[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S12157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RETIREMENT OF SENATOR DALE BUMPERS

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the United States Senate is about to lose 
one of the great orators of its long history. I never had the 
opportunity, of course, to hear Webster or Clay or Calhoun. But, I have 
heard Dale Bumpers of Arkansas on the Senate floor and it's hard to 
imagine anyone could have been a more forceful, eloquent, or effective 
speaker.
  I was reminded recently by a former staff member of one debate in 
particular. The issue was the proposed real estate development in 
Northern Virginia at the site of the Second Battle of Manassas. The 
debate had stretched into a Friday evening and a larger than usual 
number of Senators were on the floor. The manager had made an effective 
presentation when Dale Bumpers, the author of a more restrictive 
version of the bill rose to speak.
  Knowing that many of his colleagues love history, Dale Bumpers using 
detailed maps laid out the story of the Second Battle of Manassas more 
than a hundred years ago. Every Senator on the floor that night 
listened with rapt attention. As he reached the climax of his 
performance, Dale Bumpers said:
  ``Well, I could go on and on, but I want to just simply say . . . I 
believe strongly in our heritage, and I think our children ought to 
know where these battlefields are and what was involved in them. And, I 
don't want to go out there ten years from now with my grandson and tell 
him about the Second Battle of Manassas . . . and he says, ``Grandpa, 
wasn't General Lee in control of this war here--didn't he command the 
confederate troops.?''
  ``Yes, he did.''
  ``Well, where was he?''
  ``He was up there where that shopping mall is.''
  Senator Bumpers then said, ``I can see a big granite monument inside 
that mall's hallway right now: `General Lee Stood On This Spot'. Now if 
you really cherish our heritage, as I do, and you believe that history 
is very important for our children, you'll vote for my amendment.''
  Rarely in the modern Senate do we see issues actually decided in 
debate on the floor. But, I suspect that that night I watched Dale 
Bumpers, with that speech, win the ``Third Battle of Manassas''.
  Dale Bumpers has served in the Senate for four terms. He has been one 
of the most consistent voices for elimination of wasteful government 
spending. We will all miss his leadership in efforts to reform federal 
mining law and grazing fees. His battles against the Clinch River 
Breeder Reactor which he won in 1984, the superconducting super 
collider which he finally won in 1993 and the space station which he 
did not win, have become legendary.
  Dale Bumpers and I both take pride in the fact that we were among the 
few Senators to vote against the Reagan tax cut and unfunded defense 
buildup of 1981 which together led to the huge deficits of the 1980's.
  Dale would have made a great President because he is a person whose 
clarity of expression is matched by the courage of his vision and his 
committment to America's working families.
  Mr. President, when the 106th Congress convenes next year, the Senate 
will seem an emptier body in the absence of one of its most memorable 
leaders and all of us in the Senate family with miss Dale and Betty 
Bumpers.

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