[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 18 (Thursday, February 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1208-S1213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it is with great sadness that I rise today 
to pay tribute to our friend and colleague Alan Cranston. His death on 
December 31 last year was a shock. Alan was such a life force that it 
is hard for me to imagine his silence and his not being there for great 
arms control debates.
  Senator Cranston was a man of conviction, a true humanitarian in 
every sense of those words. He began his career in public policy in the 
1930s as a journalist warning his readers of the dangerous rise of 
fascism. He knew even then that the United States was locked in an 
intricate web of relations with the rest of the world and that our 
attempts to ignore that web could only lead to calamity for ourselves 
and those around us. Alan understood the concept of globalization at 
least 50 years before it gained such notoriety to earn a name.
  It was primarily that impulse to engage the world that brought Alan 
into elective office and eventually to the United States Senate. As 
State of California Controller from 1958 to 1967, he worked to 
rationalize the booming state's finances and ensure that all 
Californians could benefit from that phenomenal rise.
  But it was in the Senate where Alan could most effectively work 
toward his vision of a peaceable world. Before the people of California 
sent him here in 1968, he learned about the Senate's moderating 
influence and the consequences of its shirking that role. In his post-
World War ``Killing of the Peace,'' Alan explained how the U.S. 
Senate's defeat of the League of Nations contributed to the outbreak of 
that war and the horrible events that followed.
  Most of his activities during his impressive 24 years here were an 
expression of his deep desire for the Senate to avoid similar mistakes. 
He brought a special seriousness of purpose and attentiveness to arms 
control issues as diverse as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and 
ongoing production of the B-2 Stealth Bomber. On several occasions, I 
joined him in opposing the production of new, destabilizing types of 
nuclear weapons, and I was always struck by Alan's sense of nuance and 
willful resolve.
  Alan was not one to ignore his own personal responsibilities to the 
Senate. As Democratic Whip, Alan made this body run efficiently. If 
there is anyone who was never afraid to count the votes, it was Alan. 
He knew how to smoke us out on our intentions. What made him so 
effective was his persuasive argumentation and downright persistence. 
Sometimes he could change my mind faster than he could run a 100-yard 
dash, which was pretty fast considering he was a lifelong record-
setting sprinter.
  It was unsurprising that after his Senate career he led the non-
profit Global Security Institute where he continued to press from arms 
control initiatives. The Institute provided a perfect platform from 
which he could promote his expanded notion of security. After the Cold 
War, Alan realized before everyone else that security no longer meant 
merely protection from weapons of mass destruction. He saw that 
security in the new millennium was also about avoiding environmental 
degradation, securing our food supply, and educating our children.
  Alan was a forward-thinker and an alternative voice at a time when 
conventional wisdom demanded examination. He worked to make our world 
safer, and he was a good friend. I will miss him greatly.


     THE ALAN CRANSTON I KNEW: INTENSITY, INTEGRITY, AND COMMITMENT

  Mr. BIDEN. A couple of weeks ago I had the sad duty to travel to 
California

[[Page S1209]]

to represent the Senate and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a 
memorial service for Senator Alan MacGregor Cranston. It was a moving 
ceremony, a chance for all those in attendance to rededicate themselves 
to the noble goals which shaped Alan Cranston's life.
  Alan Cranston will be remembered by those of us who knew and loved 
him as a man of peace who devoted much of his adult life--four terms in 
the Senate and a decade as director of the Global Security Institute--
to the tasks of promoting nuclear arms control and encouraging world 
peace. These are not small objectives, but of course Alan Cranston's 
interests extended beyond them, literally, ``. . . from the Redwood 
Forests to the Gulf stream waters.'' Never content to sit on the 
sidelines, Alan Cranston fought tirelessly for the causes in which he 
believed: nuclear disarmament, the environment, civil rights, and 
decent housing. He brought the intensity of a sprinter and the 
endurance of a marathoner to each of these causes.
  During his tenure as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee from 1981-1993, Alan Cranston was a devoted supporter of 
strong U.S. leadership in the world, whether it meant promoting the 
development of democracy in the Philippines and Cambodia or working to 
halt the spread of nuclear weapons.
  Alan Cranston knew that the United States could not go it alone in 
the world. In an age when American unilateralism, if not isolationism, 
has gained a certain currency in Washington, Alan Cranston's life 
reminds us that the highest aspirations of the American people are 
those which lead us to care about others and work with others to 
address common problems.
  The intensity, integrity, and commitment Alan Cranston brought to 
public service stand as an example we all might follow as we begin work 
in this 107th Congress.
  Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that a transcript of the 
remarks made at Senator Cranston's memorial service be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

   Alan MacGregor Cranston Memorial Service, Grace Cathedral in San 
                     Francisco, January 16th, 2001

