[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 9, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     TRIBUTE TO JOHN F. SEIBERLING

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 9, 1998

  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like to advise my 
colleagues that yesterday marked the eightieth birthday of our former 
colleague, John F. Seiberling of Ohio, and to take note of his many 
accomplishments during his tenure in this body.
  A native of Akron and grandson of the founder of the Goodyear Tire 
and Seiberling Rubber companies, John Seiberling decided in 1970, at 
age 52, after 3 years of distinguished World War II military service, 5 
years of private law practice and 17 years at Goodyear, to run for the 
U.S. House of Representatives, primarily because of his deep concern 
over continuation of the U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam War. He 
quickly established himself as a leader in the ultimately successful 
effort to end the U.S. involvement, and was elected Chairman of Members 
of Congress for Peace Through Law, later known as the Arms Control and 
Foreign Policy Caucus.
  In 1973 he joined the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 
where I had the pleasure of serving with him for a number of years. As 
a member of that committee he played a leading role in the 6-year 
battle to enact federal legislation to restore damage caused by surface 
coal mining and prevent further environmental degradation, which 
culminated with enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation 
Act of 1977. As Chairman of the committee's Public Lands Subcommittee, 
he also became a leader on land conservation and historic preservation 
and managed legislation that doubled the size of the national park 
system and quadrupled the size of the wilderness system, including the 
addition of more than 100 million acres of Alaska's most spectacular 
land. He also spearheaded the enactment of the Cuyahoga Valley National 
Recreation Area Act, creating Ohio's first and only national park.
  In 1986, he decided not to seek re-election, but he had crowded a 
lifetime of accomplishments into his 16 years of service to this House, 
to his constituents and to the American Public.
  After his retirement, he resumed the practice of law in Akron and 
also assumed an endowed chair at The University of Akron School of Law. 
But he has also found time to continue working on the causes he held 
dear as a member of this body through his service on the Board of 
Directors of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a non-profit 
organization he and other Members founded to provide timely and 
credible information to Congress on environmental, energy and natural 
resource issued.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in saluting John F. 
Seiberling, a Congressional giant, and wishing him many happy returns 
of the day.

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