[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 70 (Tuesday, May 18, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S5602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              100TH BIRTHDAY OF LATE SENATOR JACOB JAVITS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today to remember and pay tribute 
to the late Senator Jacob Javits on what would have been his 100th 
birthday. I have the honor of currently serving in his Senate seat and 
I remember Jack with the deepest admiration and affection. We shared 
many passions, and one true love--New York and its citizens.
  Jack did both jobs of Senator so well. He was a big thinker, a 
compassionate and visionary legislator, an important actor in global 
affairs. But when an ordinary citizen or a non-profit group or 
struggling company in New York needed his help, he was there. And that 
was his legacy; he made all our lives better.
  Born in a tenement on the lower east side of Manhattan on May 18, 
1904, Jack was the son of Jewish immigrant parents from Galicia and the 
Turkish Empire. He was educated in New York City's public schools, 
attended night classes at Columbia University and graduated from New 
York University Law School in 1926. From there he practiced law in New 
York City until joining the Army in 1941. Javits served in both Europe 
and the Pacific during World War II and was discharged as a lieutenant 
colonel in 1945. After the war, Jack resumed practicing law until he 
ran for office in 1946.
  In 1946, Jack was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in New 
York's traditionally Democratic 21st District, which included 
Manhattan's upper west side, home to Columbia University. He served in 
the House for 8 years and had a seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. 
He then served as New York's attorney general from 1954 to 1956. In 
1956, Jack won election to the United States Senate, defeating New York 
City Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. He would go on to serve 24 years in 
the Senate, tied with Senator Moynihan for the longest service of any 
New York Senator.
  He served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1969, later 
attaining the position of ranking Republican member. His service on 
that committee would spur a lifelong interest and involvement with 
foreign affairs and particularly Israel. He also served as ranking 
member of the Labor and Human Resources Committee and the Committee on 
Governmental Affairs.
  Although he had a long and distinguished Senate career, Jack was most 
beloved and admired for his courageous efforts in the civil rights 
struggle. From his very first days in the Senate, Jack was a courageous 
leader in the fight against segregation and racial discrimination. He 
campaigned passionately for passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act and 
played a major role in the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 
1964 and in other civil rights legislation that followed.
  During the Vietnam era, Jack became a major critic of the war, and 
subsequently, one of his major concerns became the question of who has 
the power to make war. Jack was a primary sponsor of the War Powers 
Resolution of 1973, which reestablished congressional responsibility, 
rather than presidential, to commit U.S. armed forces abroad in the 
absence of a formal declaration of war.
  He was deeply troubled that the Congress had in many ways abdicated 
its proper role during the Vietnam War. I think many of us today share 
the very same concerns that Jack had some 30 years ago. For Jack cared 
deeply about the U.S. Senate, its debates, its constitutional 
authority. Its Members were his best friends. It did not matter whether 
he agreed with them or if they challenged or even attacked him--they 
were all his colleagues.
  Jack once said of the Senate, ``I was stimulated by the ebb and flow 
of debate and the philosophic tensions of the work we did--balancing 
lofty principles against sectional or selfish interests, welding 
together antagonistic human and economic and ideological forces into 
the coherent schemes of governance that we call laws.'' Jack respected 
the Members of the Senate with a full heart and his great affection for 
them was returned in full measure.
  A 1981 New York Times article remarked, ``whether or not you agreed 
with him on a given issue, you always knew that Mr. Javits was one of 
the brightest, hardest working and most effective elected officials in 
Washington in our time.''
  After leaving the Senate in 1980, Jack visited and corresponded with 
many of his former political colleagues and maintained his interest in 
foreign affairs. In 1981, he served as special advisor on foreign 
policy issues of then Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig, Jr. He was 
a member of the American Jewish Commission on the Holocaust and wrote 
numerous articles on international matters in publications such as the 
New York Times, Newsday, and Foreign Affairs.
  The last project of his final, heroic years combined those elements 
that meant most to him. Jack created the concept of the Javits Senate 
Fellowship, a program that made available to the Senate many of the 
finest graduate students in public policy that our country could 
produce.
  He asked these students of outstanding academic background to carry 
out his commitment to excellence in public service, to learn firsthand 
about the Senate and to bring to their own lives the values and 
experience which they had gained in the Senate. Many of these young 
people have gone on to very distinguished careers and accomplishments.
  Jack knew that, in truth, the best way to be remembered would be 
through the accomplishments of the next generation, through those who 
would carry forward his spirit, his commitment to public service, and 
his abiding respect for, and love of, the United States Senate.
  We remember Jack with deep admiration on what would have been his 
100th birthday. His accomplishments for New York and the Nation will 
long be honored and remembered.

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