[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11908-S11909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY

  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, William Manchester, writing in the book, 
``The Glory and the Dream,'' would call the year 1932 ``the cruelest 
year.'' I was in the 10th grade at Mark Twain High School at Stotesbury 
in Raleigh County, southern West Virginia. Living in a coal miner's 
home, I saw and felt the Great Depression firsthand. Schoolteachers 
often had to reduce their monthly paychecks by several percentage 
points in order to get the checks cashed. The newspapers frequently 
carried stories of men who had jumped out of windows or pressed a 
cocked pistol to their temples, taking their lives because they had 
lost their lifetime savings, and their economic world had come crashing 
down around them.
  Very few men in and around the coal fields had ever owned an 
automobile, and those who were fortunate enough to possess an 
automobile jacked it up off the ground and mounted the axles on 
railroad crossties to keep the tires from rotting while enough money 
could be saved to pay for a new license plate. Many children went to 
bed hungry at night, their families destitute.
  The country had hit rock bottom, and West Virginia was one of the 
``rock bottomest'' of the States. It is hard to imagine that things 
could have gotten much worse in southern West Virginia. There was 
little left but hope, and there was not much of that, hardly enough to 
go around.
  President Hoover, against whom I would still be campaigning 20 years 
later, professed to ignore the crisis as a ``depression,'' he being 
convinced that a ``balanced budget'' was the most essential factor 
leading to an economic recovery. He still wore a black tie at dinner in 
the White House, even when the only other person dining with him was 
his wife, Lou.
  Creature comforts were rare. Air conditioning was unknown, as were 
automatic dishwashers, electric toothbrushes, cassette recorders, 
garbage disposal units, electric can openers, vacuum cleaners, power 
mowers and record players. Phonographs were wound with a crank by hand. 
The family wash was done by hand on a washboard. Wet clothes were hung 
on a clothesline with clothespins to dry in the wind, and a 
refrigerator was simply an icebox kept filled by a man who knew how 
many pounds of ice a housewife wanted because she notified him by 
placing on the kitchen screen door a card with the number ``100,'' 
``75,'' ``50'' or ``25'' turned up. Heavy irons for pressing clothes 
were heated on the coal-burning kitchen stove. Houseflies were always a 
summer problem, and the only preventives were spray guns and flypaper.
  We were not used to much, and if we had never had much to begin with, 
we did not miss it.
  Most of the coal miners by the year 1932 had a radio in their homes. 
It was a Majestic, an Atwater Kent or a Philco. At my house, a small 
Philco radio sat on a wall shelf, and it was there that we gathered on 
Saturday nights to listen to the Grand Ole Opry that was broadcast from 
Nashville, TN. I heard the ``Solemn Old Judge,'' the ``Fruit Jar 
Drinkers,'' DeFord Bailey on his harmonica, the Delmore Brothers, Roy 
Acuff, Minnie Pearl from ``Grinders Switch,'' Sam and Kirk McGree and 
Uncle Dave Macon picking the banjo ``clawhammer style.''
  On some Saturday nights, I would play the fiddle at a small but 
lively square dance held somewhere in a coal camp where I lived or in a 
neighboring community. Times were bad, but life had to go on, and a 
Saturday night frolic helped to keep the spirits up.
  Madam President, in that year 1932, a writer for the Saturday Evening 
Post asked John Maynard Keynes, the great British economist, whether 
there had ever been anything like the Depression before. ``Yes,'' he 
replied. ``It was called the Dark Ages and it lasted four hundred 
years.'' This was calamity howling on a cosmic scale, but on at least 
one point the resemblance seemed valid. In each case the people were 
victims of forces that they could not understand.
  Mr. President, in that same year of 1932, there was born a child in 
Massachusetts, and his name was Edward Kennedy. In 1932, of course, I 
knew nothing about Edward Kennedy or Edward Kennedy's birth. But today 
I rise on this Senate floor to salute one of the outstanding Senators 
in the history of this great body. He is a man whose expertise, hard 
work, and courage have set a lofty example to which every fledgling 
Senator should aspire.
  On November 6, 1962, Edward Kennedy was elected to the Senate, and so 
he is celebrating his 35th anniversary and we are celebrating the 35th 
anniversary of his arrival in the Senate.
  I well remember the arrival of young Edward Kennedy in this Chamber. 
Having been elected in 1962 at the age of 30, he was one of the 
youngest Members in Senate history.
  While Senator Kennedy may not have been the youngest Senator ever, he 
was certainly one of the youngest. Despite his youth, however, much was 
expected of this young man and I suspect that some may have wondered 
whether he was really up to the challenge. After all, Senator Kennedy 
was representing a State that had provided the Senate with some its 
most memorable figures, among them Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, and 
Charles Sumner. In addition, Senator Kennedy was elected to finish the 
term of the then current President, who was none other than his 
brother. When one remembers that another Kennedy brother was then 
Attorney General of the United States, one realizes why Senator Kennedy 
was accorded rather more attention than the average freshman Senator.
  I am gratified to report that, far from falling short of these grand 
expectations, Senator Kennedy has exceeded them. He became an 
innovative and productive legislator. He also embarked on a path from 
which he has never varied: championing the interests of the working 
people, the poor, and the disadvantaged. His tenure as chairman of the 
Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources during the 100th Congress 
was remarkable, both in the sheer volume of legislation that he 
sponsored and in the dedication that he displayed to improving the 
education and health of all Americans.