       The following friends and family took part in the 
     extraordinary memorial service of Alan MacGregor Cranston:
       The Very Reverend Alan Jones, Dean, Grace Cathedral.
       Colette Penne Cranston, daughter-in-law of Alan Cranston.
       Kim Cranston, son of Alan Cranston.
       Gray Davis, Governor of California.
       Joseph Biden, US Senator from Delaware.
       Ted Turner.
       Sally Lilienthal, President, Ploughshares Fund.
       William Turnage, former President, Wilderness Society.
       James Hormel, former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg.
       Harris Wofford, former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.
       Jane Goodall, Primatologist.
       Cruz Reynoso, former Justice, California Supreme Court.
       Jonathan Granoff, CEO, Global Security Institute.
       The Very Reverend Alan Jones, Dean, Grace Cathedral.
       Alan Jones. Good afternoon. I am Alan Jones, the Dean of 
     the Cathedral, and it is my privilege to welcome you to Grace 
     Cathedral for this celebration of the life of Alan MacGregor 
     Cranston.
       It is fitting that such a large-hearted man be honored and 
     remembered in a soaring and splendid space.
       There was a comment in the London Times about the public 
     reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. First, it 
     showed that our instinct for devotion is still deep within 
     us. Second, that huge emotions require huge spaces, like 
     cathedrals. And third, that the things we do in them are 
     always up for change.
       And so I invite you first to allow the instinct for 
     devotion, the call of something and someone larger than 
     ourselves to well up in you this afternoon, and I think the 
     Senator would have applauded anything that called us out of 
     our cynicism and challenged us not to accept futility as 
     normal.
       I invite you also to acknowledge that huge emotions require 
     huge spaces. We need great spaces and ways of celebration in 
     order to locate ourselves in a larger vision of the human 
     enterprise.
       And finally I invite you to be open to that fact, the fact 
     that things we do in places like this are always up for 
     change. Life is never business as usual, and nothing would 
     have pleased Alan more than for us to leave this place 
     resolved to make a difference.
       So, we welcome you to the Cathedral for this celebration of 
     the life of a man who held a large and generous vision of 
     what it is to be human.
       Our best way to honor him is to share and maintain that 
     vision of a just and humane society on a planet fit for all 
     living beings.
       So as you remain seated, I invite you to pray.
       Dear God, we thank you for the life and the work of Alan 
     MacGregor Cranston. His generous spirit opened doors and 
     touched many lives for good. His faith in the human 
     enterprise inspired us to accept the great joy and 
     responsibility of being human. His political skills 
     ensured an enduring legacy.
       He was friend to those who had no voice, and a lover of the 
     great spaces of the wilderness. His long life touched and was 
     touched by the great events of our time. He was a man for all 
     seasons.
       In public life, he fought for what he believed with passion 
     and hard work. His caring, open-heartedness and his respect 
     for people touched the lives of many. His generous spirit 
     wanted everybody to do well, and this generosity was 
     infectious.
       And so we thank you for his capacity for friendship, his 
     probing intelligence, and his refusal to be enticed into 
     meanness and pettiness.
       Finally, we thank you for his life and example, and we 
     commend him into your gracious care. May we honor him by 
     rededicating ourselves to peace on Earth, and goodwill to all 
     people, and to building a more just and inclusive America. 
     Amen.
       Colette Penne Cranston. Hello! I am Alan's daughter-in-law, 
     Colette. I am the first speaker because I need to be. Our 
     daughter has commented that I seem to have an endless supply 
     of tears. Since I was honored to have such a close, personal 
     relationship with Alan, I wanted to give you some insights 
     into his gentle, unwavering spirit. He was much more than my 
     father-in-law, he was my friend, my advisor and now and I 
     know he will love this he has become my Jiminy Cricket, that 
     little voice in my conscience that says, 'think before you 
     leap!'
       Kim, Evan our seven-year-old daughter and I live right next 
     to Alan's on the same property. Alan's big sister, who we 
     call RE, lived up the hill from us until recently. This 
     arrangement was such a gift for everyone! Alan and Evan had 
     great sunset walks together, evenings of art work and stories 
     around the fire at his place, and dinner dates out just the 
     two of them. They would dress up and go to a restaurant, 
     often one with a piano player, and make an evening of it. 
     Evan called him ``Gran.'' One night when the two of them were 
     returning from a walk, Kim called me out to the balcony and 
     said, ``Listen!'' We could hear their voices but couldn't see 
     them yet. Alan was saying, ``Well, you know, Evan, I don't 
     know why that's true, but it is true dogs love to ride in 
     cars and cats don't.'' Just then they rounded the corner to 
     come up the driveway and they were holding hands.
       A couple of years ago, the four of us spent three weeks in 
     the UK. Our first week in London, Alan was occupied with 
     meetings and a quick turn-around to Geneva, but the final two 
     weeks we toured the countryside with no particular itinerary 
     except to visit some relatives in Scotland and the grave of 
     Rob Roy MacGregor, an ancestor who Alan's middle name is 
     from. We also visited the graves of Alan and RE's great-
     grandparents six generations back, whose tombstones were 
     leaning together and touching. Each evening before dinner, 
     Alan would tell Evan a story, some lasting forty-five 
     minutes. In the parlor of one bed and breakfast where we 
     stayed for three nights, other guests would join in to listen 
     and ask if they could come the next night to hear the 
     stories, they were that good.
       One of the most important, and I believe, reassuring 
     lessons that we can take from Alan's life is that we do not 
     have to be limited in our later years. When we tell people 
     that Alan never retired, he never stopped working, they do 
     not really hear that. The truth is that he was the most 
     disciplined, diligent, and determined person I have ever met. 
     He was also still making friends with and inspiring young 
     people. Two such friends, a man in his thirties and a woman 
     in her forties, touched us with their expressions of personal 
     grief following Alan's death. The young men in their twenties 
     who work with Alan's Global Security Institute, Patrick Neal, 
     Zack Allen, and Tyler Stevenson, are bright and motivated and 
     will do great things in their own lives with memories of 
     Alan staying with them. Don't we all wish for a life of 
     impact and meaning and a quick, painless end surrounded by 
     those we love? He did most everything right!
       I can, of course, remember a difficult time in Alan's 
     career. At the time I was in an elected position also, so I 
     was very interested in how he was handling it. As I watched 
     what was happening to him, I asked him, ``Alan, how can you 
     bear this?'' He answered, ``Colette, there are politics in 
     the locker room, the boardroom and the United States Senate. 
     Since you have to put up with them wherever you are, I want 
     to be in the Senate, where the politics are intense, but I 
     can get the most done.''
       Over Thanksgiving, Alan and his sister took a week's 
     vacation together. He was working to finish his book on 
     sovereignty rather than just relaxing by the pool and she 
     said, ``you work too hard''. He replied, ``I want to stagger 
     across the finish line knowing I've done all I possibly 
     can!'' He did not stagger, he was still sprinting!
       I want to close with a message from our seven-year-old 
     daughter, Evan. Her Brownie

