[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 22 (Monday, February 11, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S825-S826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO TOM LANTOS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on another subject, I, too, want to 
talk about the passing of our good friend, Tom Lantos. It would have 
been easy to excuse Tom Lantos for turning against the world after the 
sufferings he endured as a young man. But the reason we admire certain 
people is they do not do what we would expect them to do in the face of 
extraordinary trials. They transcend them. And that is why a cold wind 
swept through the Capitol this morning when we heard that Tom had 
passed away.
  America's history is a history of unlikely success stories, but even 
by American standards, Tom's was stunning. When the Nazis invaded 
Hungary in the frenzied last months of the war, he threw on a cadet's 
uniform and secretly funneled food and medical supplies to those in 
hiding. He later said he assumed he wouldn't make it out alive, but he 
``wanted to be of some use.''
  He would add many more years to be of use--not only to his beloved 
wife Annette and their large extended family or to the people of 
California's 12th District but to suffering and oppressed people. His 
own bitter experiences led him to make no distinction at all among 
those who were denied their basic human rights. He would always be 
grateful for the honor of being able to help them. Well into his 
seventies, he said he still got goosebumps looking up at the flag on 
the Capitol on his morning walk to work.
  Tom and I had our differences on domestic issues, but it was a great 
mark of his commitment to human rights that he frequently joined 
Republicans when these rights were at stake. He worked with the 
Republicans to introduce a resolution expressing solidarity with Israel 
in its fight against terrorism. He worked with the Republicans to get 
funds to fight AIDS around the world. Every year since 2003, he and I 
were the House and Senate sponsors of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy 
Act.
  We were also united in our strong support for Israel. We took leading 
roles in the House and Senate on the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act. 
And we were united in our concerns about Iran. Tom introduced the Iran 
Counterproliferation Act in the House. I cosponsored it in the Senate.
  When Tom was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness last month, he 
responded again in an extraordinary way. He responded with gratitude. 
He said:

       It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor 
     of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground 
     could have received an education, raised a family, and had 
     the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life 
     as a Member of Congress.

  We know Tom's decision to retire was especially painful, since he had 
just last year been named chairman of the House Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, a committee he had served on for 26 years. It was a position 
he said he had been preparing for his whole life.
  With his distinctive accent, his grace, and his deep learning--he 
spoke five languages and devoted 6 hours a day to reading books and 
magazines--Tom always gave the impression of being a true gentleman of 
the House, and he was. But he was just as tough. Tom Lantos 
accomplished something few people do in life: he committed himself to 
an ideal and followed through on it until the end. He gave it 
everything he had, and America admires him for it.
  I want to express Elaine's and my deepest sympathies to Annette. We 
got to know Tom and Annette on several trips abroad, which is a way you 
make friendships around here, both across the aisle and in the other 
body. Annette and Tom lived near us here on Capitol Hill. I recall 
frequently seeing Annette out walking the dog. So we grieve for her and 
their daughters and the entire extended Lantos family on their loss.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I want to spend a few moments to eulogize 
our old friend, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 
Tom Lantos. He has been one of my dear friends all these years. I have 
been here 31 years, and he was here 26 years. He and Annette have 
really been wonderful people in Elaine's and my life.
  Mr. President, this morning began sadly, as the two leaders have 
said, with the news of the death of Congressman Tom Lantos, one of the 
giants among the Democrats in the House, and, frankly, among all 
Members of Congress during the last 28 years. Congressman Lantos had 
been diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, and had recently announced 
he would not run for a 14th term for the 12th District of California, 
which he so ably served since 1980.
  Tom Lantos led a remarkable life. A Hungarian Jew, he lived what he 
said was a happy childhood until the Hungarian fascist allies of Hitler 
brought the Holocaust to Hungary. Through most of the war, he was 
interned in various forced labor camps, some from which he escaped, and 
was at least once recaptured, following a beating that he later said, 
``I was pleasantly surprised to survive.''
  After a final escape, he spent the remainder of the war in hiding, 
protected, as so many Hungarian Jews were, by Raoul Wallenberg, the man 
who risked his life to protect as many of Hungary's Jews as he could 
and who vanished into the Soviet camps at the end of the war. One of 
the great days of my life was to pay homage to Raoul Wallenberg at the 
monument in Europe.
  Six hundred thousand Hungarian Jews perished in the Holocaust, 
including Tom Lantos's family. One of the first initiatives of 
Congressman Lantos upon coming to the House of Representatives in 1980 
was to pass legislation granting Raoul Wallenberg U.S. citizenship.
  Tom Lantos was, in his words, ``an American by choice,'' and to know 
him was to see that every day of his life he embraced the opportunities 
an immigrant can find in this great country. He arrived penniless to 
this country, as my two colleagues have said. According to his 
biography, his only possession was ``a precious Hungarian salami,'' 
which was confiscated upon arrival, as my colleagues mentioned. But 
with a scholarship and hard work, he earned a Ph.D. in economics and

[[Page S826]]

taught at San Francisco's State University for almost three decades, 
developing, during that time, his credentials as a commentator on world 
affairs.
  Tom Lantos brought to the House his passionate patriotism and the 
drive of a survivor. When people would comment on the demands of his 
work, which included regular travel to his constituency 3,000 miles 
away, his global travels as a Member of the House Foreign Affairs 
Committee, which he recently chaired, and the hectic pace of his other 
congressional assignments, he would be quick to remind us that this was 
nothing in comparison to what he had faced as a young man.
  He founded the House Human Rights Caucus, a platform which he used to 
highlight the human rights abuses around the world, and with which he 
became inextricably associated. For many of us in Congress and for many 
oppressed through the world, Congressman Lantos was the chairman for 
human rights.
  He was a Democrat who believed in the use of American power for good 
and who understood the nuances of subtle, as well as confrontational, 
diplomacy.
  For example, he kept trying to get a visa to visit Tehran because he 
believed there was always room to talk with enemies as well as friends. 
But when asked what he would say to the dictators in Tehran, he was 
less than subtle:

       I will tell the Iranians the truth--that it's a great 
     country and they need to be reintegrated into the family of 
     civilized nations and that they must give up their lunatic 
     notions.