[[Page S11909]]

  I was the majority leader of the Senate during that 100th Congress. I 
worked closely with Senator Kennedy and he worked closely with me.
  In just 2 years, Senator Kennedy pushed through more beneficial 
social legislation than many Senators produce in a lifetime.
  Mr. President, this country has seen remarkable changes over the past 
35 years. Not the least of those changes has been a shift in political 
attitudes from the optimism and compassion that characterized the 
1960's to the more hardened and occasionally cynical climate of today. 
But, throughout those changes, Senator Ted Kennedy has remained 
faithful to his vision of an America in which the rights of those 
without money, jobs, health insurance, or education are protected. 
Others may bow to the vagaries of public opinion but not Senator 
Kennedy. Instead, relying on a political and legislative acumen than 
may owe something to his well-known expertise as a sailor, Senator 
Kennedy uses the winds of popular sentiment to achieve his goals. Many 
times where others meekly follow the course of these powerful winds, 
Senator Kennedy calmly lifts a dampened finger aloft to test their 
force and direction, then he very expertly and patiently tacks back and 
forth until he reaches, his chosen destination. Even the strongest 
headwind is not enough to dissuade him, for he knows that hard work and 
dedication can conquer the most imposing obstacles.
  Despite his passionate and unswerving convictions, Senator Kennedy is 
also one of the most accommodating Members of the Senate. Throughout 
his career, he has sought out partnerships with Members regardless of 
their ideology or party in the interests of passing wise and necessary 
legislation. Even in these partisan days in which we live, Senator 
Kennedy consistently seeks to find common ground with those at all 
points along the political spectrum. Senator Kennedy has repeatedly put 
the national interest ahead of petty partisan squabbles.
  Not that he is above partisanship at all. We are all capable of being 
partisan at times; some of us more than others, perhaps. But this open-
minded approach to lawmaking, this brave refusal to succumb to the 
partisan animosity that permeates Congress today, may well be one of 
the Senator's greatest legacies.

  I said at the beginning of my remarks that I believe Senator Kennedy 
to be one of the most outstanding Senators this Chamber has seen. Lest 
I be accused of hyperbole and exaggeration, or of excessive kindness 
toward a friend, let me make clear that my words are not motivated by 
simple kindness. Senator Kennedy's legislative dexterity and bipartisan 
approach, are a rare combination indeed. I fear that many of today's 
politicians will be judged harshly by the historians of tomorrow for 
their fickleness, their shallow rhetoric, their willingness to pander 
to popular opinion. But not so my good friend and esteemed colleague 
from Massachusetts.

