[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 113 (Wednesday, September 13, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MONROE SWEETLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DARLENE HOOLEY

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 13, 2006

  Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great man, Monroe 
Sweetland. A political renaissance man who positively affected the 
lives of generations of Oregon students through his commitment to 
higher education.
  A native of Salem, Oregon, Mr. Sweetland was a walking history book 
of Oregon and national politics. A former Oregon legislator, newspaper 
publisher, and education advocate, he counted among his friends many 
illustrious members of the national Democratic Party, including Eleanor 
Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey.
  Despite the accolades and attention, Mr. Sweetland always considered 
the work that he did in the field of education to be his most 
important.
  Through his efforts Portland State University was transformed from a 
struggling city college into a full-fledged urban university, thereby 
giving countless students the opportunity to study at a first-class 
institution.
  In the mid 1960s Mr. Sweetland's career shifted beyond Oregon and he 
became the National Education Association's political director for 13 
western States. It was in this capacity that he initiated what became 
the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, which provided Federal money to 
encourage school districts to try approaches such as teaching English 
as a second language.
  His work at the NEA merely exemplified the compassion that he felt 
for all people, regardless of skin color. He was a vocal critic of the 
internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and is credited 
with helping build support for a civil rights bill passed by the Oregon 
Legislature in 1953, after 17 civil rights bills had been unsuccessful.
  I know that I am joined by my fellow Oregonians, and many others 
across the country, when I express my deepest condolences to Monroe 
Sweetland's family for their loss.
  Oregon has lost one of its greatest citizens, a person whose 
influence will continue to be felt for years to come, and we, as a 
State, are greater for his presence and lesser for his passing.

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