[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 3 (Thursday, January 20, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S98-S99]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DAVE DISPONETT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today as our Nation celebrates 
the 55th Presidential Inauguration to pay tribute to Mr. Dave 
Disponett, a fellow Kentuckian who is in Washington, DC to attend his 
sixth inauguration.
  Dave is a dedicated member of the Republican Party--a man I am glad 
to have on my team. He has been a witness to history with the swearing 
in of President Richard Nixon in 1969, President Ronald Reagan in 1981 
and 1985, President George H.W. Bush in 1989, President George W. Bush 
in 2001 and again today, January 20, 2005.
  Dave is in the Nation's capita1 today with his wife, daughter, son-
in-law and 10-year old granddaughter--who is already following in her 
grandfather's footsteps by attending her second Presidential 
Inauguration.
  Earlier this week USA Today published a story about Dave and his 
family, ``Kentucky Family Hears Inaugural Call.'' I ask unanimous 
consent that the full article be included in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                   [From USA Today, January 17, 2005]

                  Kentucky Family Hears Inaugural Call

                           (By Bill Nichols)

       Lawrenceburg, Ky.--When Franklin Roosevelt was sworn in as 
     president for the third time in 1941 under the shadow of 
     potential U.S. entry into world war, the program read: 
     ``Inaugurals take their drama from the temper of the times.''
       Dave Disponett, a builder and passionate Republican 
     activist in this traditionally Democratic city of just under 
     10,000, agrees.
       On Thursday, when President Bush takes the oath of office 
     for a second term, Disponett, 69, will attend his sixth 
     inauguration with his wife, daughter, son-in-law and 10-year-
     old granddaughter--who is on inauguration No. 2.
       The Disponett clan, like thousands of other visitors who 
     are descending on Washington, are bracing for a very 
     different inauguration this year. ``I imagine there are going 
     to be lines everywhere, but what can you do?'' Disponett 
     says. It is the nation's first since the Sept. 11 attacks, 
     and extraordinary security precautions are in place.
       But as demonstrated by the treasure trove of inaugural 
     memories and memorabilia--ball tickets, programs and 
     photographs--that Disponett has saved, this mix of pageantry 
     and politics always manages, for good or bad, to reflect the 
     mood of the nation. Spectators seem to come for a party but 
     end up with a little piece of time.
       In 1969, Disponett watched friends climb a light pole on a 
     Washington street to avoid Vietnam protesters who had 
     thronged to Richard Nixon's inauguration. The trip marked 
     Disponett's first time on an airplane; he was 33.
       Twelve years later, he was moved to tears as crowds 
     listened to transistor radios to hear news of the release of 
     the U.S. hostages in Iran as Ronald Reagan was sworn in 1981.
       ``That was the most exciting day of my life,'' Disponett 
     remembers. His daughter Lois Ann, 47, who attended her first 
     inauguration at the age of 10, says the experiences she had 
     were almost impossible to explain to her schoolmates back in 
     Lawrenceburg. ``Most people couldn't grasp it,'' she says of 
     the celebrities and dazzling gowns. ``It was just a world 
     totally beyond their comprehension.'' She felt, she says, 
     like a real-life Cinderella.


                           Security concerns

       Inaugural historian Jerry Wallace, retired from the 
     National Archives, points out that heightened security for 
     the ceremony is not new. Both of Abraham Lincoln's 
     inaugurations found troops on Washington's streets, and the 
     1861 event was held under threat of assassination. Woodrow 
     Wilson's 1917 inauguration, held as the United States 
     considered entering the First World War, also was marked by a 
     show of force.
       Wallace worries, however, that precautions for this year's 
     event could dampen the ability of average Americans to enjoy 
     the day.
       At least 6,000 police officers--some of them heavily 
     armed--will patrol Washington's streets, searching ticket 
     holders and onlookers as F-16s, F-15s and military 
     helicopters patrol the skies.
       ``I find all this security just very oppressive,'' Wallace 
     says. ``The whole dynamic behind an inaugural is not to be 
     exclusive at all.''
       Charlie Brotman, a 77-year-old Washington public relations 
     executive who has been the Inaugural Parade announcer for the 
     past 48 years, says security for the presidential viewing 
     stands on the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the 
     White House will be tighter than any he has experienced. 
     Brotman believes, however, that earlier stretches of the 
     parade will still be quite accessible to the public.
       Phyllis Clark, school services coordinator for Flowing 
     Wells School District in Tucson, will be bringing several 
     dozen eighth-graders to the inauguration for the second time. 
     She worries that her kids won't be able to tour the White 
     House because of the security. ``This year I told the kids 
     that I really don't think we'll get to go in,'' she says.
       But Clark also says the event is also an opportunity to 
     show young people that they have to live their lives to the 
     fullest, even in an age of terrorism. ``We'll still go. And 
     if something happens, we'll look after each other and take 
     care of each other,'' Clark says. ``We can't be so afraid 
     that we don't go anywhere.''


