[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 28 (Monday, March 16, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1966-S1967]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SENATOR MOYNIHAN'S BIRTHDAY

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, today, March 16th, marks the birthday of a 
man whom Shakespeare could have been describing when he said in ``Henry 
VII,'' ``He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one, exceeding wise, 
fair-spoken, and persuading.'' The man whom that description fits like 
a glove is the respected senior Senator from New York, Senator Daniel 
Patrick Moynihan, who today celebrates his seventy-first birthday. O, 
to be 71 again. O, to be 71 again. I have to rejoice in Senator 
Moynihan being only 71 today. I am pleased to offer Senator Moynihan my 
best wishes for a very happy birthday, and my thanks for the 
intellectual vigor, the stubborn veracity, the scrupulous accuracy and 
the wise counsel that Senator Moynihan has brought to the Senate.
  Senator Moynihan's curriculum vitae is as widely known as it is 
broadly based--his humble beginnings, his climb up the academic ladder 
which, despite being interrupted by World War II, culminated in a 
doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; a period of 
teaching economics--wouldn't I like to have sat in his class--a period 
of teaching economics, sociology and urban studies at Harvard and at 
the Joint Center for Urban Studies; and a distinguished series of 
positions in the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations before 
winning election to the Senate for the first time in 1976. Few Senators 
come to this body with so much academic and practical experience. No 
one who observes Senator Moynihan on the Senate floor would guess that 
as a young man, he once arrived at a test with a dockworker's loading 
hook tucked in his back pocket.
  William Shakespeare has also said in ``Twelfth Night,'' ``But to be 
said an honest man . . . goes as fairly as to say a careful man and a 
great scholar.'' And that description also reflects the character of 
Senator Moynihan, a lifelong scholar who has never shirked from the 
sometimes unpleasant duty of informing the Senate and the nation and 
Presidents of the hard facts of this or that issue. His carefully 
studied analysis and his insight into complex issues ranging from 
poverty in America to the future of social security keep Senators on 
the floor and staff glued to C-Span, because we have all come to rely 
on the fact that when Senator Moynihan speaks, we all will learn 
something of importance, something that may fundamentally shift our 
thinking. His skill with words is equally finely honed, imbuing every 
thoughtfully parsed sentence with meaning and wit. He is, to hearken 
back to Shakespeare's description, ``fair spoken, and persuading,'' in 
speech and in the many books he has authored.
  In an age of ten second campaign slogans, bumper sticker rhetoric, 
and simplistic, feel-good legislation, Senator Moynihan is an 
anachronism, a throwback to the days of thoughtful consideration of 
complex issues and reasoned debate on the merits of different possible 
solutions. He thinks on a grander, a grander scale than do most people 
and, as a consequence, he is able to foresee problems long before they 
become costly, messy, politically dangerous quagmires that few people 
have the courage to tackle, let alone solve. When I have doubts about 
some new program being proposed, or some radical change being suggested 
without the benefit of hearings or committee consideration, and Senator 
Moynihan also voices concern, or briefly sketches possible unpredicted 
outcomes arising from the proposal, then I know that my hesitation is 
vindicated.
  In another sense, too, Senator Moynihan is a figure from a different, 
more polite age, for he is a gentleman. Edmund Burke has observed that 
``A king

[[Page S1967]]

may make a nobleman, but he cannot make a gentleman.'' ``A king may 
make a nobleman, but he cannot make a gentleman.'' The same can be said 
for politicians--elections can make a Senator--not always a good one--
but they can never make a gentleman. In this age of negative campaigns, 
of road rage, of obscenities masquerading as popular music, and of 
television that makes one blush while changing channels, there are few 
gentlemen to point to, but Senator Moynihan is surely one of those few. 
He listens carefully, respectful of the viewpoint of the speaker--which 
is in itself an increasingly lost art, it seems. I have never heard him 
raise his voice in anger, or comment rudely about another Member, and 
though his criticisms can be as witty and tart as an Empire apple--the 
Empire apple is something like the McIntosh apple, very flavorful, 
tart. I saw some up at Martin's store in Charlestown yesterday, some 
Empire apples. Despite the standing that he enjoys, he remains an 
approachable figure, unaffected by the grandeur of his surroundings in 
this majestic building. Were he to stop and look back at the Capitol, I 
suspect that he would be enjoying the simple pleasure of tulips and 
daffodils, nodding, tossing their heads in the sunshine, and not so 
much savoring the symbol of legislative power embodied in this marble 
and sandstone edifice.
  In the twenty-two years that Senator Moynihan has graced the Senate 
with his presence, he has brought to the Senate an intellectual 
puissance and an exalted level of scholarship that have raised the 
mental caliber of every one around him. He has been more than a Senator 
from New York, though he certainly has been a good representative of 
the people of that great State. He has also been an intellectual 
leader, a sage, and a prophet for the Senate and for the Nation. He has 
lifted us all up on his broad wings of scholarship.
  He is the possessor, the last time I looked at the Congressional 
Directory some few months ago, he is the possessor of 60 honorary 
degrees--60. I don't think anyone else in this body, probably in the 
other body, can equal that achievement.
  So he has lifted us all up on the broad wings of his scholarship, his 
experience and his wisdom, so painstakingly acquired only to be so 
freely and generously given away.
  Herman Melville observed in Moby Dick that ``. . . 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 for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is 
in the mountains; so that even in his lowest stoop the mountain eagle 
is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they 
soar.'' The distinguished Senator from New York is just such a soul, a 
Catskill eagle, inspiring other birds of the sunlit Senate plain, 
including this Byrd.
  Mr. President, Erma and I offer our best wishes to Senator Daniel 
Patrick Moynihan as he celebrates his birthday with his lovely wife Liz 
and his family. May he enjoy many, many, many more happy birthdays, and 
may we, his colleagues, have the high privilege of sharing in those 
birthdays with him over a period of many, many years away.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Roberts). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRAMS. 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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