[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 43 (Monday, April 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3248-S3249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE HONORABLE TERRY SANFORD
August 20, 1917-April 18, 1998
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I was regrettably late in learning about
the inevitable death of former U.S. Senator Terry Sanford this past
Saturday, April 18. I say inevitable because it was. All of us,
especially Terry himself, knew what was coming when last December the
fatal inoperable cancer was discovered.
Terry faced up to the reality of it all with his typical courage. He
told reporters at the time that he would continue to be active as long
as he could, and take every day as it came. Then he plunged into a
whirlwind fund-raising schedule on behalf of a project near and dear to
his heart.
It was impossible not to like and admire Terry Sanford. He was never
one of my supporters, nor was I ever one of his. But we were friends
and there was never a hint of discord during his six years in the
Senate--or before, for that matter, or since.
As Senators who were here during Senator Sanford's six years will
testify, Terry was a respected colleague. For my part, I always had the
feeling that he had been vastly more comfortable being Governor. He
could push a button then and things happened. Not so with the Senate.
We sort of canceled each other's vote in the Senate much of the time he
was here but there never was an instance when we didn't work together
for the betterment of North
[[Page S3249]]
Carolina. And there was never the slightest hostility.
In short, Mr. President, I liked Terry Sanford. He has undeniably
left his mark upon the destiny of the state he loved--and certainly
upon Duke University which was the multi-million dollar beneficiary of
his skillful fund-raising ability.
He lived life to the fullest; he was a man who loved his family and
his country. If he ever wasted a moment, I am not aware of it.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that The Washington Post
report of Senator Sanford's death, published April 19, 1998, be printed
in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Washington Post, Apr. 19, 1998]
Terry Sanford, Ex-U.S. Senator and N.C. Governor, Dies
(By Martin Weil)
Terry Sanford, 80, a former governor of North Carolina and
president of Duke University, whose career as a widely
admired and respected Democratic political leader culminated
with a term in the U.S. Senate, died of cancer yesterday at
his home in Durham, N.C.
An amiable man, loyal to his party but known also for
independent thinking, Gov. Sanford became known early in his
career for an ability--based on both personality and
principle--to achieve substantial political success in a
political environment often thought uncongenial to the
moderate or progressive views he espoused.
This, and his high profile leadership at Duke, attracted
the interest and support of many Democrats both inside and
outside his native North Carolina, who saw him as
representing their party's possibilities of survival in the
South, at a time when a Republican tide was sweeping through
what had once been a solidly Democratic region. Ranked in a
Harvard University study as one of the 20th-century's most
creative governors because of his achievements in the
statehouse from 1961 to 1965, Gov. Sanford made forays onto
the national stage in the 1970s; in 1972 and in 1976, he
sought unsuccessfully his party's presidential nomination.
Gov. Sanford's inoperable cancer was diagnosed in December.
He underwent a second round of chemotherapy last week before
being discharged on Wednesday from the Duke University
Medical Center.
Heart valve surgery during his campaign for reelection to
the Senate made his health a campaign issue at that time, and
was believed to have contributed to his defeat. Indeed, his
election to the Senate in 1986 was seen as a kind of last
hurrah for a 69-year-old whose electoral career had seemed to
peak years before.
In the Senate, he had made a mark for the forcefulness of
his opposition to the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H.
Bork. He was also remembered for taking a strong stand in
opposition to the nation's embarking on the Persian Gulf War.
It was Gov. Sanford's reputation as a moderate among his
fellow Senate Democrats that led them to choose him in 1988
to respond to a speech by President Reagan attacking the
campaign against the Bork nomination.
``We are tired of having our integrity impugned,'' Gov.
Sanford said in what was viewed as an eloquent defense of the
Senate's right to withhold its consent from presidential
nominations. ``We are tired of having our sincerity
questioned. We are tired of having our intelligence
insulted.''
The speech, coming from a man who could not be readily
characterized as an extremist, was viewed as a landmark in
the campaign that led to the rejection of the nomination.
Even after his 1992 defeat at the hands of Republican Lauch
Faircloth, Gov. Sanford, a paratrooper in World War II, had
continued a life of vigorous activity.
He had been president of Duke from 1969 to 1985, a tenure
of unusual duration in one of the most turbulent periods for
American higher education. After his defeat, he taught
classes there in government and public policy, wrote books,
held the rank of senior partner in a law firm, and served as
a director of charitable, legal and educational
organizations.
Gov. Sanford was born Aug. 20, 1917, in Laurinburg, N.C.
where his father was a merchant and his mother taught in the
public schools. Dishwashing helped him pay his way through
the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, from which
he graduated in 1939. He served in 1941-42 as an FBI agent.
Shortly after the United States entered World War II, he
went into the Army; he became a paratrooper, and was involved
in five major campaigns in Europe, including the Battle of
the Bulge, rising from private to first lieutenant. He held
the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Bronze Star and the
Purple Heart. A back injury that plagued him for the rest of
his life stemmed from his paratrooper service.
After the war, he graduated from law school at Chapel Hill,
served as assistant director of the university's Institute of
Government and began the private practice of law in
Fayetteville. He served in the state senate in 1953 to 1955.
During his years as governor, he focused on improving
public education. He advocated legislation to raise teacher
salaries and create a community college system and was known
then as one of the nation's ``education governors.''
He financed many of his improvements with a sales tax on
food that he justified in a speech as a ``small measure of
sacrifice . . . that would swing open the doors to our
children . . . and provide the opportunities that will put
this state in the front ranks of our community of
states.''
He was credited with starting an antiproverty program, with
helping to defuse tensions over race by setting up Good
Neighbor Councils and with calling for employment without
regard to race, creed of color. It was Gov. Sanford who was
credited with launching North Carolina's State Board of
Science and Technology to help convert scientific advances
into new techniques for the state's industries.
North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. said Gov. Sanford's
optimism and commitment to excellence in public education
``have changed us forever.''
Hunt said that in 1960 he ``plugged into the campaign to
elect him governor and to me he was the best one ever.''
In his first month as Duke president, he showed the
flexibility that enabled him to survive and harness the
currents of protest that unseated many of his colleagues.
Students blocked traffic in a protest of the shootings of
students at Kent State University in Ohio during a Vietnam
War protest. Gov. Sanford seized a bullhorn, endorsed the
students' anger, but advised: ``Don't fight us. Let us all
fight Washington together.''
Later, the students threatened to take over the school's
main administration building. ``Great,'' he said. ``Take me
with you . . . I've been trying to occupy it for a month.''
After stepping down in 1985 from the presidency at Duke,
Gov. Sanford was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Survivors include Sanford's wife of 52 years, Margaret; his
son, Terry Sanford Jr.; his daughter, Betsee; two
grandchildren; and two sisters.
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I note the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kyl). Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________