[[Page S1210]]

     troop leader read a story about loss that she said helped 
     her. It was about a badger who was the oldest and wisest 
     member of a community of animals. He knew that because of his 
     age, he might die soon. Dying meant only that he would leave 
     his body behind, and as his body didn't work as well as when 
     he was young, he wasn't too concerned about that. His only 
     worry was how his family and friends would feel. He died 
     before the start of a winter and the animals were very sad. 
     But as they thought about him they realized he had given them 
     each something to treasure: a parting gift of a skill or 
     piece of knowledge. Evan said, ``Didn't Gran help lots of 
     people and do lots of things to make the world better?'' I 
     said, ``Yes, he left behind countless parting gifts for all 
     of us to never forget!''
       Kim Cranston. Thank you all for being here today to 
     celebrate Alan's life--yes, I too called him Alan.
       In the program for this ceremony is the observation of the 
     Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu that Alan carried in his pocket 
     most of his life as a guide to the style of leadership he 
     practiced. It begins by observing that leaders are best when 
     people barely know that they exist, and concludes by 
     observing that of the best leader, when his work is done and 
     his aim fulfilled, the people will all say, ``we did this 
     ourselves.''
       In the world of modern politics in which name recognition 
     is so important, this approach to leadership presented an 
     interesting paradox for Alan, which is also present today as 
     we celebrate the accomplishments of his life.
       I understand, however, that there is a little known 
     addendum to Lao-Tzu's observation that states that ``after 
     such a leader has passed on, people will join together to 
     mourn their loss, celebrate their accomplishments, and 
     recommit to the causes they shared.'' I welcome you here 
     today in that spirit.
       Alan touched many people's lives in many different ways. We 
     all have stories we can tell about times we spent and things 
     we did with Alan to make the world a better place. This 
     afternoon we have time for just a few of Alan's friends and 
     collaborators to share some of their stories with us. I want 
     to invite each of you to join us after this ceremony at the 
     reception at the Fairmont Hotel where, in addition to having 
     the opportunity to catch up, laugh, and cry, there will be 
     video cameras so each of you can take a moment if you'd like 
     to tell your story.
       My own story is simple. I was incredibly blessed to have 
     had Alan as a wonderful father, my dearest and oldest friend, 
     a treasured teacher and mentor, and an invaluable 
     collaborator and leader in addressing the great challenges of 
     our time.
       It is almost unbearable for me to think we will never again 
     in this life share another meal, or football game, or joke or 
     prank, or afternoon discussing strategy.
       I learned many, many things from Alan. Five stand out 
     today.
       First, I learned about the subtle, profound power of the 
     style of leadership he practiced. In the past few days it's 
     been very enriching for me to reflect on Lao-Tzu's 
     observation of leadership and everything that Alan helped us 
     accomplish in his lifetime.
       Second, I learned that the greatest meaning in life is 
     found in making the world a better place. As one of Alan's 
     heroes, Martin Luther King, Jr., observed ``Life's most 
     persistent and urgent question is ``What are you doing for 
     others?''
       Third, I learned something Alan understood early on: We 
     live in one of the most extraordinary moments in human 
     history. In our lifetimes, for the first time since humans 
     have inhabited the earth, we have developed the capacity to 
     destroy human and perhaps all known life in the universe 
     forever, either through a sudden nuclear holocaust or the 
     more gradual destruction of the environment. Simultaneously, 
     we are developing the capacity to create sustainable and 
     economically just societies.
       What those of us alive now do together may well determine 
     which of these two paths we take, and could help decide the 
     fate of the human race. There exists a small window of 
     opportunity for us to act. A window of opportunity that may 
     well not exist for the generations of our children or their 
     children. If humanity is to continue, if we are to prosper 
     rather than perish, we must transform our society and develop 
     effective approaches to resolve those challenges that we 
     share and can only address at the global level. This is the 
     task before our generation and it was to that end that Alan 
     devoted most of his working life.
       The fourth lesson is that in view of all this it is 
     important to keep a sense of humor. Colette told me she'd 
     recently spoken with Alan about something someone had done 
     that affected them both, which she found very disturbing. 
     Colette asked Alan why it didn't seem to bother him as much 
     and he replied: ``I find that in situations like this I can 
     choose to be either terrified or amused.''
       And the fifth lesson is to be compassionate to our fellow 
     living beings.
       Of course, I learned a great deal more from Alan, but these 
     are the lessons foremost in my mind today.
       While to many people Alan seemed a whirlwind of activity, 
     he was also a voracious reader and a prolific writer.
       In 1945, he published ``The Killing of the Peace,'' which 
     detailed how a small group of people defeated Woodrow 
