[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 10 (Monday, February 2, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S362-S363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING MONROE SWEETLAND

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would like to say a few words about a 
citizen of the great western part of America, Monroe Sweetland.
  Monroe lives in Oregon, where he has enjoyed a wonderful life of 
public service. He has been a State Senator, a national leader of 
teachers, a journalist, and the publisher of a number of small 
newspapers.
  He served in the Pacific with the Red Cross during World War II. 
After returning home he became the political director for the National 
Education Association in the western States.
  He was a confidant of Eleanor Roosevelt and an ally of President 
Harry Truman.
  His home in Milwaukie, OR, which was built in 1878, is a historic 
landmark. That isn't just because it is an old house, but also because 
of the many important people who visited him there.
  The most famous visitor was President John Kennedy. In fact, I have 
been told that Monroe's wife Lillie was the person who suggested to JFK 
that a rocking chair would ease the pain in his back.
  Others who visited Monroe and Lillie included Vice President Hubert 
Humphrey, Ambassador John Kenneth Gailbraith, and Senators Wayne Morse, 
``Scoop'' Jackson and Estes Kefauver.
  Monroe recently turned 94 years old. Although he has been legally 
blind for several years, he is fond of saying that he has lost his 
sight, but not his vision. As a former newsman, he still enjoys having 
the paper read to him by visitors.
  He has been called the father of the modern Democratic Party in 
Oregon, and a founding father of Portland State University.
  He is also responsible, more than any other person, for a very 
important piece of Federal legislation--the Bilingual Education Act of 
1968.
  That law opened the doors of education and opportunity to young 
people in the West and other parts of the country who are native 
speakers of Spanish.
  Up until then, these students were often placed in classes where they 
couldn't understand what was going on, with disastrous results. But in 
the early 1960s a number of innovative programs began to spring up, 
including a successful one at Pueblo High School in Tucson.

[[Page S363]]

  In 1966, Monroe organized a symposium on the education of Spanish 
speaking children. Prominent educators and elected officials from 
Western States came together, and a consensus emerged that bilingual 
education was a realistic approach to the needs of Spanish speaking 
students.
  U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas credited Monroe for his 
decision to attend the symposium, which influenced him to sponsor the 
Bilingual Education Act of 1968.
  Once the bill was introduced, Monroe Sweetland helped marshal support 
for it. He arranged witnesses for the hearings, and he persuaded the 
NEA to endorse it. Without his efforts, it would not have passed.
  The Latino community in the United States has come a long way since 
1968. But we are still fighting to provide better education 
opportunities for Latino students. As we continue to press onward, I 
hope we never forget the contributions of Monroe Sweetland and others 
who helped pass the Bilingual Education Act of 1968.
  On a personal note, my long-time chief of staff Rey Martinez was 
nurtured in the ways of politics by Monroe. Rey would be the first to 
acknowledge Monroe's political acumen, and I would be the second. 
Oregon and our entire country are a better place because of this good 
man.

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