[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 22, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S693-S694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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            TRIBUTE TO ``PEANUTS'' CREATOR CHARLES M. SCHULZ

 Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a man who 
spent the first 36 years of his life as a Minnesotan, an artist who 
through his work--and his work ethic--illustrated the values cherished 
by the people of my state, and the dreams, ambitions, and even 
aggravations of nearly everybody else.
  Today, I pay tribute to Charles M. Schulz.
  The ``Peanuts'' comic strip that ran in newspapers worldwide on 
February 13 was meant as a good-bye from the cartoonist to his creation 
and a thank-you to its legions of fans. Instead, it turned out to be a 
fitting farewell to the cartoonist himself when Charles Schulz passed 
away the day before its publication.
  Mr. President, I regret that I never had the privilege of meeting 
Charles Schulz, but I felt like I knew him anyway. That is a sentiment 
the artist understood. ``If you want to know me, ready my comic 
strip,'' he would say to inquiring journalists. So, the journalists 
did, along with much of the rest of the planet.
  At its peak popularity, ``Peanuts'' was published in more than 2,600 
newspapers in 20 languages in 75 countries, and had 350 million daily 
readers.
  The artist's observations on life from a child's point of view were 
internationally acclaimed. Charles Schulz twice won comic art's highest 
honor. He was named International Cartoonist of the Year. Adaptations 
of his work garnered Emmy and Tonay Awards, even the prestigious 
Peabody Award.
  Today, Charlie Brown and his companions can be found everywhere * * * 
populating Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America, starring in books, TV 
shows, movies, and on the Broadway stage, and gracing everything from 
pencils and backpacks to sheets, shoelaces, and greeting cards.
  All this from a private man who was most content in letting has art 
speak for itself.
  Charles Schulz was quite simply the best, most honored, and most 
beloved cartoonist of the entire 20th century. Success, however, never 
diminished the enthusiasm he brought to his work or his passion for 
doing it right; up until the day he retired, he insisted on drawing, 
lettering, and coloring every frame of every cartoon panel himself.
  ``Why do musicians compose symphonies and poets write poems?'' he 
once asked. ``The do it because life wouldn't have any meaning for them 
if they did not. That is why I draw cartoons.''
  What most ``Peanuts'' fans--at least those outside of Minnesota--
probably do not know is how Charles Schulz came to be a cartoonist. 
Well, that story begins in the Twin Cities.
  Charles Monroe Schulz was born in Minneapolis on November 26, 1922, 
although he spent the majority of his youth across the river in St. 
Paul. An only child, he grew up in an apartment on the corner of Selby 
and Snelling Avenues, above the Family Barbershop owned and operated by 
his father.

[[Page S694]]

Charles Schulz went by the nickname ``Sparky,'' a tribute from his 
comic-loving father to another popular comic strip character of the 
day. The young boy's interest in cartooning first took hold about the 
time Charles was six, and was spurred after his graduation from St. 
Paul Central High by a correspondence course ad that read ``Do you like 
to draw?'' His parents paid the $170 tuition in installments, although 
they may have questioned their investment when the class on drawing 
children netted Charles a grade of just C-plus.
  After serving as an army tailgunner in Europe, Charles Schulz 
returned to Minnesota and earned his first paycheck as a cartoonist by 
working on a Catholic magazine feature. He also taught art, and sold 15 
cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post. He created his first feature for 
the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1947. ``L'il Folks'' was brought in 1950 
by United Feature Syndicate, christened with a new name, and Charlie 
Brown and ``Peanuts'' debuted on October 2 in seven newspapers. Two 
days later, Snoopy was introduced to the world.
  A phenomenon was born.
  More than a few books, college theses, and critical essays have tried 
to dissect the popularity of ``Peanuts.'' Maybe Charles Schultz himself 
had the best answer when in a 1994 speech he said, ``There is still a 
market for things that are clean and decent.''
  I have always thought that the ``Peanuts'' gang endured because the 
characters were so strongly developed and so genuine that we saw 
something we could identify with in each of them.
  Snoopy was the dreamer, persistently stradding his doghouse in 
pursuit of the Red Baron.
  Lucy, dispensing nickel douses of pop psychology, took great pride in 
her crabbiness.
  Woodstock was the accident prone one.
  Peppermint Patty struggled in the classroom, but never struggled on 
the baseball field.
  Linus made it all right for us to need a security blanket from time 
to time.
  Sally, the loveable younger sister, wanted to believe in Santa Claus 
and the Great Pumpkin.
  Schroeder was the unapologetic artist who loved his music.
  Pig Pen* * * well, I think we all know a Pig Pen.
  And Charlie Brown, ``the little round-headed kid,'' was Everyman. We 
relate to him because at some point in our lives, we all pined for a 
little red-haired girl * * * were menaced by a kite-Eating Tree * * * 
and faced down a football we were certain would be snatched away at the 
last moment. Charle Brown's perpetually upbeat search for happiness was 
our search, too.
  ``As a youngster, I didn't realize how many Charlie Browns there were 
in the world.'' Charles Schulz said. ``I thought I was the only one. 
Now I realize that Charlie Brown's goofs are familiar to everybody, 
children and adults alike.'' No wonder he considered Charlie Brown his 
alter ago. ``There is a lot of myself in his character, too,'' he said.
  In his art, Charles Schulz could be tender, insightful, sometimes 
sarcastic, heartbreaking, hilarious, and occasionally sentimental. 
Always, his work was centered in a deep spirituality. Though it 
occasionally drove his fans mad, there was a practical reason why his 
comics were frequently tinged with pathos. In his 1980 book, ``Charlie 
Brown, Snoopy and Me,'' the artist wrote, ``You can't create humor out 
of happiness. I'm astonished at the number of people who write to me 
saying, `Why can't you create happy stories for us? Why does Charlie 
Brown always have to lose? Why can't you let him kick the football?' 
Well, there is nothing funny about the person who gets to kick the 
football.''
  Mr. President, I am proud to co-sponsor legislation offered by my 
colleague from California, Senator Feinstein, to award Charles Schulz 
the Congressional Gold Medal. I am pleased our colleagues in the House 
have already adopted this resolution. While I wish we had accorded the 
cartoonist this great honor in his lifetime, I know that Charles Schulz 
did not need the endorsement of this Congress to be fulfilled in his 
work, for how can a congressional honor compare with the love shown to 
him by his millions of faithful fans?
  Minnesotans have always considered Charles Schulz one of us, even 
though he eventually moved to Santa Rosa, California, where he made his 
home with his wife Jeannie. He was blessed with five children, two 
stepchildren, and several grandchildren, and our prayers are with them 
all.
  Mr. President, Charles Schulz fretted that his work as a cartoonist 
would never be considered great art and would certainly not stand the 
test of time.
  With all due respect to the cartoonist I honor today, my two-word 
response to that is ``Good grief!'' Charlie Brown will undoubtedly live 
on long after the rest of us are forgotten. And that, I would argue, is 
exactly the way things are supposed to be.

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