[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 21, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S8931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO THE KENNEDY AND BESSETTE FAMILIES

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I want to address the Senate for a few 
moments about a topic I know has consumed the attention of each and 
every one of us in this Chamber, indeed all Americans, over the past 
several days, and that is the tragic deaths of John Kennedy, Jr., his 
wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessette.
  Permit me, if you will, to engage in a little regional chauvinism, 
for there are few things in life so pleasant as a New England summer 
day. It is glorious to behold. The warm sweet air, the cold waters of 
its rivers and lakes and ocean seem to command a celebration of the 
very simple pleasures of life.
  On this past Saturday, though, the inherent joy of a New England 
summer season dissolved throughout America with the news that these 
three young people were lost off the New England coast. Lost on a day 
that seemed meant for gladness, not grief. Lost in waters that should 
have welcomed pleasure, not disaster. For one family, the Kennedy 
family, a moment of a family's supreme joy--a wedding--was snatched 
greedily by the hand of a very cruel fate, indeed.

  Most of us spent the better part of this past weekend hoping against 
hope that John and Carolyn and Lauren could be found safe and alive. By 
Sunday night we were resigned to the awful truth. Two American families 
have endured unspeakable loss.
  One of those families, which is represented by the Bessette and 
Freeman families, we know very little about. They are constituents of 
mine and my colleague, Senator Lieberman. We know very little about 
them other than the fact of their tragic loss. We can only imagine the 
joy and love and, yes, the easy and brilliant summer days, that they 
shared with these two remarkable and talented young women.
  The other family we know a great deal about--about its moments of 
triumph and tragedy--and through it all their consistent service to our 
Nation and to humanity.
  It happens that the patriarch, if you will, today of that family is 
our colleague and one of my dearest friends in this body, Ted Kennedy. 
We can only wonder at the immense burden of the grief he carries for 
his relatives over this loss and over all the other senseless, 
excruciating losses endured by the Kennedy family over the years. Those 
of us who have come to know him can only admire his courage and 
perseverance in the face of adversity which would wither the will of 
other men.
  I know I speak for all of us here, and that I echo the sentiments 
expressed here on the floor this morning and last evening by other 
colleagues, in saying that we send our deepest, deepest sympathies to 
him, to his family, and to the family of Carolyn and Lauren Bessette.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The 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. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I cannot add to the words of Senator 
Dodd. I thank him for what he said on the floor of the Senate. And I 
say to him that what he said represents how I feel as a Senator from 
Minnesota.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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