[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 79 (Monday, June 7, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S6460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO ROBERT F. KENNEDY

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I call the Senate's attention to the 
fact that yesterday, June 6, marked the 31st anniversary of the death 
of a former Member of this body, Senator Robert F. Kennedy. I can think 
of no more fitting way to remember Robert Kennedy's legacy than to 
recall some of the words he delivered to students at the annual Day of 
Reaffirmation of Academic and Human Freedom at the University of Cape 
Town in South Africa.
  Ironically, this speech was delivered June 6, 1966, just 2 years 
before Robert Kennedy's death. I will read portions of the speech:

       Our answer is . . . to rely on youth. The cruelties and 
     obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to 
     obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by 
     those . . . who prefer the illusion of security to the 
     excitement and danger which comes with even the most peaceful 
     progress.
       This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of 
     life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of 
     the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of 
     the appetite for adventure over the love of ease . . . .
       These [people] moved the world, and so can we all.

  I am reading portions of the speech.

       Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but 
     each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and 
     in the total of all those acts will be written the history of 
     this generation.

  This is perhaps my favorite quote from what anyone has ever said.

       It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief 
     that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for 
     an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes 
     out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, 
     and crossing each other from a million different centers of 
     energy and daring those ripples build a current which can 
     sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

  Robert Kennedy's brother, our colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy, has 
said that his brother ``need not be idealized or enlarged in death 
beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and 
decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried 
to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.''
  I do not presume to improve upon either Robert Kennedy's own words or 
upon his brother's tribute. I recall the words today only to mark June 
6 1968, as a tragic and sad day in the history of our country. As Ted 
has said, to pray that what Robert Kennedy ``was to us and what he 
wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.''
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for an 
additional 5 minutes to speak as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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