[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S26-S27]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         KENNEDY CENTER HONORS

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, each year since 1978 our capital city 
has inaugurated its season of celebration with the Kennedy Center 
Honors, a joyful celebration of the lifetime achievements of our 
greatest performing artists. The whole nation shares in that 
celebration during the CBS broadcast of the Honors Gala, which this 
past year was on December 27.
  All Americans should be grateful to CBS for its commitment to what 
has become an American institution, our highest honor for the 
performing artists who do so much to define our national spirit and our 
identity around the world.
  Our deepest gratitude goes to those talented individuals who 
conceived the Honors and have produced it for more than two decades. 
George Stevens, Jr., Washington's own showman who came here in the 
Kennedy Administration to

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work with Edward R. Murrow and who has since given us a remarkable 
series of Emmy Award-winning films, created the Honors with the great 
Hollywood showman Nick Vanoff, one of the shaping influences of popular 
television. They produced the show for years--and since Nick's death, 
George has produced the show each year with Don Mischer, who has given 
the world other extraordinary broadcasts from the Emmy Awards to the 
Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games. Their artistic genius 
constantly renews the Honors, fills it with fresh delights and gives us 
an evening that is both entertaining and equal to the Pantheon of 
artists it celebrates.
  This year's show honored Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chuck Berry, Placido 
Domingo, Clint Eastwood, and Angela Lansbury--again illuminating the 
span and sparkle of America's talent. I think how proud President 
Kennedy would have been of this ceremony which, like the Kennedy Center 
itself, fulfills his hope for ``an America that will not be afraid of 
grace and beauty and which will reward achievement in the arts as we 
reward achievement in business or statecraft.''
  So for all they do to make that dream come true, I want to take this 
opportunity to acknowledge the Chairman of the Kennedy Center, James A. 
Johnson, and the impresarios of the Honors, George Stevens, Jr. and Don 
Mischer. For so many years, they have graced the stage of the Kennedy 
Center with this great celebration; they have graced the life of our 
nation by marking out the heights of its history in the performing 
arts. May the show go on and on.

                          ____________________