[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 124 (Friday, October 6, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10038-S10039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO THE LATE CONGRESSMAN SIDNEY YATES

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is my sad duty to report to the Senate 
and to the Congress that I learned a few moments ago that one of the 
greatest servants of the American people in the Congress in the 20th 
century passed away last night.
  Sidney Yates was a Congressman from the city of Chicago who was 
elected in 1948 and served until 1999, with only 2 years that he wasn't 
in service. His was an amazing story. I guess it was a great story of 
America. His mother and father were Russian immigrants who came to this 
country in the beginning of the last century. He grew up in the city of 
Chicago and went to law school. Before that, he distinguished himself, 
as hard as it may be to understand today, in athletics. He was a semi-
pro basketball player and was a member of a Big Ten basketball team 
when he was a student at the University of Chicago. His semi-pro 
basketball team was called the Lifschultz Fast Freighters. I used to 
joke with him about this trucking company and the fact that he was the 
basketball star for them in the city of Chicago.
  On an impulse, in 1948, he decided to run for Congress. It didn't 
look like a very good year. Tom Dewey was supposed to be elected 
President, and this young man who had never run for office before was 
going to try to be elected to the House of Representatives. People 
didn't give him much of a chance, and his style of campaigning was in 
sharp contrast with what we do today. I asked him how he ran for office 
in 1948. He said he had a buddy who

[[Page S10039]]

played a guitar and they went from one ward meeting to the next singing 
ethnic folk songs for the groups there. If there was a German group, he 
sang in German. If it was a group of his fellow Jewish Americans, he 
sang something they would find appealing.
  There was a young lady watching that campaign by the name of Mary 
Bain. She had volunteered to work on the Truman campaign. She saw this 
young man in 1948 wandering around Chicago running for Congress and, 
frankly, took pity on him and said, ``I am going to try to help this 
fellow.'' To everyone's surprise, he won in 1948 and came to the House 
of Representatives; he began a long term of service there. His term of 
service included many years on the House Appropriations Committee. He 
was a stalwart, a fighter, a person of real value and principle.
  In 1962, Sid Yates was persuaded to leave the House of 
Representatives and run for the Senate. He ran against Everett M. 
Dirksen--no small task even in 1962. He lost that race, which was the 
only loss in his political life. In 1964, he returned to the House of 
Representatives and once again took up service on the House 
Appropriations Committee.
  I was elected many years later, in 1982, and a couple years after 
that began to serve on that same Appropriations Committee. Probably the 
best fortune I had as a Member of Congress was when I decided to take a 
chair next to Sid Yates in the Appropriations Committee and sit next to 
this great man for more than a decade. I learned so much and had such a 
great time in that experience because of who Sid Yates was and what he 
stood for.
  When you look back at Sid's career, there were several things that 
really made a difference to him, meant a lot to him, and made a 
difference in this country. He had a passionate commitment to the arts. 
You know, that gets to be controversial from time to time. The National 
Endowment for the Arts is occasionally a whipping boy here on Capitol 
Hill. But Sid Yates never faltered. He believed in the arts. He was a 
man of the arts. I used to love to listen to him quote the classics 
from memory. His knowledge of art and music was absolutely legendary.
  When Sid retired from the House of Representatives, the tributes came 
pouring in, but particularly from people around the United States who 
understood that Sid Yates stood up and defended the arts in America 
when nobody else would. My daughter is an art student at the Art 
Institute of Chicago. She knew of Sid Yates. She never met him 
personally, but she knew what he stood for. He was always there 
fighting for the National Endowment for the Arts and for arts in 
America.

  As chairman of the Interior Subcommittee of Appropriations, he also 
had the responsibility to protect America's national parks and many of 
our national treasures. He protected them with a vengeance. I can 
recall some of the titanic struggles in the Appropriations Committee 
when people would want to exploit America's national treasures. They 
didn't have a chance when they fought Sid Yates.
  There were so many other areas where he worked so hard. I recall the 
creation of the Holocaust Museum. Sid was devoted to the nation of 
Israel. So many people across America looked to him, and so many 
Members of Congress looked to him for guidance on important issues 
involving the Middle East. When he was asked to be part of the creation 
of the Holocaust Museum, you just knew it would be a success, as it has 
been here in Washington, DC. He was one of the founding members on the 
board of directors there and a person absolutely revered for his 
commitment in that regard.
  Through it all, too, he was committed to the rights and freedoms of 
Americans. I know it wasn't always popular, but you could count on him 
to stand up, in good times and in bad, for the freedoms that were 
guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. Sid Yates was a great man, and he 
had a great partner in life in his wife Addie, who was always by his 
side during his public service.
  I once asked him what his greatest achievement was in the Congress, 
and I was surprised that he said: Well, you would not think of it when 
you think of me as a Democrat, but back in the 1950s, the atomic 
submarine program was being debated in America, and a fellow by the 
name of Hyman Rickover was being criticized on Capitol Hill. I came to 
his defense because I thought he was a good man and had a good program. 
I am proudest of that moment.
  I never would have guessed that, but that was just part of Sid's 
career. For over 50 years, Sid Yates was fighting for America, fighting 
for Chicago. He left his mark on the Chicago shoreline and the museums 
and institutions of that great city. But most of all, he left his mark 
in our hearts--those of us who had the good fortune of serving with 
him, learning from him, and standing today in tribute to his great 
memory.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the morning 
hour be extended for 10 minutes.
  Mr. McCAIN. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

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