[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 118 (Thursday, July 17, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1489]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN MEMORY OF THE LATE SENATOR BILL JENNER ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 100TH 
                                BIRTHDAY

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                            HON. MIKE PENCE

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 17, 2008

  Mr. PENCE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor what would have been 
the 100th birthday of a great Hoosier legislator and American patriot, 
Senator William Jenner.
   Born in Crawford County, Indiana, Senator Jenner graduated with a 
law degree from Indiana University in 1930 and began a career 
practicing law in Paoli, Indiana. In the meantime, he quickly rose 
through the ranks of Indiana politicians, becoming Majority Leader and 
President Pro Tempore of the Indiana State Senate less than ten years 
after graduating from college. In a selfless act that placed the 
defense of freedom above political ambition, Senator Jenner resigned 
his seat in the Indiana Senate to serve as a captain in the Army Air 
Corps during World War II.
   In 1944, Senator Jenner returned from service overseas to fill a 
vacancy in the U.S. Senate resulting from the death of Frederick Van 
Nuys. He would later be elected for two complete terms, serving until 
1959.
   As chair of the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, Jenner spent much of his time in the Senate 
promoting American values while guarding against the spread of 
communist ideals during a fragile period of American history. A 
conservative and a proponent of equality, Senator Jenner laid out a 
plan that led to the inclusion of all races within the Republican 
Party.
   During his tenure as a politician, Senator Jenner believed in the 
ideals of the Senate as a forum for free-flowing discussion and a body 
that protected the viewpoints of the minority. As he famously said on 
January 4th, 1957, ``Jesus Christ was killed by a majority; Columbus 
was smeared; and Christians have been tortured. Had the United States 
Senate existed during those trying times, I am sure these people would 
have found an advocate. Nowhere else can any political, social, or 
religious group, finding itself under sustained attack, receive a 
better refuge.''
   Following his retirement from the Senate, Jenner returned to law 
practice in Bedford, Indiana until his death in 1985 at the age of 
seventy-six. Gone but not forgotten, Madam Speaker, the legacy of this 
great Hoosier legislator lives on as a model of courage and patriotism 
for all members of Congress and indeed, all Americans as well.

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