[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 67 (Monday, May 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S5048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO JACK KEMP

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, America lost a good friend when 
former Congressman Jack Kemp passed away over the weekend at the age of 
73. He is survived by his wife Joanne, a marriage of 50 years, his 4 
children, and 17 grandchildren.
  Jack and Joanne have been personal friends of Grace and mine over the 
years. I will never forget one time; Jack was already a great celebrity 
when I came into the House of Representatives 30 years ago, in 1979, 
and on one of the tax bills I actually had the temerity to take him on 
on the floor. I will never forget the chairman of the Budget Committee 
walking up to me and saying: You better watch out because he is a 
fierce debater. Indeed, he was. He was passionate about what he 
believed in, and he was a strong advocate of what he believed in. That, 
of course, is a quality all of us admire. It was one of the attributes 
that drew me to Jack, he reciprocated, and we had a friendship over 
these last 30 years.
  Clearly, the record has been set. Jack, of course, was the star 
quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. Before that, he was with the San 
Diego Chargers, and he said that his career in football prepared him 
well for a career in politics because he had been booed, cheered, cut, 
sold, traded, and hung in effigy in football. Sooner or later, those of 
us in politics will experience all of those. And how true a statement 
that is.
  He talked about his career in politics. Jack represented western New 
York in the House for 9 terms. He ran for President. He served as the 
Secretary of HUD. He ran for Vice President. It is a great loss.
  The one thing I want to call to the attention of the Senate is the 
letter he wrote to his grandchildren upon the election of Barack Obama 
as President. This letter was posted online on Jack's company Web site. 
I want you to listen to what he wrote:

       . . . just imagine that in the face of all these 
     indignities and deprivations, Dr. Martin Luther King could 
     say 44 years ago, ``I have an abiding faith in America and an 
     audacious faith in mankind.''

  Jack continues to write this letter to his grandchildren:

       He described his vision for America, even as he and his 
     people were being denied their God-given human rights 
     guaranteed under our Constitution.
       You see, real leadership is not just seeing the realities 
     of what we are temporarily faced with, but seeing the 
     possibilities and potential that can be realized by lifting 
     up people's vision of what they can be.

  That is just one snippet of that letter he wrote to his 
grandchildren.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
the entire letter.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                      A Letter to my Grandchildren

                             (by Jack Kemp)

       Dear Kemp grandchildren--all 17 of you, spread out from the 
     East Coast to the West Coast, and from Wheaton College in 
     Illinois, to Wake Forest University in North Carolina:
       My first thought last week upon learning that a 47-year-old 
     African-American Democrat had won the presidency was, ``Is 
     this a great country or not?''
       You may have expected your grandfather to be disappointed 
     that his friend John McCain lost (and I was), but there's a 
     difference between disappointment over a lost election and 
     the historical perspective of a monumental event in the life 
     of our nation.
       Let me explain. First of all, the election was free, fair 
     and transformational, in terms of our democracy and given the 
     history of race relations in our nation.
       What do I mean?
       Just think, a little over 40 years ago, blacks in America 
     had trouble even voting in our country, much less thinking 
     about running for the highest office in the land.
       A little over 40 years ago, in some parts of America, 
     blacks couldn't eat, sleep or even get a drink of water using 
     facilities available to everyone else in the public sphere.
       We are celebrating, this year, the 40th anniversary of our 
     Fair Housing Laws, which helped put an end to the blatant 
     racism and prejudice against blacks in rental housing and 
     homeownership opportunities. As an old professional football 
     quarterback, in my days there were no black coaches, no black 
     quarterbacks, and certainly no blacks in the front offices of 
     football and other professional sports. For the record, there 
     were great black quarterbacks and coaches--they just weren't 
     given the opportunity to showcase their talent. And pro-
     football (and America) was the worse off for it.
       I remember quarterbacking the old San Diego Chargers and 
     playing for the AFL championship in Houston. My father sat on 
     the 50-yard line, while my co-captain's father, who happened 
     to be black, had to sit in a small, roped-off section of the 
     end zone. Today, we can't imagine the NFL without the amazing 
     contributions of blacks at every level of this great 
     enterprise.
       I could go on and on, but just imagine that in the face of 
     all these indignities and deprivations, Dr. Martin Luther 
     King could say 44 years ago, ``I have an abiding faith in 
     America and an audacious faith in mankind.'' He described his 
     vision for America, even as he and his people were being 
     denied their God-given human rights guaranteed under our 
     Constitution.
       You see, real leadership is not just seeing the realities 
     of what we are temporarily faced with, but seeing the 
     possibilities and potential that can be realized by lifting 
     up peoples' vision of what they can be.
       When President-elect Obama quoted Abraham Lincoln on the 
     night of his election, he was acknowledging the transcendent 
     qualities of vision and leadership that are always present, 
     but often overlooked and neglected by pettiness, partisanship 
     and petulance. As president, I believe Barack Obama can help 
     lift us out of a narrow view of America into the ultimate 
     vision of an America where, if you're born to be a mezzo-
     soprano or a master carpenter, nothing stands in your way of 
     realizing your God-given potential.
       Both Obama in his Chicago speech, and McCain in his 
     marvelous concession speech, rose to this historic occasion 
     by celebrating the things that unite us irrespective of our 
     political party, our race or our socio-economic background.
       My advice for you all is to understand that unity for our 
     nation doesn't require uniformity or unanimity; it does 
     require putting the good of our people ahead of what's good 
     for mere political or personal advantage.
       The party of Lincoln, i.e., the GOP, needs to rethink and 
     revisit its historic roots as a party of emancipation, 
     liberation, civil rights and equality of opportunity for all. 
     On the other hand, the party of Franklin Roosevelt, John 
     Kennedy and now Obama must put forth an agenda that 
     understands that getting America growing again will require 
     both Keynesian and classical incentive-oriented (supply-side) 
     economic ideas. But there's time for political and economic 
     advice in a later column (or two).
       Let me end with an equally great historical irony of this 
     election. Next year, as Obama is sworn in as our 44th 
     president, we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham 
     Lincoln's birth. I'm serving, along with former Rep. Bill 
     Gray of Pennsylvania, on the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial 
     Board to help raise funds for this historic occasion. 
     President-elect Obama's honoring of Lincoln in many of his 
     speeches reminds us of how vital it is to elevate these ideas 
     and ideals to our nation's consciousness and inculcate his 
     principles at a time of such great challenges and even 
     greater opportunities.
       In fact, we kick off the Lincoln bicentennial celebration 
     on Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Gettysburg, Pa. The great filmmaker 
     Ken Burns will speak at the Soldier's National Cemetery on 
     the 145th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. On 
     Thursday, Nov. 20, at Gettysburg College, we will have the 
     first of 10 town hall forums, titled ``Race, Freedom and 
     Equality of Opportunity.'' I have the high honor of joining 
     Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Professor Allen Guezlo and Norman 
     Bristol-Colon on the panel, with Professor Charles Branham as 
     the moderator.
       President-elect Obama talks of Abraham Lincoln's view of 
     our nation as an ``unfinished work.'' Well, isn't that 
     equally true of all of us? Therefore let all of us strive to 
     help him be a successful president, so as to help make 
     America an even greater nation.

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, this is ``A Letter to my 
Grandchildren'' by Jack Kemp on November 12, 2008, just a few days 
after the election of Senator Obama as President of these United 
States.

                          ____________________