[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 171 (Saturday, November 22, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S15533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we discussed this morning that we will have 
a moment of silence at 12:30. I request we have a moment of silence.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will observe a moment of silence.
  (Moment of Silence.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this moment of silence gives us an 
opportunity to reflect in a way that expresses our deep respect and 
also an opportunity to contemplate how we can capture what happened in 
the past and those lessons of the past and project them to the future 
but also in terms of carrying out our responsibilities in the Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, for those of us who are old enough to 
remember President Kennedy, November 22 is always tinged with a sense 
of sadness and loss. Today, on this 40th anniversary of President 
Kennedy's death, we are especially aware of that loss.
  One floor above us, in a corridor leading to the House side of the 
Capitol, there is a wonderful exhibit by a long-time Senate 
photographer named Arthur Scott--``Scotty.'' He was an official Senate 
photographer from 1955 until his death in 1976.
  One of my favorite of his photos up on the third floor shows a very 
young-looking Senator John Kennedy playing catcher in a baseball game 
with other Senators in 1958. Scoop Jackson is at bat and Mike Mansfield 
in umpiring. John Kennedy looks more like a staffer than a Senator.
  About 12 feet down that same hall hangs another photograph. This one 
was taken on January 20, 1961. It shows a smiling, older-looking JFK 
walking into the Rotunda shortly before he was sworn in as President. 
Next to that is another photograph, also taken in the Rotunda. It shows 
a grim-faced Everett Dirksen with his arm around the shoulders of 
Hubert Humphrey as the two men walk past President Kennedy's casket in 
November 1963.
  Only 5 years passed between that first photograph and the last. Only 
1,000 days elapsed between John Kennedy's inauguration and his death. 
Not long at all. Yet, 40 years after that terrible day in Dallas, 
President Kennedy remains vivid in our memories and he continues to 
inspire even people who were not yet born when he died.
  There are many reasons for this, I believe.
  John Kennedy believed that politics can be a noble profession. Many 
of us in this Senate are here, in part, because we were inspired by his 
belief and his example. That is certainly true of me. That belief was 
also shared by his brother Robert, and it continues to be demonstrated 
today by his last surviving brother, our friend and colleague, the 
senior Senator from Massachusetts.
  Another reason that President Kennedy remains such a force in our 
national life is that he inspired us to be our best possible selves.
  He led by appealing to our better instincts, not our base fears. He 
showed us that we need not fear great challenges, as when he said 
America chose to go to the moon not because it was easy, but because it 
was difficult. He understood that there is almost nothing Americans 
cannot achieve when we are united and willing to sacrifice and work 
together toward a common goal.
  John Kennedy was, indelibly, the grandson of immigrants. He was 
deeply grateful for the freedoms and opportunities that America 
affords. But he also understood that, with rights come 
responsibilities. As he said so often, ``To those whom much is given, 
much is required.''
  President Kennedy understood that the most powerful weapon America 
possesses is the power to do good in this world. And he transformed 
that belief into the Peace Corps.
  President Kennedy understood that we are all connected to each other, 
as he said to the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev when the two leaders 
began negotiations on the first limited nuclear test ban treaty 
following the near-cataclysm of the Cuban missile crisis. ``In the 
final analysis, we all share the same planet, we all breathe the same 
air, we all cherish our children's future.''
  Today, thousands of people are expected to visit President Kennedy's 
grave in Arlington National Cemetery. They will file past that eternal 
flame. But we don't need to go to Arlington to pay our respects to John 
Fitzgerald Kennedy. That eternal flame also shines in the hearts of 
every American and every person on Earth who recalls what President 
Kennedy taught us in his too-brief life and who tries to live those 
lessons today.
  Finally, Mr. President, I want to say a word about my friend, Senator 
Kennedy. I know this is a sad day for him.
  In the drawer of every desk on this floor are the names of the 
Senators who occupied these desks before us. I suspect we have all had 
the experience of seeing those names and thinking what an awesome 
responsibility it is to follow in such footsteps. In the drawer of 
Senator Kennedy's desks are the names of two of his brothers, John and 
Robert. I am grateful to my friend that he chose to follow in his 
brothers' footsteps, despite the pain that public service has brought 
him and his family. It is an honor to work with him. America is better 
for the Kennedy family's service and sacrifices.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________