[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2004-E2005]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE HENRY HYDE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SONNY CALLAHAN

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 8, 1998

  Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share a recent article by 
syndicated columnist James Pinkerton that pays tribute to the Honorable 
Chairman of our Judiciary Committee, Henry Hyde.
  The article eloquently points out that Henry is a man of great 
integrity and unmatched character. Not only has he served us well in 
the House, but also bravely served our country in combat. I 
respectfully request that the article be placed in the Record so that 
we can all catch a glimpse into Henry's great contributions and 
selfless work for this country.

                      [From the Los Angeles Times]

 Don't Attack Hyde for Indiscretions of Decades Ago, He's Paid His Dues

                          (By James Pinkerton)

       For two centuries, Henry Hyde said Monday, ``Americans have 
     undergone the stress of preserving their freedom.'' The 
     chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, born in 1924, has 
     been alive for a third of that time, yet most Americans 
     probably didn't know of him until recently.
       So who is Henry Hyde? For most of his 23 years as a 
     congressman from Illinois, he has been known for his 
     opposition to abortion. Yet he will also be remembered now as 
     the ``family values'' conservative who had a four-year affair 
     with a woman other than his wife. Hyde acknowledged the 
     relationship, but the less-than-wisely referred to his 40-
     something fling as a ``youthful indiscretion.''
       But, if Hyde thinks 40 is young, that might be because he 
     grew up too soon. Because, if what he did three decades ago 
     is of interest, what he did five decades ago, when his 
     country needed him, should be remembered as well.
       Hyde joined the Navy at 18, foregoing a basketball 
     scholarship to Georgetown University. For young men such as 
     Hyde, there was no choice after Pearl Harbor. ``It was our 
     turn, we did our duty,'' he said in a recent interview.
       Commissioned as an ensign in 1944, he commanded an LCT 
     (landing craft, tank). ``A floating bed pan,'' he called it. 
     His baptism

[[Page E2005]]

     by fire came on Jan. 9, 1945, when Americans went ashore at 
     Lingayen Gulf, in the Philippines.
       Hyde remembers that operation more as hard work than as 
     heroism: ``Day and night, loading and off-loading.'' The 
     hardest part of his job, he added, was finding his mother 
     ship out in the bay at night: ``We all had to keep our lights 
     off,'' Why? ''Kamikazes,'' he answered simply. Indeed about 
     150 Japanese suicide aircraft hurled themselves at U.S. ships 
     during the Lingayen landing, sinking 17 vessels and damaging 
     50.
       One who also remembers the kamikaze attacks at Lingayen is 
     Bob Stump, now a Republican congressman from Arizona. As a 
     teenager, he was a medic abroad the carrier Tulagi, ``You'd 
     heard the five (anti-aircraft guns) firing and you'd know 
     they were coming,'' Stump remembered recently. ``Then you'd 
     hear the 40 millimeters firing and you'd know they were 
     close. Then you'd hear the 20 millimeters firing and you'd 
     know they were on top of you.'' Total U.S. Navy fatalities 
     for the Philippines campaign amounted to 4,336.
       Despite spending four years of his young life in the Navy, 
     Hyde graduated from Georgetown University at 23; he was 
     eager, like the rest of the GI generation, to get on with his 
     life. Yet he gets a reminder of the war every time he flies 
     home and lands at O'Hare International Airport, which lies 
     within his suburban Chicago district. It is named for Edward 
     ``Butch'' O'Hare, a Navy pilot in the Pacific who earned the 
     Medal of Honor in 1942 and was killed the next year. He was 
     29. ``Most people have no idea what he did.'' Hyde observed, 
     ``which is a shame.''
       A half-century later, some are furious that Hyde is 
     investigating Bill Clinton, who is also a Georgetown 
     alumnus--although one who never let military service 
     interrupt his academic career, Salon the online publication, 
     first revealed Hyde's long-ago affair. Mustering up the sort 
     of faux courage appropriate for a faux magazine, the editors 
     declared that they were, in pushing the story, ``fighting 
     fire with fire.''
       Fire? Hyde, Stump and 12 million more were touched by fire 
     during World War II After surviving the Big One. Hyde regards 
     the word-warriors of Washington as unpleasant, perhaps even 
     stressful, but not particularly intimidating.
       Hyde's enemies will no doubt continue to attack, while 
     friends such as Stump, who did not meet his fellow Pacific 
     theater vet until the 1970s, will continue to admire. ``Henry 
     is probably the most respected and brightest person here,'' 
     Stump said.
       But Hyde's reputation will surely survive because it is 
     rooted in service to the nation that began before the 
     incumbent president was even born. Asked to sum up his 
     current mission, Hyde said, ``We have an obligation to make 
     America the kind of country those guys died for.'' From most 
     politicians, such talk is cheap. But from Hyde, it is 
     precious, because it was paid for in for in the oft-forgotten 
     currencies of duty, honor and sacrifice.

     

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