[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 83 (Tuesday, June 23, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE JOHN W.H. BASSETT

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                       HON. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY II

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 23, 1998

  Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute 
today to the late John Bassett, a great Canadian and a great friend of 
the United States.
  John Bassett was one of those unique individuals who not only 
witnessed the great events of our century but who truly helped shape 
them.
  He served with gallantry in World War II, was a broadcast media 
pioneer, supported the creation of Israel, ushered in the modern sports 
era, and was a friend to Presidents and Prime Ministers, columnists and 
news anchors, quarterbacks and hockey centers.
  When John died last month, Canada lost an honored citizen and the 
United States a distinguished ally. And the Kennedy family lost a great 
friend.
  When I was a young boy, Toronto Maple Leaf pucks were always rolling 
around our house at Hickory Hill and then in the Oval Office when we 
visited my uncle Jack there. John Bassett made every Kennedy a fan of 
his Maple Leafs--and under his ownership in those years, the Toronto 
team won three consecutive Stanley Cups in the National Hockey League.
  He built the Canadian Football League as well by signing a young Joe 
Theisman out of Notre Dame to quarterback his Toronto Argonauts 
Football Team. His sports empire grew to include the Birmingham Bulls 
of the World Hockey League and the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United 
States Football League, which fielded gridiron greats Steve Spurrier, 
Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Paul Warfield.
  But John Bassett didn't just have an eye for sports talent--he had a 
genius for marketing it. He bought newspapers and television stations, 
and used them to turn athletes into celebrities.
  His string of newspapers included the Sherbrooke Daily Record, a 
small paper being published in the Eastern Provinces of Quebec; and the 
Toronto Telegram, one of Canada's leading dailies up until its demise 
in 1971. He made sure the Telegram lived on by turning over its 
newspaper boxes and news library to the Toronto Sun, getting that paper 
on the newsstands just two days after the Telegram ceased publishing.
  In 1960, at the dawn of the modern media age, John founded the 
television station CFTO-TV in Toronto under the umbrella of Baton 
Broadcasting. Under his direction, and now that of his son and my good 
friend Doug Bassett, Baton has become the largest private television 
broadcasting company in Canada--the owners of 20 TV stations, three 
national cable channels, and Canada's only private national television 
network, CTV.

  As you might expect, John Bassett the media mogul and sports czar 
always felt right at home with anyone. I remember my mother describing 
John sitting at ease aboard Lord Beaverbrook's yacht--five crew member 
serving each guest, the sleek hull so long it made Rupert Murdoch's 
boat look like a bathtub.
  But she also recalls his great laugh and good spirit sailing in a 
one-master off the coast of Maine with Robert and Ethel or John and his 
young bridge Jackie--with nothing more than a picnic lunch and a cooler 
swung over the gunwales.
  Like all great men, John had a great heart, and gave generously of 
his time to great causes. He was personal friends with the founders of 
modern Israel--David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan and Menachem 
Begin. He worked tirelessly to support the young state, and became the 
first non-Jew honored by the Jewish National Fund of Canada for his 
selfless work.
  And after my father's death, John and his family showed great 
kindness to my family by establishing the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial in 
Canada, which continues to thrive under the generous leadership of the 
Bassett family.
  While lucky in sports, John wasn't so lucky in politics, twice 
running for Parliament without success. But typical of John Bassett, he 
found other ways to serve. In 1989, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney 
appointed him Chairman of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, 
the watchdog group for the national security service. he also served as 
a Privy Councillor of Canada.
  In recognition of his career in business, media, sports, and civil 
and political affairs, John Bassett has received both his country's 
highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada, and the highest 
honor of his home province, the Order of Ontario.
  John Bassett will be missed by many, but especially by his family. My 
heart goes out to Isabel and Doug and all the Bassett children, 
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren--indeed to every member of the 
extended Bassett family who felt the great sweep of his extraordinary 
life.
  John Bassett's life was epic in scope but intensely human in the 
kindness he showed to everyone along the way. Canada has lost a great 
citizen, and we've all lost a great friend.




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