  Less than subtle, to be sure, but truthful. It is hard to disagree 
with this view, Mr. President.
  Tom Lantos also recognized that diplomacy could fail and the use of 
the U.S. military could achieve noble ends. He was a strong supporter 
of the military during the Cold War, supported military assistance to 
Israel, urged President Clinton to lead NATO forces against Milosevic's 
genocide, and supported our interventions in Iraq, although, to be fair 
to him, he was critical, as many of us have been, about the 
implementation of our invasion of Iraq.
  The point is, Tom Lantos represented the wing of the Democratic Party 
that kept central our national security concerns, that recognized our 
duty in the world, and accepted that the use of force is sometimes 
required. This is the wing of the Democratic Party that needs to 
survive if that party is to remain relevant to the events in the world 
that will continually shape us.
  I am honored to have been a friend of Tom Lantos for decades. We 
loved each other. We showed that love repeatedly over the years. He was 
a dear friend, and I want everybody to know just how deeply I felt 
about him. Our staffs worked together well, and he always had my 
admiration and respect.
  I will never forget a tour he gave me and Senators Reid and Daschle 
of the old Jewish ghetto in Budapest when our separate codels happened 
to be in that city at the same time in 1996. Later, he gave us a 
personal tour of the magnificent Hungarian Parliament building. One of 
the first post-Communist governments was in power, and they so highly 
regarded Tom Lantos for his heritage, as well as his anti-Communist 
stance throughout his life, that he was granted free access throughout 
the building. He even knew where to turn the lights on.
  The prayers and thoughts of Elaine and I go out to Annette, his 
beautiful wife of 58 years, whom he married in California, but who, 
like himself, was a survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary and was 
actually a childhood sweetheart. The fact that they loved each other as 
long as they have, that they came from similar backgrounds, and worked 
together daily throughout their lives only makes her loss that much 
sadder.
  Our condolences go out to her and their two wonderful children. And I 
believe there are 18 grandchildren. But the death of Tom Lantos is a 
great loss, as well, to his constituents, to his colleagues in the 
House, to his party, and to all of us in Congress. It is a loss to our 
great Nation and to all those who strive in solidarity for the cause of 
human rights.
  Tom Lantos was slight of build, but he was a giant. He was a moral 
force who used the authority of a survivor from the Holocaust, of an 
American immigrant, and of a scholar and leader to show the great 
institution of Congress how it can lead in a dangerous and often 
immoral world.
  Elaine and I loved Tom, we love Annette, and we hope we can be of 
some assistance to Annette and her family as we move into the future. 
But we will miss Tom very badly. What a great and noble man who 
suffered so much for freedom.
  I thank the Chair.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, that was a very fine tribute from the Senator 
from Utah to a very fine man. I had the honor of serving with Tom 
Lantos in the House of Representatives, and I certainly join all others 
who mourn his death today.
  I wonder if I might ask the Senator from California--I think she 
would like to make a FISA presentation. I understand the Senator would 
like to have about an hour. Is that how long she plans to speak?
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Senator. I would like to say a few words 
about Tom Lantos, he was a friend, and also speak on two amendments on 
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
  Mr. KYL. I wonder if, in the spirit the Senator and I have frequently 
resolved matters, I have about 10 minutes of presentation. Perhaps if 
we can enter into an agreement, you proceed and make your comments 
about Representative Lantos, I will speak for my 10 minutes or so, with 
the understanding that you then conclude the remainder of your remarks. 
We could propose that in the form of a unanimous consent agreement. 
Would that be acceptable?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Senator from California is recognized.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I had the great pleasure of knowing 
Tom Lantos as a friend and as a mentor. I have known him for many 
years. I last spoke with him about 3 weeks ago, maybe 4, and he said he 
was going to forego treatment, that he was ready for whatever would 
come, that he and Annette were going to remain in Washington, that he 
was very content with his medical treatment at Bethesda, and he did not 
believe he would try anything heroic.
  Those of us who know, know cancer of the esophagus is devastating and 
unrelenting. From that point on, I began to think quite a bit about Tom 
Lantos. I thought back when Yahoo had the confrontation with China and 
did not stand up but gave in to China, and Tom stood on his feet, with 
amazing blue eyes and his gray hair, and said: They are moral pygmies.
  He called it as it was. He stood for human rights. After 30 years in 
the House, he became Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. 
Regretfully, his life ended before he had much more time than a year in 
that position.
  Tom Lantos represented the district directly to the south of my city, 
San Francisco. He was a wonderful Representative. I watched him over 
the past 30 years as time went on. I watched his 18 grandchildren grow. 
I remember meeting them in the airport in Denver. I do not know whether 
Members know this; some of them were home schooled, and they went to 
college at the age of 14. That is pretty amazing; all high achievers, 
all very close, a tight family; a wife who was his childhood 
sweetheart.
   This does not often happen. But then if you think back to Hungary in 
those days, and you think back to a young, blue-eyed man in the camps, 
escaping at night, being caught, coming back, leaving again, becoming 
part of Raoul Wallenberg's group, coming to this country, becoming 
educated and all the greatness of the country opening before him.
  He truly measured up to the greatness of America. I was very proud to 
call Tom Lantos a friend and a mentor. He will be missed. He will be 
missed in his district, he will be missed in California, and he will be 
missed in the United States.
  I yield the floor.

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