[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 140 (Thursday, October 8, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12061-S12062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MAHATMA GANDHI MEMORIAL

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Energy 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 4284, and 
that the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4284) to authorize the government of India to 
     establish a memorial to honor Mahatma Gandhi in the District 
     of Columbia.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the bill?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. MACK. Mr. President, last year I joined the distinguished senior 
Senator from New York, Mr. Moynihan, in introducing a bill to authorize 
the placement of a memorial to Mohandas K.--Mahatma--Gandhi, on Federal 
land in the District of Columbia in the vicinity of the Indian Embassy. 
A similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives.
  I am pleased to report that the House unanimously passed their 
version of this bill on September 15 and it now rests here in the 
Senate awaiting our action. It is my hope that the Senate will pass 
this bill and it is for this reason that I rise today.
  The proposed memorial will comply with the Commemorative Works Act 
and will be placed at no cost to the U.S. government; the Indian 
government will be responsible for the construction and maintenance of 
the memorial. In addition, the National Capital Memorial Commission and 
the National Park Service have designated and approved the site.
  At midnight on August 15, 1947, 400 million people received their 
independence and an institution in world history came to an end. This 
is the date that India became a free nation, and the mighty British 
empire, in effect, ceased to exist. One man more than any other is 
credited with bringing this profound change to the world. Dressed in 
white homespun cloth, with only a handful of worldly possessions, 
Mohandas Gandhi--known as Mahatma, or ``Great Soul''--showed the world 
that dedication to principles, and belief in reconciliation, can 
prevail over otherwise insurmountable odds. Best known for his civil 
disobedience characterized by nonviolence and passive resistance, 
Mahatma Gandhi is revered by millions throughout the world for his 
dedication to personal freedom, justice, and human rights.
  Gandhi is not only the father of modern India, but a leader whose 
impact changed the world forever. Gandhi influenced great champions of 
freedom throughout the world including Lech Walesa of Poland, the Dalai 
Lama of Tibet and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. Albert Einstein said of 
Gandhi, ``Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as 
this walked the earth in flesh and blood.'' Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr., said of Gandhi's importance to the world, ``We may ignore Gandhi 
at our own risk.'' And Gandhi himself had strong ties to the United 
States. He acknowledged being influenced in his own thinking by Henry 
David Thoreau, as well as by the U.S. Constitution.
  Mr. President, the story of India's recent history is the story of 
people struggling for freedom--and this struggle is universal. Gandhi 
has made us all richer in our freedom through his life's work and 
sacrifice. The right thing for this body to do is to support the Indian 
government's efforts to erect this memorial; it will be a gift to the 
American people symbolic of the greater gift

[[Page S12062]]

we received more than fifty years ago from Mahatma Gandhi.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, today the United States Congress acts to 
authorize the placement of a statute of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi--
Mahatma Gandi--on Federal land across the street from the Indian 
embassy in Washington D.C. Such a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, often 
called the father of the Indian nation, would serve as a fitting 
tribute to Indian democracy which has survived--in fact, thrived--
despite enormous challenges. It will stand as a symbol of the growing 
strength of the bonds between our two countries.
  The Government of India has offered a statute of Gandhi as a gift to 
the United States. In order to place it on Federal land, an act of 
Congress is required. This bill will fulfill just that purpose, and I 
thank the Senator from Florida, Mr. Mack and the Senator from Maryland, 
Mr. Sarbanes for joining me in this endeavor.
  It is particularly appropriate that a statute of Mahatma Gandhi be 
selected as a symbol of our ties. The effects of Gandhi's non-violent 
actions and the philosophy that guided him, were not limited to his 
country, or his time. Perhaps less known is that Gandhi drew 
inspiration from an American. While in South Africa, Gandhi read 
Thoreau's essay ``Civil Disobedience,'' which confirmed his view that 
an honest man is duty-bound to violate unjust laws. He took this view 
home with him, and in the end the British raj gave way to an 
independent Republic of India. Then Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
repatriated the idea, and so began the great American civil rights 
movement of this century.
  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has written of the singular influence 
Gandhi's message of non-violent resistance had on him when he first 
learned of it while studying at Crozier Theological seminary in 
Philadelphia. He would later describe Gandhi's influence on him in, 
``Stride Toward Freedom'':

       As I read I became deeply fascinated by [Gandhi's] 
     philosphy of non-violent resistance . . . as I delved deeper 
     into the philosophy of Gandhi, my skepticism concerning the 
     power of love gradually diminished, and I came to see its 
     potency in the area of social reform . . . prior to reading 
     Gandhi, I had concluded that the love ethics of Jesus were 
     only effective in individual relationships . . . but after 
     reading Gandhi, I saw how utterly mistaken I was.
       . . . It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and non-
     violence that I discovered the method for social reform that 
     I had been seeking for so many months . . . I came to feel 
     that this was the only morally and practically sound method 
     open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom . . . 
     this principle became the guiding light of our movement. 
     Christ furnished the spirit and motivation and Gandhi 
     furnished the method.

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that Gandhi's philosophy of non-
violent resistance was the ``guiding light'' of the American civil 
rights movement. As Dr. King explained, ``Gandhi furnished the 
message.'' A statue of Gandhi, given as a gift from the Government of 
India, on a small plot of Federal land along Massachusetts Avenue in 
front of the Indian embassy, will stand not only as a tribute to the 
shared values of the two largest democracies in the world, but will 
also pay tribute to the lasting influence of Gandhian thought on the 
United States.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon 
the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed at 
this point in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 4284) was read the third time, and passed.

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