[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 126 (Wednesday, September 9, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9178-S9179]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING KENNETH BACON

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, as an accomplished journalist who 
served as spokesman for two Secretaries of Defense, Ken Bacon crafted a 
unique and forceful voice.
  Then, as President of Refugees International, he lent that voice to 
those who needed it most.
  When he died last month, the powerful and the destitute alike lost a 
trusted and beloved friend.
  Ken Bacon was famously bespectacled, bow-tied, warm and whip-smart. 
He was someone who commanded your respect and won your affection in 
equal measure.
  As a young intern, Bacon launched his journalistic career with a 
front-page Wall Street Journal story about a new car repair system that 
one mechanic had called ``the greatest thing since girls.'' In the 
decades that followed, he went on to cover the Federal Reserve, the 
Securities and Exchange Commission and the Pentagon. Bacon was also a 
talented editor who never stopped writing on a dazzlingly wide array of 
topics, from banking reform to a crack addict's rehabilitation. In the 
last months of his life, he also wrote movingly and pointedly about 
health care reform and his struggles with the melanoma that eventually 
took his life.
  Bacon's conscientious work earned the admiration of those he reported 
on. Defense Secretary William Perry finally convinced him to work from 
the other side of the podium. Bacon was unfailingly well-prepared, 
using the same skills that made him a standout reporter to anticipate 
reporters' questions and offer satisfyingly detailed answers.
  He excelled as a spokesman because he never lost his respect for his 
former colleagues or for the truth. When things got tough, he did not 
revert to hollow spin or talking points designed to misdirect. He was 
not interested in ``gotcha games.'' Ken Bacon became a Pentagon 
spokesman because he believed he had an obligation to inform the 
public, and he took that duty seriously.
  It was as Pentagon spokesman that Ken first encountered the problem 
that would become his defining passion and the capstone on his life's 
work. In 1999, he visited a refugee camp during a trip to the Balkans 
with Defense Secretary William Cohen. What he saw changed the last 
decade of his life--not to mention the lives of the countless refugees 
he helped.
  Ken Bacon was transformed by the plight of those who had lost their 
homes to war. When he left the Pentagon, he became President of 
Refugees International in 2001.
  Beneath his intellectual demeanor, Ken Bacon always had a sweet side. 
He fought for people displaced from their homes by war, civil conflict, 
famine, and drought. This mission gave Bacon's life new meaning, and it 
gave the refugee community a very powerful champion.
  Ken Bacon's stellar reputation, his influence in a city that depends 
on known commodities, and his Pentagon credentials proved to be 
enormously helpful in calling attention to the plight of the 
powerless--including the humanitarian advocates who struggled to be 
heard in official Washington. Bacon's name and his voice lent 
legitimacy to causes too easily overlooked by those accustomed to 
defining America's mission abroad based on a very narrow definition of 
our security and our interests. Ken understood that our shared humanity 
belonged at the very center of that conversation--and he used his 
unique talents and energy to ensure that it was.
  He saw the impressive effort to care for European refugees in the 
former Yugoslavia, and he wanted to ensure that it became the rule 
worldwide--not the exception. Ken visited refugee camps in forgotten 
corners of the world, from Cambodia to Colombia. He wanted to make sure 
that no refugee--anywhere slipped through the cracks.
  Ken Bacon was tireless. Essays, speeches, press conferences, advocacy 
he threw himself into his work and refugees everywhere benefitted.
  Ken's newsroom training and strategic thinking often put him ahead of 
the curve. He sounded an early alarm about the genocide in Darfur. He 
was also a forceful champion for Iraqi refugees--first decrying our 
neglect, and then urging on our actions as the State Department's 
funding for Iraqi refugees increased tenfold between 2006 and 2008.
  Our sympathies are with Darcy, Ken's wife of 43 years; with his 
daughters Sarah and Katherine, to whom he was absolutely devoted, and 
with his father, brother and two grandchildren. Ken Bacon gave voice to 
the voiceless. All who were fortunate enough to know him will miss him 
greatly. Many who never met him have benefitted from his work, and many 
more will continue to do so.
  Recently, Ken and his wife Darcy raised the seed money for a new 
Refugees International center to address ``the needs of the tens of 
millions expected to be displaced by climate change.'' The Ken and 
Darcy Bacon Center for the Study of Climate Displacement will 
undoubtedly be a valuable voice in raising attention to what

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is poised to become a staggering refugee crisis in the years to come. 
We only wish that Ken were still with us to help us meet this new 
challenge.
  In newsrooms and humanitarian organizations, in windswept tent cities 
forgotten by most but never forsaken by Ken, an exceptional, exemplary 
life is being retold, mourned, and celebrated.

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