[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 166 (Monday, November 17, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14961-S14962]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                       TRIBUTE TO MORTIMER CAPLIN

 Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize a 
remarkable man, Mr. Mortimer M. Caplin, on his outstanding legal career 
as an academic, public servant and distinguished practitioner. Through 
the years, Mr. Caplin, has been an inspiration to us all and a shining 
example of what hard work, dedication and perseverance can accomplish.
  I feel a special connection with Mr. Caplin as we both graduated from 
University of Virginia School of Law and both served our country 
proudly during World War II in the United States Navy. As a 
undergraduate and law student at the University of Virginia, Mr. Caplin 
earned a reputation as a hard working student who always had time to 
lend a helping hand. During his undergraduate career at Mr. Jefferson's 
University, Mr. Caplin was elected to Phi Beta Kappa while becoming a 
standout on Johnny LaRowe's great boxing teams of the mid'30's.
  After earning his Bachelor of Science degree, Mr. Caplin went on to 
the University's law school where he continued his excellent academic 
career and his affiliation with the University's boxing team. As coach 
of the First Year team, Mr Caplin instilled in the newly arrived First 
Years the value of a well rounded education. He also managed to find 
the time to be selected and serve as Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia 
Law Review in 1940.
  Upon graduation in 1940, Mr. Caplin clerked for Judge Armistead M. 
Dobie

[[Page S14962]]

on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 
Richmond. Upon completing his clerkship, he joined the New York law 
firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as an associate but, like 
so many of us during this era, interrupted his career to defend this 
country and the freedom we all enjoy. Mr. Caplin joined the Navy and on 
June 6, 1944, came ashore on Omaha Beach as a member of the initial 
landing force where he served as U.S. Navy beachmaster.
  After the war, Caplin returned to the legal profession and eventually 
made his way back to the University of Virginia in 1950 where he became 
a law professor concentrating on tax and corporate law. From 1950 
to1962, he taught countless students the value of a legal education 
until he was again called into public service by President John F. 
Kennedy to head the Internal Revenue Service.
  After retiring from the post in 1964, Mr. Caplin received the 
Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Treasury 
Department. Thereafter, he founded Caplin & Drysdale which became, and 
remains today, one of the leading tax firms in the United States. Mr. 
Caplin was the 2001 recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal 
in Law which is awarded to individuals that exemplify the Jeffersonian 
ideal of the lawyer as public citizen. He truly embodies this ideal and 
it is right to honor his accomplishments.
  On May 18, 2003, Mr. Caplin was invited to address the University of 
Virginia's 2003 graduating class. His words about the importance of 
public service are an inspiration to us all. As a tribute to his 
achievements and his contributions, I ask that his remarks be entered 
into the Record at this time.
  The remarks follow.

                           A Debt of Service

       I must confess, in trying to recall who spoke and what was 
     said at my own college graduation--``The Great Class of 
     1937''--my mind remains a blank.
       The one commencement I do remember was here at my law 
     graduation in 1940. The speaker was the president of the 
     United States--Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He came to the 
     University to attend the law graduation of his son, Franklin 
     Jr., one of our classmates.
       The Nazi armies of Adolph Hitler were then overrunning 
     Europe and threatening the freedom of the entire world. On 
     that very morning, Mussolini's fascist forces--joining 
     Hitler--had invaded their neighbor France. Soon, every member 
     of our class would be required to register under the 
     vigorously debated Selective Service Act, the first peacetime 
     military draft in our nation's history.
       In Memorial Gymnasium, the president delivered a historic 
     speech--the most sensitive part inserted by him during his 
     train ride from Washington, contrary to the State 
     Department's specific pleas that America's neutrality would 
     be compromised.
       FDR dramatically declared: ``On this tenth day of June 
     1940, the hand that held the dagger has struck it into the 
     back of its neighbor. On this tenth day of June 1940, in this 
     University founded by the first great American teacher of 
     democracy, we send forth our prayers and our hopes to those 
     beyond the seas who are maintaining with magnificent valor 
     their battle for freedom.''
       Remember, in 1940 there was no television, no cell phones, 
     no Internet. Until then, we heard President Roosevelt only on 
     the radio. To have the president of the United States before 
     us in person, delivering to the world his famous ``dagger-in-
     the-back'' speech, is a moment I will never forget.
       That day, he also gave us a glimpse into what lay before us 
     when he solemnly committed, for the first time and without 
     congressional approval, to ``extend . . . the material 
     resources of this nation'' to the embattled democracies.
       First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt later said: ``Franklin's 
     address was not just a commencement address, it was a speech 
     to the nation . . . that brought us one step nearer to total 
     war.''
       For us, World War II had begun. It was not at all what we 
     graduates had been planning.
       As a law student, I spent many hours thinking about my 
     postgraduation career and dreams. I had already accepted a 
     legal clerkship with Judge Armistead Mason Dobie, our former 
     Law School dean and, at that time, a U.S. Circuit Court of 
     Appeals judge. Next, I would go to New York to begin the 
     practice of law. With two U.Va. degrees in hand, I felt 
     prepared to face and perhaps conquer the world. But on Dec. 
     7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and all our lives 
     changed.
       I had hardly begun my Wall Street law practice, when I 
     found myself in uniform, commissioned an ensign. U.S. Naval 
     Reserve. When my training was completed, I said goodbye to 
     Ruth, my wife of just one year, and set sail for duty as a 
     beachmaster on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, for the D-Day 
     landing on the Normandy coast of France.
       World War II and the Navy did teach me a number of 
     important life skills--many still of help in my private 
     career. Two, in particular, are worth remembering. First, 
     avoid fixed and rigid plans. Instead, allow for 
     flexibility, innovation and possible change--but always 
     hold true to your personal values. Second, be willing to 
     accept risk when necessary as you move forward toward your 
     goals.
       Philosopher William James acutely observed: ``It is only by 
     risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at 
     all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified 
     result is the only thing that makes the result come true.''
       Simply put, have faith in your choices, and be at the ready 
     to risk challenge as well as change. You will grow in 
     strength as you do.
       We've heard a great deal of late about those involved in 
     what has been dubbed ``The Greatest Generation''--glorifying 
     our ordinary citizens who, through hard work, courage and 
     sacrifice, successfully confronted the Great Depression and 
     World War II. Let me confess, though--as a duly designated 
     member of that body--I find the anointment somewhat overdone. 
     Countless generations, both before and after--including 
     today--have also faced challenging times and national crises. 
     And, in each case, everyday Americans have always 
     demonstrated equal patriotism, equal devotion, equal 
     courage--all inherently part of our national culture, 
     traditions and training.
       What may we expect of your generation? A former U. Va. Law 
     School student of mine--who later became attorney general of 
     the United States--Robert F. Kennedy, offered an answer in 
     his 1966 Capetown University speech: ``Few will have the 
     greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change 
     a small portion of events, and in the total of all these acts 
     will be written the history of this generation.''
       Mr. Jefferson consistently laid stress on, not just the 
     rights of citizens of this country, but also on the 
     responsibilities. Writing in 1796--shortly before he assumed 
     the unhappy post of vice president--he stated strongly: 
     ``There is a debt of service due from every man to his 
     country, proportioned to the bounties which nature and 
     fortune have measured to him.''

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