[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 92 (Thursday, June 5, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5198-S5199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING SENATOR VANCE HARTKE

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, it is a privilege today to submit to the 
Record an essay by Jan Hartke, my friend and the son of our late 
colleague, Senator Vance Hartke of Indiana.
  William Butler Yeats famously wrote: ``my glory was I had such 
friends.'' To know Vance Hartke as a cherished friend, as an ally to 
all who are not just unashamed but actually proud to seek peace, as a 
fellow Navy man, and particularly as a mentor, protector, and champion 
for those of us who returned from Vietnam to oppose the war--really, 
that was all the glory or honor any of us ever really need or deserve.
  Vance's passing hit me like a punch to the gut; I was driving in New 
Hampshire in July of that long hot summer of 2003, in the middle of a 
Presidential campaign, when the jarring news came to me--and brought 
back memories of my earliest years as an antiwar activist, and of a 
public servant who shared our cause and our concerns. Then and 
throughout his life, Vance was compelling in the absolute sincerity of 
his character. He was spurred to soul-searching by America's disastrous 
intervention in Vietnam. He found himself asking, as many now ask of 
Iraq, not just ``How do we end this war?'' but ``How do we learn from 
our mistakes and end the mindset that got us into war?''
  It was a profound moral compass that led Senator Hartke to work with 
Senators Mark Hatfield, Jennings Randolph, Sam Nunn, and Spark 
Matsunaga on legislation to found the U.S. Institute of Peace, whose 
continued work studying conflict and building understanding has become 
a testament to the nobility of Vance's aspirations and the life he 
lived in support of them.
  With the groundbreaking of a beautiful new building, the organization 
built to house Senator Hartke's ideas finally has a home worthy of its 
founder.
  Here, for the Senate Record, is a powerful essay--which captures 
Vance's vision as only his son could--in honor of this historic event.
  I ask unanimous consent to have the essay to which I referred printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  New Peace Building on Nation's Mall

       A new building dedicated to international peace will begin 
     to rise in Washington, D.C. between the Lincoln Memorial and 
     the Kennedy Center at the northwest corner of the

[[Page S5199]]

     National Mall during a groundbreaking ceremony on June 5, 
     2008. President Bush and Speaker Pelosi will offer remarks.
       The building will house the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), 
     with its headquarters and public education center, an idea 
     whose roots can be traced back to President George Washington 
     and the framers of the U.S. Constitution.
       The building will not be a monument to an individual or 
     commemorate a significant event in our nation's history. 
     Rather, it will be a place where the hard work of peace goes 
     on, where globally recognized experts on conflict resolution 
     will seek ways to prevent accidental and unnecessary wars, 
     limit their scope and severity, and identify and facilitate 
     exit strategies. The USIP building will symbolize America's 
     most cherished ideal--enduring peace on earth.
       The design of this historic building by world-renowned 
     architect, Moshe Safdie, is in perfect harmony with its noble 
     purpose. From its imaginative white roof shaped like the 
     wings of a dove, to its open and transparent glass atrium, 
     the USIP building seems infused with the hope and promise and 
     work of peace.
       The idea for the USIP arose during the Vietnam War, when 
     Senator Vance Hartke tried to make the case to his friend, 
     President Johnson, that the war was a terrible mistake, based 
     on a misinterpretation of history, culture, and geopolitics. 
     Unfortunately, President Johnson interpreted his dissent as 
     disloyalty to him and his Administration. Nor did the other 
     institutions make the case for peace. Even the State 
     Department was for war.
       At that point, Senator Hartke realized that something was 
     missing from the Nation's decision-making apparatus on the 
     great issues of war and peace. He saw the need for a non-
     partisan entity with analytical depth and institutional heft 
     whose sole mandate was to advance the cause of peace. Joined 
     by Senator Mark Hatfield, they introduced legislation that 
     laid the cornerstone for the eventual creation of the USIP.
       The legislation was moved forward through a commission 
     headed by Senator Spark Matsunaga, whose members were 
     appointed by President Carter. Public hearings were held 
     across the country. The upshot was that experts from a wide 
     variety of fields were offended by the notion that the search 
     for peace was wishful thinking and futile. With a sweeping 
     charter, the bi-partisan legislation was passed and signed 
     into law by President Reagan in 1984.
       ``The somewhat radical notion underlying USIP's creation,'' 
     Corine Hegland wrote in a perceptive article in the National 
     Journal,'' was that the science of peace could be studied, 
     refined, and taught in much the same manner as military 
     skills and strategies had been consciously honed for 
     centuries.''
       ``We got it wrong after 9/11,'' as USIP's Executive Vice-
     President Patricia Thomson sees it. ``We restructured our 
     homeland-security institutions, but we should have 
     restructured our foreign-policy institutions.'' The current 
     work of the USIP still encompasses basic research but 
     increasingly its storehouse of best peace practices has been 
     used and applied in countries around the world, wherever hot 
     spots flare. USIP's Chairman, Robinson West, and President, 
     Richard Solomon, have mobilized their staff of 142 employees 
     to rethink conflicts with a bold view toward preventing and 
     ending them.
       The body of work of USIP shows an evolving institution 
     whose basic values lie at the heart of civilization, whether 
     it is recruiting statesmen like Lee Hamilton and James Baker 
     III to lead the Iraq Study Group, or the efforts to implement 
     the Dayton Peace Accords led by former Chairman Chester 
     Crocker.
       Forty years after he envisioned the creation of USIP, 
     Senator Hartke's challenging and prophetic words still ring 
     true: ``I have the unshakable conviction that we have it 
     within our power to end this war (Vietnam) and the syndrome 
     of war itself. . . . For in the end, it is the dreamer who is 
     the greatest realist.''

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