we talked about 
     before. But it is a special kind of love that we need a lot 
     more of in this world. And my father was a good example for 
     us to follow.
       The fourth theme is that of commitment and hard work. My 
     father always gave 100 percent effort. He was always fully 
     committed to that which he believed in. He was an exhausting 
     person. He totally exhausted my mother and all of his 
     children. He exhausted his co-workers.
       And, by the way, he was not a physically strong man. It was 
     the power of his spirit that exhausted us all. His spirit 
     picked up his body and carried it around.
       A little story illustrates this. When I was away at 
     college, occasionally my father would come through town, and 
     he would invite me to go to lunch or dinner. Once he showed 
     up for lunch with two tired looking younger men who 
     introduced themselves as follows: ``I'm John Doe. I'm Mr. 
     Madsen's morning assistant. I work with him from 5 AM to 2 
     PM''. The other said, ``I'm Jack Doe. I'm Mr. Madsen's 
     afternoon assistant. I work with him from 2 PM to 11 PM.''
       Noticing that they looked tired, I asked them how they were 
     holding up. John Doe said that they were trying very hard. 
     They were trying very hard to talk my father into getting a 
     third man. Because they just couldn't keep it up much longer.
       No one could ever wonder about my father's commitment. Now 
     this wasn't all good. He was a workaholic. And his life was 
     quite out of balance. It was hard on him. And it was hard on 
     the people around him. But it was the only thing he knew. 
     Remember, he thought he was worthless. And he never thought 
     he had done enough. So he just kept trying to do enough. And 
     no one could ever wonder about his commitment.
       It is written in the Book of Revelation: ``I know thy 
     works, that thou art neither hot nor cold. I would that thou 
     wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and 
     neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.'' 
     (Revelation 3:15,16)
       In other words, the Lord will reject the half-hearted 
     worshiper.
       My father, Arch Madsen, flamboyant, impetuous, out of 
     balance, and racing almost out of control everyday of his 
     life, lived a life that was hot. It was incandescently hot.
       These illustrations show a few of the themes of my father's 
     life. There are many other themes, important ones, which we 
     cannot discuss today. Some examples are:
       He was gracious in victory;
       He was gracious in defeat;
       He was kind to his enemies;
       He always looked for blessings and opportunities in the 
     disaster of his life. He tried many things and failed often. 
     In a way, his life could be viewed as a series of 
     tribulations and disaster, which turned into blessing as he 
     struggled with them and as the Lord helped him.
       This is not to say that he was perfect. He had glaring 
     weaknesses and flaws. We just don't want to talk about them 
     today.
       But these four positive themes we have talked about today 
     communicate to me two testimonies.
       The first is a testimony to the love and faith and courage 
     that he had. The love and faith and courage of a week, 
     severely handicapped person. A person who, seeing the 
     hopelessness of his situation, once he knew that he was 
     loved, once he knew that somebody loved him and that God 
     loved him, didn't do the rational thing, the prudent thing. 
     Instead of giving up, he impetuously attacked, and he never 
     stopped.
       The second testimony is now amazing it is what the Lord can 
     do through the life of even the humblest, weakest, most 
     handicapped person--if that person will try to live the 
     gospel with all the energy that is in him, each and every day 
     of his life.
       In the Doctrine and Covenants it is written, ``Behold, the 
     Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind, and the willing 
     and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these 
     last days (D&C 64:34).
       Arch Madsen's life is also a call to repentance to all of 
     us who are lukewarm. Whose hearts are set partly upon 
     righteousness and life and partly upon worldliness and death. 
     The whole world is starving for the life and happiness which 
     only comes from living the gospel.
       Will we fully live the gospel, and send out a message of 
     its blessings?
       Will we try to communicate it as vigorously as my father 
     did?
       The last stanza of the song he loved ``To Dream the 
     Impossible Dream,'' goes like this:

     And the world will be better for this,
     That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
     Still strove with his last ounce of courage,
     To reach the unreachable star.

       And, in the Book of Revelation it is written: ``And he that 
     overcometh, and keepeth my works to the end, to him will I 
     give power. . . . And I will give him the morning star 
     (Revelation 2:26,28) I, Jesus . . . am the bright and morning 
     star (Revelation 22:16).
       I believe and I pray that Arch and Peggy Madsen do keep his 
     works to the end, and I feel certain that they will be given 
     the morning star.

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