[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1388-S1389]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO FORMER SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON

  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I join many of my colleagues in 
paying tribute to former Senator Alan Cranston, who died on New Year's 
Eve, 2000. Since I came to the Senate in 1985, I have had the honor of 
serving on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and my first 8 years on 
the committee were under the superb chairmanship of Senator Cranston. 
During our years, I came to know and appreciate his unbounded 
dedication to the veterans of this country, and his extraordinary 
record of leadership and commitment to our Nation throughout his 24 
years of public service in the U.S. Senate.
  Senator Cranston played an integral role in veterans affairs from his 
first days in the Senate, serving initially as Chairman of the 
Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee of the then-Committee on Labor and 
Public Welfare. When that subcommittee became the full Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs in 1971, he was a charter member of it. He became 
Chairman of the full Committee in 1977, was ranking member from 1978-
1986, and then Chairman again in 1987, until he left the Senate in 
1993.

[[Page S1389]]

  Throughout his tenure, Senator Cranston demonstrated a devoted 
commitment to the men and women who risk their lives for the safety and 
welfare of our Nation. Although he opposed the war in Vietnam, he was a 
strong champion for the rights and benefits of those who served in it.
  Senator Cranston's vision--to ensure that our country uphold its 
obligation to meet the post-service needs of veterans and their 
families--was the inspiration for the many pieces of legislation passed 
during his tenure. He showed his concern for disabled veterans and 
their families in many ways, including authoring support programs that 
provided for grants, cost-of- living increases in benefits, adaptive 
equipment, rehabilitation, and other services.
  Senator Cranston's record on issues related to the employment and 
education of veterans is unequaled. As early as 1970, he authored the 
Veterans' Education and Training Amendments Act, which displayed his 
heartfelt concern for Vietnam-era veterans, and served as the 
foundation for other key initiatives over the years.
  As a strong advocate for health care reform myself, I appreciated 
Senator Cranston's efforts over the years to improve veterans' health 
care through affirmative legislation. He brought national attention to 
the many needs of VA health care facilities, which resulted in the 
improvement of the quality of their staffs, facilities, and services.
  Senator Cranston's patience in pursuit of his goals is legendary. For 
example, he introduced legislation in 1971 to establish a VA 
readjustment counseling program for Vietnam veterans. When it failed 
that year, he reintroduced it in the next Congress, and the next, and 
the next, never losing sight of his vision. Four Congresses later, in 
1979, it was finally accepted by the House of Representatives. The VA's 
Vet Center Program was established that year and, in the ensuing years, 
this program helped many Vietnam veterans deal with their adjustment 
problems after service, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
  After the program was established, Senator Cranston fought 
successfully to make it permanent, thereby enabling Vet Centers to 
survive proposed cuts by the Reagan administration. He also pushed for 
enactment of legislation which extended the eligibility period for 
readjustment counseling. In 1991, Senator Cranston authored legislation 
which allowed veterans of later conflicts, including the Persian Gulf 
War, Panama, Grenada, and Lebanon, to receive assistance at Vet Centers 
as well.
  Another example of Senator Cranston's persistence was his effort to 
provide an opportunity for veterans to seek outside review of VA 
decisions on claims for benefits. He began working on this issue in the 
mid-70's and stayed with it through final enactment in 1988 of 
legislation which established a court to review veterans' claims. That 
court, now known as the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, 
stands as a legacy to Senator Cranston's commitment to making sure that 
veterans are treated fairly by the government that they served.
  The list of Senator Cranston's achievements is long--for veterans, 
his home State of California, our country, and the world. Senator 
Cranston's leadership had a broad sweep, way beyond the concerns of 
veterans. From nuclear disarmament to housing policy to education to 
civil rights, Senator Cranston fought to do the right thing, with 
energy and passion. For nearly a quarter of a century, he was a true 
champion for the less fortunate among our society.
  Senator Cranston's legacy is immense, and I know that his leadership, 
which continued after he left this Chamber, will be missed. I consider 
myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work side-by-side with 
him over the years. By continuing his fight for the people we represent 
and the ideals we were elected to uphold, I seek to carry on his 
mission.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an article about Senator 
Cranston by Thomas Tighe, a former staff member of the Senate Committee 
on Veterans' Affairs, be printed in the Record. His thoughts on Senator 
Cranston, which appeared in the January 7, 2001, edition of the Santa 
Barbara News-Press, are quite compelling.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          Alan Cranston: He Separated the War From the Warrior

