[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 9, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5824-S5825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              Jack Valenti

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, in the time allotted to me, I will talk 
about some other things. Later this afternoon, a wonderful American man 
who had a life that epitomizes what is best in our country will be 
buried in Arlington. I am speaking about Jack Valenti. Jack and his 
wife Mary Margaret first took my wife Marcel and I under their wings 
when I came here as an unknown 34-year-old Senator from Vermont. We had 
so many wonderful times with both of them. There would be times, 
obviously, as many of us did during Jack's years as president of the 
Motion Picture Association, when we would gather for a dinner at the 
MPAA, always with at least one Italian dish, and then watch a first-run 
movie. Jack would be greeting everybody by name. For those of us who 
sometimes have to remember the names of our own families, he was 
remarkable. But the remarkable thing was, he greeted everybody. He knew 
about you and was interested in what you were interested in, but also 
on the points that he wanted to get across, he would do so in a way 
with integrity, with brilliance, and with the respect of both 
Republicans and Democrats, as he would go through the halls of the 
Senate and the House.
  On a personal basis, with he and Mary Margaret, we would sit 
sometimes having a quiet meal at their house or on one occasion at a 
favorite restaurant of theirs, on a soft summer evening, sitting 
outdoors and talking about kids and, in that case, their pending 
grandchild. I could not help but think about this man, who by all 
rights never should have made it through World War II. He was a highly 
decorated fighter bomber pilot. He went through battles where there 
were enormous casualties. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross 
and just about every other bravery medal one could, and he survived.
  He came back to a career that ranged from being somber, as we all 
know, in Texas at the time of President Kennedy's death, to going on 
the plane with President Johnson, and sharing those Texas roots and 
working with him.
  From a personal point of view, I think of the time he spent with my 
late mother who was an Italian American. They had that bond. He would 
single her out at national gatherings of Italian Americans. She loved 
it. She called me once and said: I saw that nice young man on 
television. I said: Mother, whom are you talking about? She said: Jack 
Valenti, that nice young man. I said: Mom, Jack is almost 20 years 
older than I am. She said: Really. Well, he doesn't look it. And then 
came the killing shot. She said: Patrick, you should take better care 
of yourself. When Jack had one of his many retirement parties--I will 
speak to that in a moment--I told that story.
  I am afraid more than one person in the audience agrees with my 
mother.
  I said ``one of his many retirements.'' He never retired. He 
continued to write books. He had one that he just finished before a 
stroke silenced him a few

[[Page S5825]]

weeks ago. I have a copy of his book in my desk on the Senate floor. I 
have a copy of all his books. They are well written. He had a command 
of the English language that all of us would like to think we could 
master with the best of all speechwriters, and we can't. He did it. He 
was his own speechwriter. Nobody else could begin to match what he did.
  One of the things I think of--and I was thinking of this at his 
funeral, where I had the honor of being an honorary pallbearer--I spoke 
with Mary Margaret and his son John afterward, his daughter Courtney. I 
was speaking with others. I remembered an op-ed piece that my friend 
Matt Gerson wrote for the Saturday, April 28, Washington Post about 
Jack. Matt refers to the mentoring that he did of so many people. Matt 
refers to his own mentoring by Jack Valenti.
  Well, I am one of those Senators--one of hundreds of Senators--on 
both sides of the aisle mentored by Jack. I, along with my wife, am 
among the thousands of people who will miss his phone calls, who will 
miss his conversations, who will miss his friendship, and we join in 
sending our condolences to Mary Margaret, and know she carries on great 
memories of her own, and memories we will continue to share.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the op-ed piece I 
referred to by Matt Gerson be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                       [Saturday, April 28, 2007]

                    What Jack Valenti Taught Us All

                            (By Matt Gerson)