     Wilson's campaign to create the League of Nations to address 
     the global challenges we face, and which the New York Times 
     called one of the ten most important books of the year.
       And just a few days before he passed on, Alan completed a 
     book--``The Sovereignty Revolution'' that begins with the 
     following passage:
       It is worshiped like a god, and as little understood.
       It is the cause of untold strife and bloodshed. Genocide is 
     perpetrated in its sacred name.
       It is at once a source of power and of power's abuse, of 
     order and of anarchy. It can be noble and it can be shameful.
       It is sovereignty.
       I commend this book to you all and I'm happy to announce 
     today it will soon be available through, among other places, 
     the web site for the Global Security Institute 
     (www.gsinstitute.org), the nonprofit organization Alan 
     recently founded to advance his work to abolish nuclear 
     weapons and advance global security.
       While we all miss Alan, we can take solace in knowing that 
     he fulfilled the purpose of making a difference with his life 
     and leaving the world a better place.
       In closing, I want to thank you again for being here to 
     mourn the loss we all share, celebrate what we've 
     accomplished, and recommit to the causes that brought us 
     together. As Alan would say at the end of nearly all of his 
     speeches, I thank you for all you are doing and urge you 
     onward.
       Thank you.
       Gray Davis, At first I want to express the deep condolences 
     of my wife Sharon and I to Eleanor Cameron, Alan's sister, to 
     Kim, Colette, and to the extended Cranston family.
       My friends, we come here today not just to mourn Alan 
     Cranston, but to honor him. We're greatly saddened by his 
     passing, but we're grateful for his extraordinary life and 
     the rich legacy he left behind.
       Alan was a native Californian who grew up to be an 
     extraordinary public servant. He had a sharp intellect, a 
     humility of spirit, and a quality of compassion that is rare 
     in life and rarer still in public life. He was an 
     extraordinary person. Yes, he was a pragmatist who understood 
     that progress was a long struggle for common ground. But he 
     was also an idealist who believed that violence anywhere was 
     a threat to freedom everywhere.
       He reminded us that there is a moral force in this world 
     more powerful than the mightiest of nations or the force of 
     arms. And one by one, he tackled the great issues of our 
     time: World peace; arms control; veterans' health; 
     environment. One by one, he made a difference.
       For those of you fortunate enough to spend some time in the 
     Golden Gate National Recreational Area or the Santa Monica 
     Mountains or the desert lands that he protected, you know 
     what a difference he made. Future generations will 
     acknowledge their debt of gratitude to Alan Cranston, and it 
     is most appropriate that we thank him today.
       Alan was also a very good politician. He ran every race 
     with the same focus and intensity that he learned running the 
     hundred-yard dash back at Stanford. He was almost always the 
     underdog. Critics dismissed his chances, saying he lacked the 
     charisma to win. But Alan proved time and again that in this 
     state character, not charisma, is what people want most.
       He became only the second Californian to be elected four 
     times to the United States Senate--Hiram Johnson being the 
     first. He became the patron saint of every candidate for 
     office inflicted with a charisma deficit, myself included. He 
     is my personal hero.
       Alan may have lacked charisma, but he was enormously 
     resourceful. Eleanor tells in her book the story of Alan's 
     first race for Controller in 1958. Alan knew someone who had 
     a television show in Los Angeles. But the host of the show 
     reminded Alan he was contractually obligated to talk about 
     contact lenses. He couldn't mention he was a candidate for 
     office and under no circumstances could he say he was a 
     Democrat. But as I said before, Alan was very resourceful. So 
     he went on the show just a few days before his election and 
     he said, ``My name is Alan Cranston. I'm running up and down 
     the state making contacts and jumping in front of lenses. I 
     am Alan Cranston.'' The viewing audience didn't have a clue 
     what he was talking about. But he mentioned the name Alan 
     Cranston eight times. And even though he'd never been elected 
     to public office before, he was elected Controller of the 
     State of California. So Alan knew what he was talking about.
       Finally my friends, Alan Cranston was part of the World War 
     II generation. A generation that Tom Brokaw has aptly 
     described as our ``Greatest Generation.'' A generation from 
     which much was asked and a great deal was given. A generation 
     that went to Europe and stood down Adolf Hitler's Nazi 
     regime, rescued the survivors of the Holocaust, and literally 
     saved democracy as we know it today.
       It was a generation that came home with no expectation of 
     recognition and went about rebuilding a new America. A 
     generation that built roads, hospitals and businesses, and 
     paved the way for the digital economy, although most did not 
     live to enjoy it. A generation that did their duty, and then 
     came home.
       God has called Alan Cranston home. I know God has blessed 
     his soul. I know God will give Alan enduring peace for which 
     he struggled his entire life to try and obtain for all the 
     peoples of the world. I ask you to say a prayer tonight for 
     Alan, his family and his loved ones.

