[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11502-S11503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE DEATH OF MAYOR TOM BRADLEY

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise in memory of Mayor Tom 
Bradley, who is being laid to rest in Los Angeles today. I join with 
all Angelenos, and indeed all Californians, in mourning this kind, 
gentle, and wonderful man who led one of the world's great cities with 
such skill for so many years.
  For nine years during my tenure as Mayor of San Francisco, I had the 
pleasure of working with Mayor Bradley on state and national issues and 
together we offered a loud drumbeat that the cities of our nation need 
attention. As cities go, so goes the nation, we often said. Through and 
through, I saw Tom Bradley as mayor who earned the respect of his peers 
while he demanded attention for his city.
  First elected Mayor in 1973, Mayor Bradley paved the way for many 
other leaders on the local and national level. Although he made history 
as the first African-American mayor of a major city, Tom Bradley ran 
and won a campaign where he pledged to be a mayor who represented the 
entire city. He was true to his word, and for a record-setting five 
terms, he served all the millions of people who call Los Angeles home--
from every racial, cultural, and religious group.
  Born into a sharecropper's family, Tom Bradley was seven years old 
when he and his family headed to California to start a new life. When 
he arrived in Los Angeles in 1924, Tom Bradley remembered that 
``reaching California was like reaching the promised land.''
  A product of the Los Angeles public school system, his academic 
abilities enabled him to parlay his high school athletic prowess into a 
university education. Bradley received a scholarship to attend UCLA, 
where he soon distinguished himself as a track star.
  Prompted by a desire to serve the city, Tom Bradley joined the Los 
Angeles Police Department in 1940. In May 1941, he married the former 
Ethel Arnold. They had two daughters, Lorraine and Phyllis.
  As an early example of his enormous capacity for hard work that 
marked his years as mayor, Tom Bradley worked full-time as a police 
officer and went to law school at night. he graduated from Southwestern 
University in 1956 and passed the California Bar Exam.
  After 21 years of service, he retired from the LAPD with the rank of 
Lieutenant in 1961 and began to practice law. Urged by community 
leaders, he decided in 1963 to run for a seat on the Los Angeles City 
Council. He became one of the first African-Americans ever to serve on 
the Council, and held his seat for 10 years before becoming the city's 
37th Mayor in 1973. He ran for Governor of California twice, in 1982 
and 1986, and nearly became the first African-American governor of the 
largest state in the Union. I think he would have made an outstanding 
governor.
  Mayor Bradley once said, ``My guiding philosophy as mayor has been 
and will continue to be, to paraphrase the Athenian Oath, to transmit 
this city * * * not as a lesser * * * but as a greater, better and more 
beautiful city than it was transmitted to me. This philosophy continues 
to be my inspiration.''
  Mayor Bradley did so much for the city he loved so well. He attracted 
businesses to the city and established policies that resulted in the 
dramatic resurgence of the downtown Los Angeles economic center. The 
impressive skyline that graces Los Angeles' downtown is the realization 
of his vision. He turned the city's Harbor and Airports into top-of-
the-line businesses, expanding the number of people employed and the 
city's ability to compete in the world market. Today, when people fly 
into the Los Angeles airport from abroad, they land at the Tom Bradley 
International Terminal: a fitting tribute to the man who expanded the 
airport into the second-busiest in the country.
  Mayor Bradley secured the 1984 Summer Olympic Games during a time 
when many predicted economic gloom. Instead, his signature approach of 
uniting the private and public sectors behind a common goal produced 
the most successful Olympic Games in modern history. The Games boosted 
economic activity in Southern California by $3.3 billion, created 
68,000 jobs, and ended with a $215 million surplus. Just as important, 
the Games made all of us proud to be Americans. When we think of Carl 
Lewis winning his four gold medals, or Mary Lou Retton vaulting her way 
into the country's heart, we have Mayor Bradley to thank.
  Mayor Bradley focused economic opportunities both on the inner city, 
with such community revitalization projects as the Baldwin Hills-
Crenshaw and Vermont-Slauson shopping centers, and on the entire city, 
where he put forward affordable housing and fair planning policies.
  Mayor Bradley also led a long and hard battle to bring rail 
transportation to the city of Los Angeles. There were many times it 
would have been easy to give up, to say the will simply was not there. 
Yet he was determined, came to the halls in Washington, D.C. often to 
appeal for funding, and never gave up. Today the Metro Blue Line 
carries passengers from Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles, and the 
Metro Red Line carries passengers from downtown to MacArthur Park. 
Construction is now underway to extend the Red Line to North Hollywood.
  Finally, to reinforce his strong emphasis on education and to shield 
Los Angeles youth from drug peddlers and street gangs, Mayor Bradley 
initiated an ambitious plan, called L.A's BEST

[[Page S11503]]

(Better Educated Students for Tomorrow), to provide computer training, 
tutorial assistance, and other enrichment activities to students in Los 
Angeles' low income neighborhoods. Under the program, parents are able 
to voluntarily keep their children at school from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 
p.m. each school day to learn and play. Today L.A.'s Best serves over 
5,000 children each day, and has shown dramatic results in boosting 
students' academic achievement and self-esteem.
  Mayor Tom Bradley shaped Los Angeles. He guided the City through 
enormous growth and change. His 20 years were marked by too many 
triumphs to count, and even in the bad times, during the devastating 
civil unrest that took place after the Rodney King verdict, his strong 
leadership and gentle demeanor brought Angelenos together to work for 
the common good. For many Angelenos, Mayor Bradley was a father figure: 
physically imposing at six-foot-four, and intellectually imposing as 
the sharp-minded, politically astute big city mayor, but always so warm 
and gentle that you instantly felt at ease when you talked with him. He 
was a great leader, but more than that, he was a great person. There 
are simply not enough people like him in politics.
  Mr. President, I know that Tom Bradley will be remembered as one of 
the city's greatest and most beloved mayors. His loss is a blow to the 
City of Los Angeles. I know that I join all Angelenos today in sending 
my thoughts and prayers to his wife and daughters.

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