[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 106 (Thursday, June 28, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1442-E1443]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING JACK VALENTI

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. DAVID DREIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 25, 2007

  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, it took a larger-than-life man like Jack 
Valenti to bridge 2 larger-than-life worlds like Hollywood and 
Washington. It is fitting that this legendary character, whose own life 
was often like an epic film, would end up in the movie business.
  From a very early age, the passion and drive that would motivate him 
for his 85 years were clearly evident. Lacking the money to go to 
college, Jack worked to put himself through school and eventually get 
his MBA at Harvard. During that time, he also joined the Army, flew 51 
missions and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.
  He got his first taste of politics in Houston, TX, when he met 
Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson, and he was hooked. He campaigned heavily 
for the Kennedy-Johnson ticket in 1960 and maintained the relationship 
with Lyndon Johnson through November 1963 when the Vice President asked 
for his help with a Presidential visit to Dallas. On that fateful day 
of November 22, Jack was just a few cars away from President Kennedy 
when the shots were fired.
  Through that tumultuous time, Jack returned to DC with now President 
Johnson, and grew to be his close confidant and advisor. That solemn 
trip on Air Force One would be the trip to Washington from which Jack 
never really returned. As presidential advisor, and then President of 
the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti become one of 
those rare Washington denizens that shapes and defines a city that 
usually does the shaping and defining.
  Through nearly 4 decades at MPAA, he shepherded the most powerful 
names in Hollywood around countless industry and political landmines. 
As the world grew flatter, technology grew smarter and politics 
remained as volatile as ever, Jack Valenti's vision helped the American 
movie business not only weather these challenges, but emerge bigger 
than ever.
  He was an undeniable force felt on both coasts. And now his absence 
is also felt undeniably.

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