       Jack Valenti lived a unique life between two of society's 
     fascinations--politics and Hollywood. For Republicans and 
     Democrats, for senators and young aides, for celebrities and 
     the legions behind the cameras, interactions with him were 
     graduate seminars in history, politics, human nature and 
     common sense. This extraordinary communicator punctuated 
     every conversation with a witticism linked to his beloved 
     Texas, a quote from an obscure historical figure or a rule 
     passed on to him by his mentor, Lyndon Johnson. In the weeks 
     leading up to his death Thursday, all over town a simple 
     ``How's Jack?'' almost always led to, ``You know, I try to 
     live by something I once heard him say.''
       I first noticed his reach when a lunch companion said, ``I 
     try to return every phone call the same day I receive it, and 
     I try to treat an appointment secretary like a Cabinet 
     secretary.'' That was followed by a senator who revealed: 
     ``Jack was the first one to contact me after my son died. I 
     will never forget his concern and support. How can I reach 
     his family?''
       For those Jack mentored during the 38 years he dedicated to 
     America's film industry, it became clear that character was 
     defined by loyalty. In both Washington and Hollywood, people 
     often desert ``friends'' at the first whiff of public 
     disfavor. Not Jack--time and again he insisted that you never 
     abandon a friend who was going through a rough time, and he 
     always stood with a beleaguered colleague or public official 
     who was receiving unwanted publicity.
       He would tell his team to respect every elected official 
     (``because you never even ran for dog catcher, and they were 
     sent here by the people''). He admonished us that your 
     adversary today might be your ally tomorrow. ``In a political 
     struggle, never get personal--else the dagger digs too 
     deep.''
       Jack rejected the partisanship that gripped Washington and 
     would warn that ``nothing lasts--today's minority backbencher 
     will be tomorrow's subcommittee chairman.'' On the day the 
     Motion Picture Association of America headquarters was named 
     the Jack Valenti Building, Sen. Ted Stevens observed, ``Jack 
     works across the aisle because he doesn't see an aisle. It is 
     the root of his success and what others ought to emulate.''
       Each of the six studio chiefs who spoke at the dedication 
     ceremony emphasized that Jack's word was his bond--if he made 
     a promise, he never wavered. His rock-solid commitment gave 
     him unusual credibility with leaders on both coasts and 
     around the world.
       Jack was a gifted public speaker who put incredible effort 
     into making it all look effortless. He would rework his text 
     behind closed doors, reciting it until the cadence was just 
     right. Jack was ebullient when a president complimented him 
     once on the ``extemporaneous'' remarks he had made at the 
     Gridiron Club. ``The president couldn't believe I didn't have 
     a prepared text. I neglected to mention that I didn't need 
     notes because I spent several days getting ready,'' he said.
       It was especially fun to watch Washington's most 
     accomplished professionals try to decipher one of his 
     homilies. They eventually got the point and often adopted the 
     line as their own. When a project was in trouble, it was time 
     to ``hunker down like a mule in a hailstorm.'' [Modified from 
     the original Texas vernacular for a family newspaper.] When 
     prospects got even worse, ``The ox was in the ditch.'' But 
     every problem could be addressed if you remembered ``the 
     three most important words in the English language: Wait a 
     minute.''
       When someone from the MPAA left to take a new job, Jack 
     would say, ``I like to think I teach my people everything 
     they know. But I know I didn't teach them everything I 
     know.'' That line always got a laugh. I worked with Jack for 
     six years and was friends with him for nearly two decades. In 
     the past few years, frankly, I thought I had gleaned every 
     lesson he had to offer. But then I picked up the galleys of 
     his soon-to-be-published memoir, a book that tracks his 
     ``Greatest Generation'' fable. This grandson of Sicilian 
     immigrants, decorated combat pilot, Harvard MBA (``thanks to 
     the greatest piece of social legislation ever devised by 
     man--the G.I. Bill''), presidential adviser and confidant of 
     America's business leaders has left a treatise with even more 
     rules to live by.
       One paragraph is a must-read for the BlackBerry-addicted. 
     Jack quoted Emerson's observation that ``for every gain, 
     there is a loss. For every loss, there is a gain.'' While 
     lamenting the number of nights he spent away from his family, 
     he reminded us that attending one more reception meant 
     missing a meal around the dinner table, and one extra night 
     on a business trip would mean one less chance to help with 
     homework or watch a soccer game.
       I have recounted that quote many times over the past few 
     weeks. And while this loss is devastating for many in 
     Washington and Los Angeles, the life lessons that are his 
     legacy are our gain.