[[Page S1211]]

       It was my honor to lower the flag today in recognition of 
     his remarkable career, and it's my honor now to present it to 
     Kim and Colette. Thank you.
       Joseph Biden. My name is Joe Biden. I served with Alan for 
     twenty of his twenty-four years in the Senate, but I consider 
     myself more a student of Alan's. Kim, Colette, Evan, I never 
     fully understood your father's tenacity, by the way, until I 
     heard the repeated emphasis on the middle name MacGregor. Now 
     I understand it better. Eleanor, my sister Valerie says it's 
     very difficult raising a brother; you obviously did well at 
     your chore.
       I'm very grateful, and indeed privileged, for having the 
     honor of being here today to represent the US Senate and the 
     Senate Foreign Relations committee. It's a task that's well 
     beyond my capabilities, because the life we commemorate was 
     so extraordinary. To you, his family, to us, his colleagues 
     and friends, and to the people of this state and nation, 
     we're not likely to see anyone like Alan, anytime soon.
       I can't help but think of American architect Daniel 
     Burnham's credo when I think of Alan. He said--
       ``Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's 
     blood. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work, remembering 
     that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, 
     but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting 
     itself with ever-growing intensity.''
       Intensity, big plans, no little plans, that was the Alan 
     Cranston that I knew. Most of us would consider it a 
     successful career if we did nothing other than be sued by 
     Adolf Hitler. But here's a fellow, a young man who came back 
     from Europe as a correspondent, who felt obliged to translate 
     accurately Mien Kampf, who felt obliged to begin a crusade to 
     expose Adolf Hitler. This is a fellow who didn't just decide 
     to help a little bit. I remember the lecture I got on redwood 
     forests. I had not seen one and did not know they had to be 
     preserved. This is a fellow who had no lesser aim than to 
     eliminate nuclear weapons in his time, to guarantee racial 
     equality, to provide durable, affordable housing. I know of 
     no man that I've served with in the Senate, and I've been 
     there twenty-eight years, who had as many intense interests 
     and contributed so much to so many different endeavors.
       What accounted for that intensity that dominated Alan's 
     character? It used to baffle me until one day I figured it 
     out--it was Alan's integrity, his honesty, his inability to 
     rationalize to himself that he didn't have any responsibility 
     for this or that problem that he observed in this country.
       Alan had an inner compass that would have plagued most of 
     us. He could spot injustice a mile away. He smelled hypocrisy 
     almost before he walked in the room. He knew what had to 
     be done, and he unfailingly did it, or at least attempted 
     to do it, usually before anyone else, and almost always at 
     some risk to himself. I think integrity, political 
     integrity, personal integrity, is doing what you know to 
     be right even when you know it's likely not to benefit 
     you. Alan was one of the few people I served with who 
     never, never wondered whether he should act based on 
     whether what he was about to do was popular.
       Alan MacGregor Cranston, born in 1914. He was almost thirty 
     years my senior, yet he was one of the youngest people I have 
     ever known and have ever served with.
       It was not just that his policy priorities would fit under 
     the heading of progressive, although they would, but with 
     Senator Cranston, the senator from California, it was more 
     than that. There was what Robert Kennedy described as--
       ``The qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of 
     mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a 
     predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for 
     adventure over the love of ease.''
       We've all heard that quote a thousand times, but I can 
     think of none other that describes the Alan Cranston that I 
     worked with, although some of you knew him much more 
     intimately.
       Alan's commitment to arms control, his passion for 
     environmental protection, his leadership in public housing 
     and transportation, women's rights, civil rights, civil 
     liberties, his concern for justice in immigration laws; those 
     efforts, those views had nothing to do with fashion, and 
     everything to do with conviction.
       The Senator was not one for looking at a situation and 
     deciding what he believed, he knew exactly what he believed. 
     His public positions were not just what he said and what he 
     did, they were who Alan Cranston was.
       The senator was armed with conviction, but he always knew 
     that wasn't enough. He was an athlete, after all, and 
     understood that it's not enough to have talent; that if you 
     want it to matter, you have to do something with it, and work 
     like hell at it.
       Alan Cranston did work, and he worked at leadership. He 
     understood power, not as a reflection of status, but a tool 
     for a purpose, and he used it as well as any man or women 
     I've ever known.
       In his 24 years in the Senate and the years since, Alan 
     Cranston pushed our consciousness and our conscience on every 
     issue of consequence, particularly nuclear weapons. He was 
     not just a powerful senator from California, not just an 
     influential member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 
     not just a democratic whip; he was truly a world leader on 
     nuclear policy. In China, in North Korea, in the Middle East, 
     they had to factor in Alan Cranston when they made their 
     decisions.
       He was an internationalist in the great American tradition, 
     with an idealist's love of peace and a passion for freedom, 
     and he had a realist's understanding of the global balance of 
     power and simple human nature.
       He had learned from history, he taught from history, but 
     kept his eye and his aim always on the future: the future of 
     the Philippines, the future of our relationship with Russia, 
     and what that would mean to the world, the future of our 
     natural resources, and the generation of Americans that we'll 
     never know.
       Alan Cranston ran the hundred-yard dash in under ten 
     seconds when he was at Stanford, and I might add under twelve 
     and a half seconds when he was almost sixty years old. He was 
     consistent, and he was fast, in a hurry. I would suggest not 
     to reach the finish line, but to get to the next race, the 
     next test, the next opportunity, the next possibility, 
     always possibilities. The certainty of a redwood, the 
     spirit of a wild river, ``a predominance of courage over 
     timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of 
     ease.''
       The playwright Sam Shepherd wrote, ``character is an 
     essential tendency. It can be covered up, it can be messed 
     with, it can be screwed around with, but it can't ultimately 
     be changed. It is the structure of our blood that runs 
     through our veins.'' Evan, you've got good blood, kid. It 
     runs through your veins.
       Ted Turner (via video). I could not begin to say enough 
     about my dear friend Senator Cranston, so sorry he's passed 
     away. He has been an inspiration to me for a number of years, 
     no more so than in the area of weapons of mass destruction. 
     And even though he did not live to get to see the end and the 
     abolition of nuclear weapons from this world, there are a lot 
     of us that are going to continue his work, and I am one of 
     them. We're going to miss you very much, Senator. Thank you 
     very much.
       Sally Lilienthal. Jonathan Schell wrote recently that Alan 
     Cranston has quietly done more than any other American to 
     marshal public will to abolish nuclear weapons. He brought 
     the issue of nuclear arms reductions and abolition to the 
     attention of business leaders, policy makers and cultural 
     figures--and most difficult of all, to retired generals and 
     admirals. And never by email--he didn't have it.
       Our last endeavor together was a national campaign to 
     mobilize places of worship, which is gathering steam today in 
     Christian churches, Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques, and 
     which was originally housed and organized at the Washington 
     Cathedral in the nation's capital--The other cathedral.
       Early last summer, two years of work came to fruition at an 
     ecumenical service where religious figures together with 
     former generals and admirals called for the reduction and 
     abolition of nuclear weapons. That started the ongoing 
     campaign, the nub of which was the statement Alan wrote and 
     rewrote to get it finally signed by eighteen retired admirals 
     and generals joining in with twenty-one religious figures 
     around the country. Alan was a marvelous writer and consensus 
     builder. It wasn't easy to sign up the top military figures 
     to reduce and finally abolish nuclear weapons, for abolition 
     is not part of Pentagon thinking. And besides less than four 
     years before he had traveled widely to recruit sixty-three 
     different internationally based generals and admirals to sign 
     another affirmation on the same subject. Let me read you two 
     short sentences from the statement signed by military and 
     church which is at the nub, one might say, of our ecumenical 
     campaign.
       ``We say that a peace based on terror, a peace based upon 
     threats of inflicting annihilation and genocide upon whole 
     populations, is a peace that is corrupting--a peace that is 
     unworthy of civilization.''
       And he went on to write: ``We say that it defies all logic 
     to believe that nuclear weapons could exist forever and never 
     be used. This nuclear predicament is untenable in the face of 
     a faith in the divine and unacceptable in terms of sound 
     military doctrine.''
       Alan was always positive. I never saw him downhearted 
     during this laborious struggle to rid the world of nuclear 
     weapons. He was tireless in working toward our goal and he 
     never ever thought of failure. So he leaves us with an active 
     legacy--the most important legacy of all--that of hope, good 
     solid hope.
       William Turnage. My name is Bill Turnage. I came to know--
     and to love--Alan Cranston during my seven years in 
     Washington as President of the Wilderness Society. Kim 
     has asked me to talk about Alan's great work as an 
     environmentalist.
       California--our golden state--has been twice-blessed by the 
     mountain gods.
       We have been granted a land among earth's most sublime yet 
     diverse.
       And we've been granted a few splendid champions to protect 
     that heritage.
       In early days, farsighted San Franciscans like Thomas Starr 
     King and Frederick Billings came forward to protect the 
     Yosemite.
       The idea of a national park was born at the time--perhaps 
     the best new idea our American democracy has ever had.
       And these early champions enlisted a great Californian 
     photographer--Carleton Watkins--to make pictures that would 
     help persuade the Congress.
       And their dream of a Yosemite park was first given shape 
     and form by America's greatest landscape architect, Frederick 
     Law Olmsted.