  (By Thomas Tighe, President and CEO of Direct Relief International)

       Alan Cranston stood for and accomplished many important 
     things during the course of his life and Senate career, 
     which, as might be expected given his low-key approach, 
     received little comment upon his death. But having worked for 
     Alan--as he insisted all his staff call him--during his last 
     several years in office, I was saddened by both his passing 
     and the absence of public recognition for much of what his 
     life's work accomplished.
       Elected in 1968 strongly opposing the war in Vietnam, 
     Senator Cranston was assigned the chair of the subcommittee 
     responsible for overseeing the veterans health care system. 
     He was among the very first in our country to separate the 
     war from the warrior, as he sought to have the system do 
     right by the returning soldiers whose wartime experiences, 
     severity of injury, and readjustment seemed somehow different 
     from those of earlier wars.
       While retaining his aversion to war, Alan Cranston devoted 
     much of his career in the Senate to ensuring that the 
     country's obligation to those who fought in war--however 
     unpopular--was recognized as fundamentally important and 
     honored accordingly. He pushed hard to expand spinal-cord 
     injury, blindness, and traumatic brain injury care, which 
     were lacking and desperately needed. He championed mental 
     health services, authoring legislation to create ``Vet 
     Centers'' where veterans themselves counseled each other and 
     to fund research that ultimately obtained formal recognition 
     and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder as a 
     ``real'' condition that affected soldiers. Drug and alcohol 
     services, vocational rehabilitation, and comprehensive 
     assistance for homeless veterans all resulted from his 
     insight, his perseverance, and his commitment to those who 
     served our country.
       The terms ``paramedic'' and ``medevac'' did not exist in 
     civilian society in the late 1960s--they do today because 
     Alan saw how effective the combination of medical personnel, 
     telecommunications, and helicopters had been in treating 
     battlefield injuries in Vietnam, and he authored the first 
     pilot program to apply this model to the civilian sector.
       Senator Cranston also was the most vigorous, insightful, 
     tough, and effective supporter that the Peace Corps has ever 
     had in the Congress--stemming from his early involvement with 
     Sargent Shriver in the early 1960's before he was elected. I 
     know about these issues, and his remarkable legacy, because I 
     worked on them for Alan as a committee lawyer in the Senate 
     and, after he left office, as the Chief Operating Officer of 
     the Peace Corps.
       But there were many, many other issues that Senator 
     Cranston not only cared about but worked to effectuate in a 
     painfully thorough, respectful, and principled way. He was an 
     early and stalwart advocate for preservation and judicious 
     stewardship of the environment, an unyielding voice for a 
     woman's right to make reproductive health choices, and of 
     course, a relentless pursuer of world peace and the abolition 
     of nuclear weapons--upon which he continued to work 
     passionately until the day he died.
       Those efforts have made a tremendous positive difference in 
     the lives of millions of people in this country and around 
     the world.
       For me, Alan Cranston's standard of adhering to principle 
     while achieving practical success remains a constant source 
     of inspiration and motivation, as I am sure is true for the 
     hundreds of others who worked on his staff over the course of 
     24 years. His was an example that one's strongly held 
     ideological and policy beliefs, whether labeled ``liberal'' 
     or ``conservative,'' should not be confused with or 
     overwhelmed by partisanship if it prevented meaningful 
     progress. And he insisted upon honest and vigorous oversight 
     of publicly funded programs he supported--to avoid defending 
     on principle something indefensible in practice, thereby 
     eroding support for the principle itself.
       Once, while trying to describe an obstacle on a Peace Corps 
     matter, I made a flip reference to the ``America Right or 
     Wrong'' crowd. He asked if I knew where that expression came 
     from, which I did not. He said it was usually misunderstood 
     and, as in my case, misused, and told me that it was a 
     wonderfully patriotic statement. He stared at me calmly, with 
     a slight smile and with the presence of nearly 80 years of 
     unimaginably rich experiences in life and politics, and said, 
     ``America, right or wrong. When it's right, keep it right. 
     When it's wrong, make it right.''
       It was a privilege to work for Alan Cranston, and to know 
     that is what he tried to do.

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