[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 15 (Thursday, January 25, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S1183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO SENATOR GEORGE A. SMATHERS

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, on Monday I have the great 
privilege of delivering the eulogy at the funeral for Senator George 
Smathers in whose office I had the privilege, as a college student, of 
interning. As I greet each of our interns in our Senate offices as they 
rotate, I always tell them the story of being an intern, how it had a 
profound influence on my life because that summer, interning for 
Senator Smathers, I met his son Bruce. Bruce and I then became college 
roommates. After law school and the military, Bruce introduced me to my 
wife, and I returned the favor and introduced Bruce to his wife. And 
his son, little Bruce, is my godson. So over the years, I have had the 
privilege of having my life intersecting with the Smathers family, so 
much so that when I came to the Senate, I requested that I have the 
desk of George Smathers.
  It is with that background that, indeed, it is a great honor for me 
that the family has asked me to deliver the eulogy. It will be a great 
privilege for me, next Monday, to recall the great life and times of 
this great American and great Floridian. I will just mention a couple 
of things in his career. I will elaborate at greater length and will 
introduce that eulogy into the Record of the Senate after I have given 
it.
  I wish to mention that was a Senate which had giants with whom all of 
us in my generation grew up--Symington of Missouri and Johnson of Texas 
and Dirksen of Illinois and Mansfield of Montana and, from my State, 
Smathers and Holland.
  Johnson really relied on Smathers--so much so that when there was a 
vacancy as the assistant majority leader, he asked Smathers to fill in 
temporarily. And when Senator Johnson, the majority leader, ended up 
having his heart attack and was out of work for 7 months, George 
Smathers stood in as the acting majority leader. Upon Senator Johnson's 
return, he asked Senator Smathers to be his permanent assistant 
majority leader. LBJ was not someone who was accustomed to having 
someone tell him no, but his friend from Florida told him that he 
should not do it.
  I will just mention one other fact. George Smathers, as a young 
Congressman, met Fidel Castro in 1948. Fidel Castro told him that he 
was going to take over Cuba. That was 11 years before Castro ousted the 
hated dictator Batista. Smathers was always leery of Fidel Castro, and 
he often warned people, before Castro took over and, in fact, after 
Castro was in. When so many in the world thought he got rid of the 
hated dictator Batista, Smathers said: Watch out, he is going to 
consolidate power and he is going to become a problem. He was 
prophetic. That is exactly what happened.
  That was the kind of leadership we had. It is the passing of an era. 
America has lost one of her great leaders, and Florida has lost one of 
its great sons. It is my privilege to bring these remarks to the 
Senate.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sanders). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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