[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E43-E44]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN MEMORY OF PAUL WEYRICH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 8, 2009

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, on December 18, Paul 
Weyrich, one of the founders of the modern conservative movement, died. 
He successfully worked to evolve conservatism from a status of 
negativism to a dynamic movement promoting creative and meaningful 
reforms. I personally saw his success firsthand with the American 
Legislative Exchange Council developing State legislative reforms. And 
with Dr. Robert Krieble, I served on the delegation in August 1991 of 
the Krieble Institute to Sofia, Bulgaria, where Paul Weyrich gave 
presentations to the newly elected democrats of the National Assembly 
who helped Bulgaria emerge from the darkness of totalitarian Communism. 
Bulgaria today is a model free market democracy as a valued member of 
NATO and the European Union. His service to our nation will always be 
appreciated.
  John Gizzi, columnist for Human Events professionally penned the 
following thoughtful tribute to Mr. Weyrich on the day of his passing.

                   [From Human Events, Dec. 18, 2008]

                           Paul Weyrich: RIP

                            (By John Gizzi)

       Paul Weyrich--``The midwife of the New Right''. . . ``Pope 
     Paul''. . . ``The Man Who Taught Conservatives to Network''--
     passed away this morning after a long illness.
       Weyrich was called a lot of things--and some of them that 
     originated on the left are unprintable--but one thing 
     admirers and enemies of Paul Weyrich found inarguable: that 
     in 66 years of life, the man who

[[Page E44]]

     launched the Heritage Foundation and Free Congress Foundation 
     and played a key role in mobilizing cultural conservatives 
     into political battle was someone who left postwar 
     conservatism and the world a different place than it was 
     before he came on the political scene. In short, he was a man 
     of consequence.
       Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Weyrich had a passion for 
     politics almost since childhood. Active in Young Republicans 
     at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), the young Weyrich 
     quit college to become a political reporter for the Milwaukee 
     Sentinel and later became a television reporter in Kenosha, 
     Wisconsin and then in Denver, Colorado.
       In 1967, Weyrich came to Washington as press secretary to 
     conservative Sen. Gordon Allot (R.-Col.). At one point, 
     Weyrich later recalled to me, he had received an invitation 
     by mistake to a luncheon of liberal staffers on Capitol Hill 
     Weyrich attended anyway and, in his words, ``I saw all the 
     liberal groups and staffers going through issues, giving 
     assignments to people, and agreeing to meet again. 
     Conservatives needed to be doing the same thing and I decided 
     to do something about it.''
       Beginning with staffers from conservative House and Senate 
     offices, and later with leaders of national right-of-center 
     groups, Weyrich began regular lunches and meetings that are 
     today a staple of the modern conservative movement. With the 
     financial support of Colorado beer baron Joseph Coors, 
     Weyrich and fellow Hill staffer Ed Feulner launched the 
     Heritage Foundation in 1973. A counterforce to the liberal 
     Brookings Institute, Heritage would grow into one of the most 
     respected ``think tanks'' and provide the intellectual 
     firepower in the Reagan Administration in 1980 and to 
     Congress after Republicans won control of both Houses in 
     1994.
       In the 1970s, Weyrich helped launch the Committee for the 
     Survival of a Free Congress (which later became the Free 
     Congress Foundation) and the Moral Majority. Both groups were 
     pivotal in mobilizing religious conservatives into political 
     activity for candidates and, in 1978, played critical roles 
     in the elections of such conservative titans as Sens. Bill 
     Armstrong (R.-Col.) and Gordon Humphrey (R.-NH) and Reps. 
     Newt Gingrich (R.-GA) and Dan Lungren (R.-CA).
       Quoting Napoleon's celebrated question ``How many legions 
     does the Pope have?'' Weyrich once told me, ``Believing 
     Christians now have many legions--and they're voting.'' 
     (Raised a Roman Catholic, Weyrich himself became angry when a 
     priest attacked something his then-boss Allott was supporting 
     in the Senate; he thereupon joined the Eastern Rite Orthodox 
     Church and later became a deacon.)
       Weyrich attempted to bring change and fresh activity to 
     every aspect of politics. As more and more countries became 
     democratic and elected their leaders, Weyrich became 
     president of the Krieble Institute from 1989-96 and trained 
     political activists in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet 
     Union. (At one point, he and fellow Krieble trainer Gary 
     Hoffmeister performed a vaudeville skit to demonstrate 
     campaigning to budding Russian politicians.) The former TV 
     newsman founded the satellite television station National 
     Empowerment Television and later hosted a talk show on 
     satellite radio.
       Occasionally, Weyrich critics on both the right and left 
     would bring up his penchant for abrupt replies and gruffness. 
     His response to me was ``I never wanted everyone to like me--
     just enough people so we can get political change.''
       In September of this year, more than 400 friends, Members 
     of Congress and other political leaders packed the Four 
     Seasons Hotel to pay tribute to the activist, who had been in 
     failing health from a spinal injury in '01. In thanking his 
     friends, Weyrich recalled how, in spite of his health 
     problems, life had been good to him: an only child, he had 
     had a strong marriage to wife Joyce that produced five 
     children; interested in the U.S. Senate all his life, he got 
     to work there; a lover of trains, he served on the national 
     board of Amtrak and the Amtrak Reform Council; a lifelong 
     conservative, he played a major role in shaping its modern 
     form.
       And, even when we disagreed or he took issue with Human 
     Events, Weyrich was a faithful reader who would frequently 
     cite columns in our publication. I already miss Paul Weyrich 
     very much. We all will in the future.

                          ____________________