[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E57]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        IN MEMORIUM OF THE LATE PRESIDENT LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 29, 2002

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a great leader, 
the past President of Senegal, Leopold Sedar Senghor who past away on 
December 20th, 2001. President Senghor was a educator, poet, statesman, 
and a friend of the United States of America.
  President Senghor was born in a small town of Joal, Senegal in 1906. 
He received a scholarship to attend school in France where in 1935 he 
became the first African to receive the ``Agrege'' (doctorate degree) 
in French language and literature.
  After teaching for a number of years, he served in the French army 
during World War II (1935-1945), was captured, and spent two years in 
German prison camps. It was as a prisoner of war that he managed to 
write some of his best poetry. After the war, Senghor was recruited by 
the French Socialist Party and was later elected to represent Senegal 
in the National Assembly in Paris in which capacity he served until the 
French territories became independent. In 1960, France granted 
independence to Senegal and Leopold Senghor was elected its first 
president.
  Few chief of states could match his political skill or his personal 
charisma. This was especially notable when President John F. Kennedy 
hosted President Senghor at a state visit in 1961 at the White House. 
As recorded in the memoirs of Ambassador of Senegal at that time--the 
Honorable Philip Kaiser--the two gentlemen developed a special bond. 
Ambassador Kaiser remarked ``they were both intellectuals, both highly 
cultivated, both Catholic in countries predominantly Protestant or 
Moslem, and not the least of all, both creative, pragmatic 
politicians.''
  During the 1960s, President Senghor's friendship with the United 
States grew and was evident in his support for President Kennedy during 
the Cuban missile crisis. Washington strategist realized that Moscow 
could evade the U.S. naval blockade around Cuba by flying Soviet 
planes, with atomic warheads aboard, to Havana if they were able to 
land and refuel in Dakar, Senegal's capital. President Senghor agreed 
to Washington's request to deny the Russians landing rights in Dakar 
and made it clear that his relationship with President Kennedy was a 
crucial factor in his decision. President Senghor was also the first 
African leader to receive Peace Corps volunteers--a program highly 
touted by President Kennedy.
  In 1978, President Senghor won Senegal's first multiparty election 
easily after successfully introducing amendments to the constitution to 
foster multiparty politics. He resigned in 1981, thus becoming the 
first leader of an independent African country to give up power 
voluntarily.
  He has been acclaimed as one of the most astute thinkers of our time. 
He was one of three to develop the concept of ``negritude'' which 
refers to the distinctive culture shared by Africans and people of 
African ancestry around the world. He won several awards for his poetry 
including the highly coveted PEN award and had been nominated for the 
Nobel Prize in Literature several times. He was admitted to Academie 
Francaise--the first black person to receive France's highest honor for 
enduring contribution to French life and letters.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that all my colleagues join me in celebrating the 
life and the political accomplishments of a friend of the United States 
of America, the late President Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal.

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