[[Page S1212]]

       And when the Yosemite Sierra was threatened by hooved 
     locusts--and loggers--and miners--John Muir came forward and 
     founded the Sierra Club--and he protected the heart of the 
     High Sierra, the range of light.
       And great Muir bequeathed the protection of the Yosemite to 
     his inheritor, San Francisco's native son, Ansel Adams.
       They were two of the greatest environmental philosophs in 
     our nation's history.
       And to turn their dreams into reality, California was 
     blessed with two of our nation's greatest environmental 
     legislators, Phil Burton and Alan Cranston.
       And Alan and Ansel formed a very special friendship--a 
     friendship dedicated to saving wild California. Ansel wrote, 
     in his autobiography, ``I have known many great people in 
     California's history, spanning my 60 active years. But I have 
     never been in contact with a public official of such 
     integrity, imagination, concern and effectiveness as Alan 
     Cranston...I have found him to be a great leader, one who 
     transcends party politics for causes of essential human 
     importance.''
       The honor roll of California's wild places Alan helped save 
     is too long to recite here; it encompassed our state from the 
     Oregon border redwoods to the Mojave desert in the south.
       Perhaps Alan's most lasting contribution to our country's 
     future was his characteristically quiet, determined and 
     effective leadership of the long, arduous but ultimately 
     successful campaign to save the best of wild Alaska.
       One hundred million acres--the size of the state of 
     California--preserved for all time. We simply could not have 
     done it without Alan's undaunted leadership.
       And it could be said that Alan's most lasting contribution 
     to our golden state was his characteristically patient yet 
     visionary leadership of the long, arduous but ultimately 
     successful campaign to save the best of the great Californian 
     desert. We simply could not have done it without Alan's 
     undaunted leadership.
       In 1994, when the Desert Protection Act was finally coming 
     to fruition in a Democratic presidency--and Alan had retired 
     from the Senate--I proposed, with Alan's consent, naming the 
     vast wilderness areas of Death Valley National Park--95% of 
     the largest park in the lower 48--``the Alan Cranston 
     Wilderness.''
       Regrettably, the proposal was declined. Today--at this time 
     of remembrance and in this hallowed place--I would like to 
     again propose that we join together to ask the congress to 
     name this wilderness--now known simply as ``The Death Valley 
     Wilderness''--for our great friend and Senator. The honor, 
     like the wilderness he made possible, will last for all time.
       James Hormel. My admiration for Alan Cranston began over a 
     half century ago, although he was not aware of it at the 
     time. The United Nations was four years old. The Iron Curtain 
     had fallen. Isolationists were urging the United States to 
     avoid international commitments. And President Truman was 
     moving--against that tide--to facilitate the economic revival 
     of western Europe.
       In that climate, at the age of sixteen, I became a member 
     of a student chapter of the United World Federalists, which 
     was hailed by some as a major movement toward peaceful co-
     existence and was excoriated by others--a very vocal 
     opposition--as a gathering of Communist sympathizers. Alan 
     had just become president of the organization. It was typical 
     of the many challenges which he so willingly took on during 
     the course of his long and productive life.
       Alan already had taken on Adolph Hitler by publishing an 
     unexpurgated version of Mien Kampf. He already had served 
     during the Second World War both in the Office of War 
     Information and in the army. He would augment that service 
     during a long political career, including the resuscitation 
     of the Democratic party in California and the outstanding 
     twenty-four years during which he was a United States 
     Senator.
       It was during his Senate years that we met and developed a 
     friendship which meant so much to me. I admired Alan's 
     courageous stands on conservation and social justice, and his 
     unswerving dedication to the peaceful resolution of conflicts 
     around the world. I discovered coincidentally that his 
     grandfather had built the house next door to mine, a fact 
     which underscored his California roots and his deep concerns 
     for the well-being of his California constituents. 
     Independently I met and became a friend of his son Kim, which 
     gave me a window into another dimension of Alan--Alan as 
     father.
       One of Alan's last acts as a Senator was to write the 
     letters which started the long and arduous process of my 
     Ambassadorial appointment. Alan was instrumental not only in 
     beginning the process, but also in guiding me through many of 
     the minefields which lay in my path.
       My memory of Alan is as a gentle giant. His goodness 
     radiated to all around him. He was a great leader--the very 
     embodiment of the highest level of leadership as described by 
     Lao-Tzu, whose words he carried with him as his life's 
     philosophy, as he sought quietly and selflessly to make this 
     planet a better place for all of us.
       May we have the wisdom and courage to follow his example.
       Harris Wofford. You may not know that in her last years 
     while still painting, Georgia O'Keefe wrote some still not 
     published short stories that she showed me. The one that 
     rises in my memory was about a man she met in her first days 
     in New Mexico. He invited her to see his ranch, three hundred 
