[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 3 (Friday, January 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S135]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING WALT DISNEY

 Mrs. CARNAHAN. Mr. President, we are all familiar with the 
quote ``I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing--that it was 
all started by a mouse.'' Immediately, my mind turns to Walt Disney and 
a smile comes across my face. His lifetime achievements are well known 
by all and often told, but today I want to talk about the boy. Walt 
Disney grew up with roots deep in Missouri. A boy whose early childhood 
experiences and memories would be the foundation for the man who would 
take the dreams of America, and make them come true.
  This year we mark the one hundredth anniversary of Walt's birth, and 
all over America people are gathering to celebrate. In Marceline, MO, 
Walt's hometown, the Centennial Celebration drew a reported 50,000 
visitors anxious to participate. People came from all over the world to 
get a feel for what Walt experienced there, including a dedication to 
the kind of group effort that was a hallmark of American farming around 
the turn of the century. The idealized Main Street in Disneyland, the 
country life depicted in ``Old Yeller,'' and even the fascination with 
animals that led to the True-Life Adventures, all have their origins on 
that farm in Marceline.
  In Kansas City they also celebrate one of the most successfully 
creative men of the 20th century. At age 9, Walt and his family moved 
to Kansas City where his father bought a Kansas City Star newspaper 
route. Walt and his brother, Roy, had to wake at 3:00 a.m. every day to 
deliver newspapers, developing a work ethic in Walt that would later 
wear out all but the sturdiest of staff members. It was his father's 
gritty determination and resilience balanced by his mother's love of 
fun and a pleasure in people that added to his wealth of experience 
from which he was to draw in films and other creative ventures for the 
rest of his life. Legend has it that the idea for Mickey Mouse came to 
him from a memory of a friendly mouse that begged for food in his 
Kansas City art studio.
  We all owe him our gratitude. Try to imagine a world without Walt 
Disney--a world without his magic, whimsy, and optimism. Fortunately we 
don't have to. Walt did more to touch the hearts, minds, and emotions 
of millions of Americans than any other man in the past century. A 
mouse may have started it, but through his work he brought joy, 
happiness, and a universal means of communication to the people all 
over the world.

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