  I have remarked before, and I remark today, that had Ted Kennedy been 
living in 1789 at the time the first Congress met, he would have been a 
powerful factor in pressing forward with the legislation that was 
enacted in that first Congress. A formidable opponent, a knowledgeable 
and dedicated legislator, Ted Kennedy would have been in the forefront 
of those who were advocating the Judiciary Act, and I have no doubt 
that he would have left his imprint upon that legislation.
  Had he been living at the time of the Civil War, serving in the U.S. 
Senate, again, he would have been recognized as a forceful leader.
  In the days of reconstruction, again, Senator Kennedy would have made 
his mark in the U.S. Senate.
  Had he been a Senator during the years of the New Deal, he would have 
allied himself with Franklin D. Roosevelt and would have been a strong 
supporter of the landmark legislation that was enacted in those 
difficult years.
  I think that if Ted Kennedy had been living prior to the Revolution, 
he would have joined men like Samuel Adams and John Adams and John 
Hancock, from his State of Massachusetts, in resisting the edicts of 
George III, the King of England.
  So, in summation, I say that Ted Kennedy would have been a leader, an 
outstanding Senator, at any period of the Nation's history.
  Ted Kennedy and I have not always been the best of friends. There was 
a time when we were not. That time has long been relegated to the ashes 
of the past. When I was majority leader of the Senate, and also when I 
was minority leader of the Senate, and when I was majority leader 
again, as I have already indicated, in the 100th Congress, I leaned 
much on Ted Kennedy's knowledge, his expertise, his support. He was one 
of my strongest supporters in the Senate. In caucuses or on the Senate 
floor, I could always count on Ted Kennedy to be there when I needed 
him.
  So, Ted Kennedy and I formed a friendship in the finest sense of that 
word.
  We share a liking for history, a fondness for poetry, and a love for 
the U.S. Senate. Ted Kennedy does his work well in the committee. When 
he comes to the floor, he comes with a batch of papers in his hands and 
with a head full of knowledge in respect to the legislation which he is 
promoting. I count him as one of the most effective Members of the 
Senate.
  I admire Ted's steadfast purpose, his tireless work, his easy humor, 
and his kind nature. But, most of all, I admire his courage. He has 
experienced more personal tragedy and deep sorrow than most of us could 
bear and still retain our sanity. Yet, he goes on. He contributes. He 
endures. He laughs. He leads. He inspires. He triumphs.
  I have watched him weather and work and grow in wisdom for 35 
years. He has an excellent staff. One would have to have an excellent 
staff to be able to turn out the massive amount of work and to provide 
the leadership that he has so many times provided in enacting landmark 
legislation. He is ever on an upward track.

  Herman Melville put it this way:

       . . . and there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can 
     alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of 
     them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even 
     if he forever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the 
     mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain 
     eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even 
     though they soar.

  So here is to my friend and colleague as he celebrates his 35th 
anniversary. May he ever soar.
  I close with a verse by one of my favorite poets, Edwin Markham, a 
verse that I think typifies Senator Kennedy:

     Give thanks, O heart, for the high souls
     That point us to the deathless goals--
     For all the courage of their cry
     That echoes down from sky to sky;
     Thanksgiving for the armed seers
     And heroes called to mortal years--
     Souls that have built our faith in man,
     And lit the ages as they ran.

  I again thank my true friend, and he is my friend, has been for all 
the years that he has been in the Senate, Jesse Helms, for his kindness 
in arranging for me to proceed at this moment.
  I thank him very much.
  Mr. HELMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.
  Mr. HELMS. Madam President, I can assure the able Senator from West 
Virginia--I have always described him as a Senator's Senator--it is 
always a pleasure to cooperate with him any time, and I enjoy listening 
to him because I learn something every time.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Senator.
  THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Helms, Mr. DeWine, and Mr. Glenn pertaining to 
the introduction of S. 1397 are located in today's Record under 
``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. SPECTER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

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