[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 149 (Monday, November 18, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11243-S11244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO SENATOR MAX CLELAND

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, it is sad and unfortunate that I and this 
chamber must say farewell to Senator Max Cleland. As a student, a 
soldier, a public servant, and a U.S. Senator, Max Cleland has always 
personified the best of this country. His has been a life of patriotism 
and sacrifice, of struggle and of triumph.
  After graduating from college, which included an internship on 
Capitol Hill, and receiving a master's degree in American history, Max 
Cleland volunteered for the Army and then volunteered for service in 
Vietnam. In that brutal conflict, he lost both of his legs and an arm 
in a grenade explosion. But Max Cleland never gave up. He refused to 
become simply a tragic symbol of an unwanted and unpopular war.
  At the age of 28, Max Cleland became the youngest State Senator in 
Georgia. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to head the 
Veterans Administration, the youngest person ever to hold that post, 
and one of the best. In that position, among his many accomplishments, 
Max Cleland helped to improve the VA hospital system and reduce delays 
in paying veterans' benefits.
  After that, he was elected to four terms as Secretary of State of 
Georgia.
  In 1996, Senator Cleland was elected to the U.S. Senate. After being 
sworn into office, he told supporters:

       Your dreams can come true if you continue to believe in 
     them long enough, hard enough, and never give up on them.

  What a role model Max Cleland is, not only for disabled Americans but 
for all Americans. His life demonstrates what overcoming adversity--
probably adversity at its worst, or almost that, at least--really 
means.
  As a triple amputee, life and work have not come easily. I have read 
it takes him 3 hours just to prepare for work each day. I would imagine 
it takes him longer than that, because it takes me that long many days. 
But I cannot imagine the amount of pure grit it takes for this man just 
to live. At times I get up from my bed at 1 o'clock in the morning, 3 
o'clock in the morning, whatever, and adjust the temperature in my 
room. If it is a little too cold or a little too warm, I have to get up 
and go outside my room and adjust the temperature. I think of that poor 
man, Max Cleland, and how it is for him if he gets too cold or too warm 
and has to adjust the temperature in the room. He has to get out of bed 
with much more difficulty than I, and go to the thermostat and do that. 
So what grit it must take of him just to live.
  Well, one of Max Cleland's heroes is the great Franklin Roosevelt 
who, confined to a wheelchair because of paralysis, encountered many of 
the same obstacles and challenges that face Max. Still, Franklin 
Roosevelt was elected President four times and, as President, saw this 
country through the Great Depression and World War II.
  I am proud to point out that another one of Max Cleland's heroes is 
one of my heroes, a Senator who is one of my mentors in this Chamber, 
Senator Richard B. Russell of Georgia. Max Cleland met Senator Russell 
while serving as a congressional intern. When Max returned from Vietnam 
several years later, with both legs gone and only one arm, he met 
Senator Russell again. That grand old Senator was so impressed with the 
young soldier that he had his driver give the young man a tour of the 
Nation's capital.
  During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Senator Cleland has used 
Senator Russell's old telephone number, and has often taken his 
visitors to see the statue of Senator Russell in the Russell Senate 
Office Building, telling them, ``So much of me is tied up in Dick 
Russell.''
  Max Cleland truly knows the horrors of war. Knowing that ``war is 
hell,'' he has been one of the Chamber's leading skeptics about the use 
of military force abroad and has always proved cautious when it comes 
to committing American troops overseas. In the 106th Congress, for 
example, he was

[[Page S11244]]

the first Democrat to call for a halt to the U.S.-led bombing campaign 
in Kosovo. He introduced legislation to update and improve the War 
Powers Resolution by erecting more safeguards before the deployment of 
our fighting men and women into situations of hostility.
  I must point out that I have not always been in agreement with 
Senator Cleland. I strongly opposed a balanced budget constitutional 
amendment, and I think Max Cleland supported it. I opposed the line-
item veto, and I believe that Max supported the line-item veto. But I 
have never, never, not for a second, questioned his sincerity, his 
integrity, or his respect for our Government and his love of this 
country.

  Max Cleland is an outstanding Senator, a great American. He lost his 
Senate seat, at least for the foreseeable future, but he will never 
lose his integrity. Senator Cleland is a real winner. Just as his 
military buddies were proud to have served with Max Cleland in Vietnam, 
I am honored to have served with him in the Senate. Max Cleland is a 
hero. He will always remain so.
  May God bless Max Cleland. I wish him nothing but happiness and 
success in the future.

     God give us men!
     A time like this demands strong minds,
     great hearts, true faith, and ready hands.
     Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
     Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
     Men who possess opinions and a will;
     Men who have honor; men who will not lie.

     Men who can stand before a demagogue
     And brave his treacherous flatteries without winking.

     Tall men, sun-crowned;
     Who live above the fog,
     In public duty and in private thinking.

     For while the rabble with its thumbworn creeds,
     Its large professions and its little deeds, mingles in 
           selfish strife,
     Lo! Freedom weeps!
     Wrong rules the land and waiting justice sleeps.
     God give us men!

     Men who serve not for selfish booty;
     But real men, courageous, who flinch not at duty.
     Men of dependable character;
     Men of sterling worth;
     Then wrongs will be redressed, and right will rule the earth.
     God Give us Men!

  Mr. President, Max Cleland is that kind of man.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I certainly confirm, underscore, and applaud 
the statement of the Senator from West Virginia about Max Cleland. I 
don't know of anyone in my life who has given me more inspiration than 
Max Cleland. Whenever things seem a little bit dark and dreary, I 
always see that smiling face of Max Cleland. He is a tremendous man, a 
fine human being, and he has a lot more to contribute. His name will 
grow from where it is today. The people of Georgia and this country 
have not heard the last of Max Cleland.

                          ____________________