     miles away, and one day she drove down (hiding her suitcase 
     in case she decided not to spend the night). She stayed 
     overnight and from time to time they would visit, doing very 
     prosaic things, sometimes just watching the horses he 
     trained, or walking over the land, or looking at the hills.
       Five decades later she drove down to his ranch, maybe for 
     the last time, she thought. They sat a long time looking at 
     the hills and she found herself saying to herself with great 
     satisfaction: ``Fifty years of friendship with Richard.''
       That's all the story said. Well, for me it's fifty-five 
     years of friendship with Alan. There was little--too little--
     time just sitting and watching the hills. He was always on 
     the go, running sprints or long distance.
       When we met just after World War II we were setting out on 
     no little prosaic mission--it was a crusade to make one world 
     a reality in a United Nations with the power to keep the 
     peace and prevent nuclear war. When we last met at his home 
     in Los Altos a year ago, his smile was still infectious 
     and he was still hard at work, in his irrepressible way, 
     on the same mission, persuading generals and admirals and 
     people of power to join in a new declaration for the 
     abolition of all nuclear weapons.
       When I reread Eleanor's wonderful, perceptive, loving 
     biography of her brother, I realized how much our lives 
     intersected over the years and how much his life intersected 
     with the great issues of our time.
       In 1948, Alan gave my wife Clare her first job directing 
     United World Federalists of Northern California. He caused 
     one of the greatest tensions in our half century of marriage 
     when he ran for President on the great central issue of 
     nuclear peace and asked me to be one of the three co-chairs 
     of his campaign with Marjorie Benton and Willie Brown. Clare 
     did not want me to do that. She loved, Alan but did not think 
     he could win, and thought it was the one time in our life 
     when I should stick to working as a lawyer and make some 
     money.
       Like many who would rally to his quiet calls over the 
     years, I could not say ``no.'' In his sixty years of public 
     service Alan brought many people of different persuasions to 
     say ``yes'' and to work together for good things. One of 
     those times he played a key part in my appointment to the 
     U.S. Senate--which I like to think was a good thing.
       Two days after Senator John Heinz died in an air crash, 
     Governor Casey asked me if I knew a particular major donor to 
     the Democratic Party and I said no. ``Then why did he write 
     me this extraordinary letter asking me to appoint you to the 
     Senate?'' Casey asked. I had no idea. That was the beginning 
     of a flood of different, well-done letters in the same vein, 
     from a range of significant people around the country. A few 
     days later Alan telephoned to tell me that as soon as he 
     heard the news of John Heinz's death he had gone to work on 
     the phone, producing those letters--which I'm sure influenced 
     Casey in my selection.
       But the intersection of our lives began way back. From 
     Eleanor's book I realized that Alan's first journalistic 
     break was covering Mussolini in 1938, and that the speech he 
     heard in the Piazza de Venezia when Mussolini took Stalin out 
     of the League of Nations was the same one I heard in that 
     same square as a twelve-year-old boy. Alan's greatest 
     adventure in journalism was getting into Ethiopia for some 
     months after the Italian invasion. One of my greatest 
     adventures was going to Ethiopia with my family, in the Peace 
     Corps.
       Before we met, each of us had written a book, in 1945, 
     calling for a world union to keep the peace. Alan's was the 
     powerful story of how isolationism in the Senate had killed 
     the peace after World War I. It was a sign of his 
     determination to go to the Senate to see that this did not 
     happen again.
       Despite all the help that Alan gave me in my election 
     campaigns--and Joe Biden and John Kerry who are here--my 
     tenure in the Senate was very short. His was very long--and 
     great.
       By my count only Ted Kennedy, in this century, rivals Alan 
     in legislative accomplishments. Alan's mark was on a thousand 
     bills and countless votes, large and small, where his 
     coalition-building skill was the key to success.
       Like Lincoln, Alan Cranston truly believed that the better 
     angels of our nature can be brought forth in this land. He 
     did not discount the demons and distractions in the way, but 
     he demonstrated that politics is not only the art of the 
     possible--it is the only way to make reason rule.
       It was our good luck--the good luck so many of us here and 
     around the country--to have had these many years of 
     friendship with Alan Cranston.
       Jane Goodall (via video). I'm tremendously honored to have 
     been asked to take part in the memorial to someone I admired 
     so much as Alan Cranston. My body is far away in Africa but I 
     want you to know that my thoughts are with you now.
       I never got a chance to know Alan really well in life 
     because our paths didn't cross that often. But what I saw I 
     loved, and like everyone, I admired Alan so much for his 
     integrity and his sincerity and his determination to try and 
     rid the world of the most evil weapons of mass destruction 
     that we ever created, and Alan did so much to alert people to 
     the hidden dangers of these weapons stockpiled around the 
     world.
       And we shall miss his leadership most terribly, but his 
     spirit is still around, still with

