[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S11602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO JEANE KIRKPATRICK

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, our majority leader has been paying 
tribute to some great people we work with, and I agree with every word 
he said. However, we have somebody else who needs tribute today.
  A real American hero died yesterday. That was Jeane Kirkpatrick. It 
happens I have been close to Jeane Kirkpatrick for a number of years. 
People do not realize she was born in Duncan, OK, down in the oil 
patch. She was the daughter of an oil field wildcatter. I knew her way 
back in the early stages before she was even brought up by Ronald 
Reagan to take the lofty positions she held. She was Ronald Reagan's 
foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and the first woman to hold 
the position of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
  When someone was asking me in the media recently what is the one 
thing you can say she made the greatest contribution in, I said, she is 
the first one who called people's attention to what the United Nations 
is doing, the fact that they have gotten involved in things they should 
not be involved in. She was one of the last stalwarts to hold out for 
sovereignty at the United Nations in the United States.
  The Washington Times noted Jeane Kirkpatrick's eyes twinkled at the 
mention of the August 1984 night at the Republican National Convention 
in Dallas when she eviscerated the liberal Democrats as the ``blame 
America first crowd.'' Boy, is she right. Look what has been happening.
  She was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian 
honor, in May of 1985. She received her second Department of Defense 
Distinguished Public Service Medal and has received more medals than 
any other person I know in her field. In 1991, the Kennedy School at 
Harvard University established the Kirkpatrick Chair in International 
Affairs. She served as senior fellow and director of foreign and 
defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. She is 
famous for her Kirkpatrick doctrine which advocates United States 
support of anti-Communist governments around the world. Along with the 
Empower America codirectors, Bill Bennett and Jack Kemp, she has been 
active up to the present time.
  One of the things we worked on together was the John Bolton 
nomination. To me, the saddest day is when we found that John Bolton 
was throwing in the towel. He had been abused enough. The only way to 
save the United Nations was with John Bolton. She got behind him and 
pushed him and got him involved.
  A lot of people say she is too conservative, but she has been 
recognized and compared to, of all people, former Senator Daniel 
Patrick Moynihan. A lot of people do not realize this, but Pat Moynihan 
was also an Oklahoman. The Chicago Tribune said on November 14 of this 
year, such distinguished ambassadors as Democrat Daniel Patrick 
Moynihan and Republican Jeane Kirkpatrick also were criticized for 
tough talk on occasion, even when their passion proved to be right on 
point.
  In recent years, it was Jeane Kirkpatrick who called my attention to 
something happening--and I am not blaming anyone in this Senate. A 
treaty that was called the Law of the Sea Treaty received a 16-to-0 
vote from the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. People did not 
realize that was a treaty that would turn over to the United Nations 
the jurisdiction of two-thirds of the entire surface of the world and 
the air above it. I held hearings as a result of Jeane Kirkpatrick 
calling this to my attention. We were able to stop it when it was ready 
to be passed in the next week.

  I would say we lost a real hero, a real American hero, someone who 
has been fighting Communists and fundamental Islamic terrorists for her 
entire life. She has made a great mark. I love her dearly and will 
certainly miss Jeane Kirkpatrick.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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