                        Not giving in to terror

       The Disponetts couldn't agree more. Last week, they were 
     busy preparing for their trip to Washington. Ten-year-old 
     Anna-Marie, the daughter of Lois Ann Disponett and husband 
     Todd Hyatt, recently found her coveted $80 ball gown on sale 
     for $20 at a Louisville department store.
       Dave Disponett's rising influence as a GOP activist and 
     fundraiser in Kentucky has given his family increasingly 
     better inaugural access since their first trip in 1969, which 
     Dave and his wife, Brenda, believe was their first trip 
     outside Kentucky. Campaign finance records show Disponett 
     gave $2,000 to the Bush re-election campaign last year, while 
     Brenda gave $2,750 to the National Federation of Republican 
     women.
       Disponett's life as a Republican began in 1953, when he 
     went to register to vote and was told by an Anderson County 
     clerk that there was no point in registering as a Republican 
     since no Republican candidates could get elected in 
     Lawrenceburg. That struck Disponett as not exactly in the 
     democratic spirit, so he registered Republican. In 1967, he 
     helped elect Louis Nunn as Kentucky's first Republican 
     governor in 24 years. That began Disponett's side career as a 
     Republican Party power broker, which facilitated his family's 
     ritual of watching a president get sworn in.


                             Rich memories

       That first year, in 1969, the Disponetts didn't to 
     Inaugural Balls, because, they recall, they couldn't afford 
     the $100 tickets. They were also fairly dazzled by the 
     Washington scene.
       The family didn't go attend Nixon's second-term 
     inauguration in 1973 because of financial reasons, but headed 
     back in 1981 for Reagan's first inauguration. They remember 
     the excitement of the crowd when the 52 U.S. hostages were 
     released by Iran, and that the National Christmas Tree--kept 
     dark because of the hostage crisis--was turned on at last. 
     ``I get goose bumps just thinking about it,'' Lois Ann says.
       By 1981, Dave Disponett also was on his way to becoming a 
     GOP insider. He has a signed photograph of Reagan from the 
     occasion, on the back of which is a note from the late Lee 
     Atwater, Reagan's political director. In 1985, the Disponetts 
     were connected enough to have been invited to attend balls, 
     though Lois Ann says she was surprised that they were so 
     crowded and featured so little dancing. From George H.W. 
     Bush's inauguration in 1989, Dave Disponett proudly shows 
     an unopened commemorative bottle of Korbel champagne, 
     which he bought for $25. After eight years of Democratic 
     rule, the family returned to their inaugural haunts in 
     2001, where they had the pick of events because Sen. Mitch 
     McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, was a key inaugural 
     organizer.
       That year also marked Anna-Marie's inaugural debut. And 
     while she fell asleep in her father's arms during President 
     Bush's inaugural address, the experience does seem to

[[Page S99]]

     have had an effect. She recently asked her grandfather how 
     old he would be in 2030, when she will be 35 and old enough 
     to run for governor in Kentucky. Dave Disponett now says he 
     has a compelling reason to live to be 94.
       Charlie Brotman, the Inaugural Parade announcer, says that 
     despite the security and exclusivity now associated with 
     inaugurations, the event remains a moment of national 
     ceremony that touches even the most cynical Americans. 
     ``Fathers and mothers tell me they want to take their 
     children, so their kids can tell their kids that they were 
     there. It's all about the memories.''
       For the Disponetts, it certainly is. Their job now is to 
     try to keep Anna-Marie from becoming too nonchalant about 
     going to the inaugurations. When her mother told her recently 
     that this year, she'll actually get to dance at a ball, Anna-
     Marie answered, ``Well, what else would you do?''

                          ____________________