[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S2729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ASHCROFT (for himself, Mr. Bond, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Warner, 
        and Mr. Moynihan):
  S. 2416. A bill to designate the Federal building located at 2201 C 
Street, Northwest, in the District of Columbia, which serves as 
headquarters for the Department of State, as the ``Harry S. Truman 
Federal Building''; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.


  legislation to rename the state department after president harry s. 
                                 truman

  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, it is my great privilege to introduce a 
bill today, along with Senators Bond, Warner, DeWine, and Moynihan, 
that will name the State Department's Headquarters in Washington, D.C., 
the ``Harry S. Truman Federal Building.'' I truly appreciate the 
support of these distinguished colleagues and Secretary Albright to see 
this idea become a reality.
  Born in Lamar, Missouri, Harry S. Truman was a farmer, a national 
guardsman, a World War I veteran, a local postmaster, a road overseer, 
and a small business owner before turning to politics. Through these 
experiences, he gained the courage, honesty, and dedication to freedom 
required of a greater leader. Truman went on to become one of the most 
influential Presidents of the modern era. His leadership and character, 
especially in the area of foreign policy, have earned him well-deserved 
praise and respect throughout the world.
  He established the Marshall Plan--creating a politically and 
economically stable Western Europe. President Truman was instrumental 
in creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which kept Soviet 
aggression at bay in Western Europe. He worked to contain the further 
spread of communism in Berlin, Greece, Turkey, and Korea. Clearly, 
President Truman was the architect of the strategy that won the Cold 
War and is a prime reason the United States is currently the world's 
sole superpower.
  Mr. President, the State Department should be named after a true 
leader in foreign policy--and President Harry S. Truman is the clear 
choice. And through this choice, I hope the United States will continue 
President Truman's principled foreign policy as seen in his 1949 
Presidential Inaugural Address:

       Events have brought our American democracy to new influence 
     and new responsibilities. They will test our courage, our 
     devotion to duty, and our concept of liberty. But I say to 
     all men, what we have achieved in liberty, we will surpass in 
     greater liberty. Steadfast in our faith in the Almighty, we 
     will advance toward a world where man's freedom is secure. To 
     that end we will devote our strength, our resources, and our 
     firmness of resolve. With God's help, the future of mankind 
     will be assured in a world of justice, harmony, and peace.

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to 
join my colleagues--Senators Ashcroft, Warner, Bond, and DeWine--in 
this effort to name the State Department building after our 33rd 
President, Harry S. Truman. It could be named for none other.
  Harry S. Truman was, perhaps, the most unlikely of the Presidents. A 
failed haberdasher, as he would say, without a college degree. It seems 
somewhat paradoxical that this common man, who modeled himself along 
the lines of the fabled Cincinnatus--returning to the field after 
rising to meet his country's needs--would leave so much behind.
  Put simply, President Truman's foreign affairs accomplishments saved 
the world from the chaos that followed the destruction of Europe in the 
Second World War, and enabled the ultimate defeat of totalitarianism. 
To list a few: the Berlin Airlift, the Marshall Plan, aid to Greece and 
Turkey, NATO, and the establishment of the United Nations--the vision 
of his only rival President Woodrow Wilson.
  His greatness was not readily accepted while he served, or shortly 
thereafter. But over time, Harry S. Truman has been reevaluated through 
such scholarly biographies as those by David McCullough and Alonzo L. 
Hamby. This son of Independence, Missouri, would surely have rejected 
the high praise that his name now generates, but he would certainly 
concur in the appreciation of the enduring success of the policies and 
institutions he created. McCullough's ``Truman'' contains this 
reflection:

       I suppose that history will remember my term in office as 
     the years when the Cold War began to overshadow our lives.
       I have had hardly a day in office that has not been 
     dominated by this all-embracing struggle. . . . And always in 
     the background there has been the atomic bomb. But when 
     history says that my term of office saw the beginning of the 
     Cold War, it will also say that in those eight years we have 
     set the course that can win it. . . .

  Mr. President, few could dispute those sentiments.
                                 ______