[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 64 (Tuesday, May 19, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H3371-H3372]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO SENATOR JENNINGS RANDOLPH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Wise) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, today in Salem, West Virginia, in a quiet 
funeral service, former United States Senator Jennings Randolph comes 
home to his final rest, to where he grew up and lived. And indeed 
perhaps it is a fitting memorial to Senator Randolph that this week the 
Congress of the United States is working on another highway bill for 
another six years, because Senator Randolph, of course, was Chair of 
the Senate Public Works Committee. In 1937, as a Member of this body, 
the House of Representatives, he held hearings on creating a national 
highway system 20 years ahead of the interstate highway system.
  With Senator Randolph's death, an era has truly passed. He was the 
last

[[Page H3372]]

surviving Member of Congress of the original New Deal Congress that 
came in in 1933. And every West Virginian who heard him speak treasures 
the memory of hearing him recount being called to the White House in 
the first 100 days with the banks closing, businesses closing, pensions 
being dissolved.
  I can still hear Senator Randolph's tones as he talked about how 
Franklin Roosevelt rallied the country. And of course, Senator Randolph 
was there for the creation of Social Security, for the WPA, for 
economic recovery, and to create many of the institutions that we take 
for granted today. Yes, he was a builder, a builder of highways and 
infrastructure, a creator and preserver of the Appalachian Regional 
Commission, as well as creating educational opportunities, too.
  No matter how many years Jennings Randolph had in his life, he always 
fought for young people. That is why he was a tireless battler for the 
26th Amendment to the Constitution, which in the early 1970s gave the 
right to vote to those between the ages of 18 and 21. The last speech I 
ever heard Senator Randolph give was lamenting low voter turnout in our 
country and challenging all of us, all of us as citizens, to be able to 
go to the polls and exercise our most precious franchise.
  Mr. Speaker, we West Virginians have much to remember in this gentle 
man. When we drive along on a modern four-lane road or we go to a job 
training class, when we make use of an Appalachian Regional Commission 
facility, perhaps a health clinic, when we turn on our spigot and we 
get fresh water, or perhaps when we retire and we know that Social 
Security will be there, and of course for the youth, the youth that 
Jennings Randolph believed in so much that he fought and won for them 
the right to vote.
  Mr. Speaker, a gentle man with a great heart comes home to rest 
today, and all West Virginia gives thanks for this rich and meaningful 
life.

                          ____________________