[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S7542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING PHILIP M. KAISER

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to 
honor the memory of Philip Kaiser, a dear family friend who was also an 
outstanding public servant. In a career that spanned four decades, he 
served as an ambassador to four countries and as Assistant Secretary of 
Labor for International Affairs. He was a man of tremendous 
accomplishment who was sought out by U.S. Presidents, from Truman to 
Carter, for his unparalleled diplomatic skills.
  While he served as Ambassador to Senegal in the early 1960s, he 
brokered a critical agreement with the Senegalese President that 
prevented Soviet aircraft from refueling there during the Cuban Missile 
Crisis, in case the Soviets tried to use aircraft to break the 
blockade. Later, when he served as Ambassador to Hungary during the 
Carter Administration, he negotiated the return of a powerful national 
symbol in Hungary, the Crown of St. Stephen, to the Hungarians after it 
had been held for safekeeping in the United States after World War II.
  Ambassador Kaiser received his undergraduate degree at the University 
of Wisconsin and then studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Those 
experiences undoubtedly influenced his career, and, as it turns out, 
they influenced my career as well. It was because Philip Kaiser went to 
the University of Wisconsin that he met my father, Leon Feingold. They 
became, and always remained, good friends. As I grew up, I got to know 
Ambassador Kaiser, and heard so much about him from my father. As a 
young man with an interest in public service and foreign affairs, I 
looked up to Ambassador Kaiser. In fact, one of the reasons I applied 
for a Rhodes Scholarship was because Ambassador Kaiser had been a 
Rhodes Scholar himself.
  I am proud to have known Ambassador Kaiser and proud of his 
connection to my family. I am deeply saddened by his passing, and my 
thoughts are with his wife, his children and grandchildren, and his 
many friends during this difficult time. He left a lasting mark on this 
country and the world, and it is an honor to pay tribute to his memory 
today.

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