[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 167 (Wednesday, December 21, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14311-S14312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO SENATOR EUGENE McCARTHY OF MINNESOTA

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, Minnesota and the Nation have lost a 
great leader and deep thinker, Senator Gene McCarthy of Minnesota. He 
played an import part in the history of this body and of this Nation, 
and we should carefully consider the lessons of his unique and deeply 
significant public life.
  Gene McCarthy has been described as a philosopher who was a Senator. 
In his youth, many describe Gene as the brightest of scholars and later 
in his life; he was celebrated as skilled poet. In between, he was a 
five term Congressman and two-term Senator. His time in Washington and 
on the national political scene was a display of thoughtfulness, 
serious inquiry, and passionate pursuit of the truth. In the business 
of politics where there is safety in conformity, Gene McCarthy 
celebrated the role of the maverick. He says his role was to provoke 
thought and debate in our system and ensure we adhere more closely to 
lasting principles.
  Eugene Robert McCarthy was born in the town of Watkins, in rural 
Meeker County, MN, on March 29, 1916. He began a life time of1eing in 
the schools of Watkins. He graduated from St. John's University, 
Collegeville, MN, in 1935 with the highest GPA in the school's history. 
He also studied at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis until 
1939. Professionally, he was a high school teacher in Minnesota and 
North Dakota for 5 years and eventually became a professor of economics 
and education at St. John's University from 1940 to 1943 an instructor 
in sociology and economics at St. Thomas College, St. Paul, MN, from 
1946 to 1949.
  In 1944, his service to the United States began during World War II, 
when he was a civilian technical assistant in the Military Intelligence 
Division of the War Department.

[[Page S14312]]

  He was first elected to the U.S. Congress as a Representative from 
Minnesota in 1948 and served five terms. In 1958, he won a seat in the 
Senate where he remained for two terms. One of the focuses of his 
Senate career was the work of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 
which has been a common interest of most of Minnesota's Senators and an 
indication of the strong international character of our State.
  I first became aware of Gene McCarthy in 1967 when I was campus 
organizer at Hofstra University. In a time of boiling-over passions, I 
remember being impressed with Gene McCarthy's thoughtfulness and 
seriousness. He was an unlikely leader for ``youth revolution,'' but he 
balanced our youthful over-exuberance with a steady articulation of 
principles and commitment. He encouraged young people to ``Get Clean 
with Gene:'' to stop ``tuning in, turning on and dropping out'' and to 
clean up our act and get involved in the political process. He knew 
that a movement based on self-indulgence was doomed to failure.
  Gene McCarthy's life predates the experience of contemporary American 
youth, but still has important lessons for them. First, political 
involvement should not rest on raw emotion. Instead, to sustain your 
position you need to ``do your homework,'' which could mean years of 
study.
  Second, you should not be intimidated by the generation in power. The 
great movements of history have been led and supported by young people, 
so the force of youthful enthusiasm should never be underestimated. 
Third, Gene McCarthy demonstrated that you earn the right to have your 
ideas taken seriously by engaging responsibly in the political process. 
He believed that the solution to all problems in a democracy is more 
democracy, which means participation, ideas, hard work and 
perseverance. His personal experience in 1968, even though it was 
politically unsuccessful, opened a door into the political process that 
can't be closed. Young people of all political persuasions should seize 
that opportunity and help shape the world in which they will grow old.
  In 1968, Gene McCarthy certainly seized opportunities. He announced 
that he was willing and available to be President in November of 1968 
and two months later stunned President Johnson, and the political world 
with a close second place finish in the New Hampshire primary. His 
success encouraged Robert Kennedy to enter the race and President 
Johnson withdrew shortly thereafter. McCarthy did not win the 
nomination, which went to fellow Minnesotan Hubert Humphrey, but he 
changed the dynamics of politics in America. He helped create the 
phenomenon of bringing young people into the process in large numbers 
to challenge the power of the ``smoke filled room.''
  When Gene McCarthy left the Senate, he returned to the place he 
always was most at home: the world of ideas and words. When you look at 
the list of the 15 books he published, it is remarkable to see that 
they are either challenging works of non-fiction policy analysis or 
poetry. As a poet, Gene McCarthy probably knew Samuel Johnson's 
statement that ``poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.'' 
That sums up his life.
  Like a lot of Minnesotans, Eugene McCarthy took great pleasure not in 
the usual ways, but through service. He served as a teacher. He served 
as a scholar. He served as a public policy leader. He served as a 
motivator and organizer of youth. He served as a brave voice, 
challenging the powerful status quo. And he served as a poet, rendering 
great ideas into beautiful words.
  Gene McCarthy lived a bold and uncompromising life, which is the only 
kind of life that creates real change. He was always more interested in 
the truth than in people's opinion of him. He lived out Amelia 
Earhart's statement that ``Courage is price that life exacts for 
granting peace.'' His life was about living out the courage of his 
convictions and that was his peace. He changed a nation by choosing 
that tough road instead of a life of compliance.
  We are grateful for his service and memory, and we should all be 
inspired to take up his courage of conviction for the new chapters of 
American challenge and progress ahead.

                          ____________________