[[Page S1213]]

     us, guiding us, encouraging us, and above all, joining us 
     together so that we can move confidently towards the goal 
     that he was setting, and make this world a safer place for 
     his grandchildren and ours and the children yet unborn. Thank 
     you, Alan, for being who you were. Thank you.
       Cruz Reynoso. I once read that `The most powerful weapon on 
     earth is the human soul on fire.'
       Alan's soul was always on fire for the welfare of those in 
     need, for the strength of our democracy, for human dignity, 
     and for a world at peace.
       It must have been 1959 or 1960 when my wife and I, with 
     others from the El Centro Democratic Club from Imperial 
     Valley (the center of the world) traveled to Fresno for the 
     annual convention of the CDC, Council of Democratic Clubs. A 
     featured speaker was Alan Cranston. To this day, I remember 
     being inspired--he spoke of the role of government in helping 
     the disadvantaged, of the need for economic democracy, of the 
     right we all have in equal protection and fairness, and 
     government's responsibility in protecting those rights, and 
     of our responsibility to be active participants. That a 
     person with his soul on fire for those ideals I held dear 
     could actually be elected to state wide office was, to me, a 
     marvel and inspiration. I never forgot.
       A decade later I found myself as director of California 
     Rural Legal Assistance. CRLA was the leading legal services 
     for the poor. Many entrenched interests, including the state 
     government, found themselves on the loosing side of many 
     lawsuits CRLA brought on behalf of its clients--farmworkers, 
     Medical recipients, working poor. Those interests fought 
     back. Alan worked closely with CRLA to protect our 
     professional independence and assure our continued existence. 
     As I saw it, there was little political gain for Alan--it was 
     his devotion to fairness and to the concept of human dignity 
     that brought us together. Eventually, it was President Nixon 
     who overrode the state veto of CRLA, thereby saving legal 
     services.
       And years later Alan's son, Kim, I and countless others 
     joined Alan in our mutual efforts to register thousands of 
     new voters, an effort to include all in our democratic 
     society.
       Not all efforts were on a grand scale. My last, and still 
     ongoing task, has been to represent a prisoner who is in 
     Soledad for a life term. Alan was convinced that the prisoner 
     was fully rehabilitated. He called to see if I could help. My 
     associate, Tom Gray, and I worked with Alan. We will 
     continue.
       Not all was work. I remember those wonderful conversations 
     as we dined in the Senate restaurant. Once, Alan invited me 
     to a marvelous San Francisco eatery. At the end of the 
     evening Alan invited me to join his Washington, D.C. office 
     in a position of considerable responsibility. Unfortunately, 
     I could not accept the offer, but the food had been great.
       Alan's interest went beyond prison walls or the fifty 
     United States. His efforts have sought peace for this globe. 
     John Amos Gomenius, the Czech Religious and Educational 
     leader wrote about 350 years ago:
       ``We are all citizens of one world, we are all of one 
     blood. To hate a man because he was born in another country, 
     he speaks a different language, or because he takes a 
     different view on this subject or that, is a great folly . . 
     . Let us have one end in view, the welfare of humanity.''
       Alan's soul was always on fire--for the welfare of an 
     individual human being--or the welfare of all humanity.
       Jonathan Granoff. My name is Jonathan Granoff. I've had the 
     privilege of working with Senator Cranston on the abolition 
     of nuclear weapons with Lawyer's Alliance for World Security, 
     with the State of the World Forum, with the Middle Powers 
     Initiative, and most recently, with the Global Security 
     Institute.
       Recently, some journalists from Japan were here in the 
     beginning of December interviewing Senator Cranston, and I 
     was there, and they asked me what I did as the CEO of the 
     Global Security Institute. So I said, and I meant this, when 
     a tree is ripe with fruit, an intelligent person will sit 
     beneath the tree and gather the sweet fruit. Alan is still 
     giving us fruit. And Alan's example of being a true human 
     being is the sweetest fruit that we could be given, because 
     Alan taught by seamlessly integrating the highest human 
     values with his daily life.
       He exemplified decency and elegance in action. He lived 
     without prejudice. People say they live without prejudice; 
     Alan didn't say it, he just lived it. He didn't harbor any 
     doubts or suspicions about others, he never engaged in 
     backbiting or any pettiness, and he was tranquil in the midst 
     of an extraordinary dynamism, like a smooth, powerful river.
       He was full of grace. Alan Cranston remains for us a 
     statesman in a state of grace. His grace was exemplified in 
     the ease he had in the midst of conflict, because that ease 
     rested on a real faith in the intrinsic goodness of humanity. 
     Because he had found that goodness in himself, and for those 
     of us who had the privilege of working with him, we know 
     that's how he got us to do things, because we knew that he 
     never asked anybody to do anything he wouldn't do; he's the 
     guy who would be up at two in the morning, and then up again 
     at six-thirty.
       Adversaries were only so as to the issue at hand, but never 
     as to the person, because Alan honored everyone. His inner 
     clarity and strength was coupled with this unique ability, 
     and even desire, to hear everyone's point of view, not as a 
     political ruse, but because Alan honored everyone.
       Alan understood fully two icons his parents did not have 
     that we inherited from the Twentieth Century. The first is 
     the awesome, horrific mushroom cloud arising from science and 
     the quest for unbridled power, unreined by morality, law and 
     reason, and the other icon is the picture of the planet from 
     outer space, borderless, majestic, alive and sacred.
       Alan honored all life by holding the second icon before 
     him, and that is why he focused most intensely on the nuclear 
     issue, because that and that alone can end all life on the 
     planet, and it becomes the moral standard of our 
     civilization. I had the privilege of traveling with Alan and 
     going all over the world working on this issue, and one of 
     the amazing things is I would forget how old he was, because 
     his body got old, but he didn't. He had found that secret of 
     the joyous heart, he had found that place of tranquility in 
     action.
       George Crile is a CNN and 60 Minutes producer, beloved, 
     very beloved of Alan, and he has put together some footage to 
     give us all a sense of what it's like to be on the road with 
     Alan Cranston.
       [video insert]
       Death is such a mystery, and the only comfort is the love 
     that we bring to our lives, and the faithfulness with which 
     we carry forth the mission that great men have given us. 
     Alan, we will follow in your loving memory. We will stay the 
     course. We will be vigilant until nuclear weapons are 
     abolished.
       We are guided by the philosophy that you held with you.
       Lao-Tzu:
       A leader is best
       When people barely know
       That he exists,
       Less good when
       They obey and acclaim him,
       Worse when
       They fear and despise him.
       Fail to honor people
       And they fail to honor you.
       But of a good leader,
       When his work is done,
       His aim fulfilled,
       They will all say,
       ``We did this ourselves.''
       Senator Cranston sought no honor for himself. He honored 
     life itself through his service. Together and with your help, 
     we will follow in his large footsteps, and on the day when 
     the work is done, the aim fulfilled, we will know that we did 
     not do it alone. Thank you, Alan. May God give you infinite 
     peace, infinite bliss, infinite love, Amen.
       Alan Jones. We've come to the end of a deeply felt tribute 
     to a great soul. And any celebration of a great soul 
     confronts us with choices. And so I offer this final 
     blessing.
       There are only two feelings. Love, and fear. There are only 
     two languages, love and fear. There are only two activities, 
     love and fear. There are only two motives, two procedures, 
     two frameworks, two results. Love and fear. Let us choose 
     love.
       The eye of the great God be upon you, the eye of the God of 
     glory be upon you, the eye of the son of Mary be on you, the 
     eye of the spirit be on you to aid you and shepherd you, and 
     the kindly eye of the three be on you to aid you and shepherd 
     you and give you peace, now and always, Amen.

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