[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 109 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9214-S9215]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ARTHUR H. VANDENBERG

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, today I join all of my colleagues in paying 
tribute to one of the giants of the United States Senate, a son of 
Michigan, Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg.
  Earlier today, the Senate Commission on Art unveiled a wonderful 
portrait, painted by Tennessee artist Michael Shane Neal, of Senator 
Vandenberg in the Reception Room just outside of this Chamber. The 
Senate, in 2000, selected Senator Vandenberg for this rare honor, along 
with Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York. They join only five others, 
known as the ``Famous Five'' whose portraits grace the beautiful 
Reception Room, Senators Henry Clay of Kentucky, Daniel Webster of 
Massachusetts, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, Robert M. La 
Follette, Sr. of Wisconsin, and Robert A. Taft of Ohio.
  Arthur Vandenberg was born in Grand Rapids, MI on March 22, 1884. 
After studying law at the University of Michigan, he worked as a 
reporter for the Grand Rapids Herald, later becoming the managing 
editor for the paper. Following the death of U.S. Senator Woodbridge 
Ferris in March 1928, he was appointed by Governor Fred Green to fill 
the vacancy, a seat that he was already campaigning for. In November of 
1928, he was elected in his own right. He was reelected three times, 
rose to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and 
the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate and served in the Senate until 
his death, from lung cancer, in 1951. Although he is best known for his 
views on foreign policy, among his many notable accomplishments was the 
establishment of the FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 
1933.
  Vandenberg entered the Senate as an isolationist, an advocate of very 
limited U.S. involvement in international affairs. However, after the 
Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, he recognized the Nation's greater 
interest and rose above partisanship to become one of the strongest 
proponents of a bipartisan foreign policy. On January 10, 1945, in this 
chamber, he delivered the ``speech heard round the world'' calling for 
the establishment of the United Nations. He was largely responsible for 
drafting the 1945 United Nations Charter, and he steered its passage 
through the Senate. He played a leading role in constructing the 
Marshall Plan, and he engineered the Senate ratification of the NATO 
Treaty.
  A couple of years ago I read David McCullough's best-selling 
biography of Harry Truman. The book makes clear the indispensable role 
of Vandenberg in forging and maintaining the bipartisan coalition in 
Congress that supported Truman's successful post-World War II strategy 
establishing America's place as a leader of the free world and setting 
in motion the foreign policy which ultimately decades later won the 
cold war.
  Senator Arthur Vandenberg's call to ``unite our official voice at the 
water's edge'' resonated for many years, uniting Republicans and 
Democrats in support of the Nation's foreign policy through 
administrations of both parties. The impact of his words were all the 
greater because of his own political roots as a isolationist Republican 
leader. Vandenberg, himself, often liked to

[[Page S9215]]

point out, Pearl Harbor ended isolationism for any realist.
  Arthur Vandenberg was a forward-looking man who saw beyond partisan 
politics and worked for the good of the country. His service in the 
Senate is an example of true bipartisan leadership, which is so 
desperately needed today.
  I know that all of my colleagues in the Senate and the people of 
Michigan join me in celebrating the life and works of this son of 
Michigan, and in congratulating the family of Senator Arthur H. 
Vandenberg.

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