[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 96 (Thursday, June 24, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5431-S5432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING STEWART UDALL

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, the oilspill in the gulf looks 
to become one of the greatest environmental disasters in our lifetime. 
This accident, which has been brought on by our addiction to oil, is 
another tragic reminder--as if we needed one--of the sad inevitability 
of human error. This spill in the gulf is also a reminder of the 
fragile balance we must maintain between the development of resources 
and protecting the environment from which they spring. It puts me in 
mind of our generation's responsibility to our children and the 
challenge of fueling prosperity with newer, cleaner, and more 
sustainable energy sources.
  As the world watches our efforts to contain this disaster, I cannot 
help but think about how another generation of Americans might have 
responded. In particular, I have one man in mind.
  A few months ago--March 10, to be precise--my family mourned the loss 
of a great and good man who was beloved by everyone in our clan, from 
the eldest to the youngest among us. On that day, we lost my uncle, 
Stewart Udall, at the grand age of 90. Of course, our family is no 
different from any other American family. Death occurs every day, every 
hour, and every minute, and families cope with the loss, however it 
comes. It harkens us to cherish those all-too-brief moments we have 
with the people we love.
  I would not take to the floor of the Senate to discuss personal loss, 
but I hope my colleagues will indulge me in taking a few moments to 
honor Stewart Udall, not because he was a member of our family and 
because we loved him dearly but because his contributions to America 
deserve our recognition. So it is not my uncle I wish to recognize; it 
is Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall the 
conservationist, Stewart Udall the civil rights activist, author, 
historian, and public servant I wish to honor today.
  Stewart never confused power with greatness. He was quoted saying as 
much. He knew that the power given to him by the people of Arizona to 
represent them in Congress, the power President John F. Kennedy 
bestowed upon him as Secretary of the Interior, and the power he 
subsequently had in private life as a man whose words and opinions 
mattered in the public arena--all of these manifestations of power 
were, for him, fleeting and not of deep consequence, except for the 
opportunity it gave him to make a difference in the world. And he did 
make a difference, a very big difference.
  Under his leadership in the Kennedy-Johnson years, the Department of 
Interior was a beacon of conservation, wildland preservation, and 
environmental stewardship. As the New York Times recently noted, ``Few 
corners of the Nation escaped Mr. Udall's touch.''
  For the wildlife, lands, and water of this country, his touch was a 
Midas touch. He added 3.85 million acres to the public lands inventory, 
including 4 national parks, 6 national monuments, 9 national recreation 
areas, 20 national historic sites, 50 wildlife refuges, and 8 national 
seashores.
  While serving as Secretary of Interior, he also found time to write 
the first of many books in his long career as an author. His book ``A 
Quiet Crisis'' is considered a landmark work. His words provided a 
manifesto to an emerging public movement on behalf of the environment. 
Before Stewart Udall's time at Interior, the term ``environmental 
policy'' was not even a part of the public debate. By the time Stewart 
left public service, no politician in the country could run for office 
without addressing environmental concerns and issues.
  While Stewart is deeply associated with the cause of conservation, 
his conscience was broader than the landscapes he helped protect. He 
cared deeply about the environment, but he cherished human beings. That 
is why he said:

       Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife 
     are, in fact, plans to protect man.

  That is also why he took up the cause of Native Americans and why he 
was an early champion of civil rights and an unrelenting opponent of 
racial segregation.
  Friends and colleagues noted that he had a rare reputation in 
political life. It has been said that he ``never advanced his own 
ambitions by tearing down a fellow human being.'' I know this is true 
of Stewart Udall because

[[Page S5432]]

even his fiercest political opponents respected his sense of fairness 
and welcomed his friendship.
  Mark Twain said:

       The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who 
     lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

  Stewart Udall was a man who lived life fully. He had a zest for life 
and a thirst for knowledge and experience that was truly without 
bounds. I cannot say where this enthusiasm for experience was rooted, 
but it must have been nourished by the intimate and painful memories 
from no less than 50 missions as a tail gunner during the Second World 
War. I still marvel at this feat of endurance and bravery. The average 
life expectancy for a B-17 crew in the European theater was allegedly 
14 missions. He flew 50. It was something he rarely spoke about.
  I know if he were here with us today, Stewart would be in the thick 
of our debate about energy, the threat of climate change, and lessons 
to be drawn from our painful experience in the gulf. In a moving letter 
he drafted for his grandchildren, Stewart anticipated the challenges of 
our time and acknowledged the mistakes of his own. To that end, he 
wrote:

       Operating on the assumption that energy would be both cheap 
     and superabundant led my generation to make misjudgments that 
     have come back and now haunt and perplex your generation. We 
     designed cities, buildings, and a national system of 
     transportation that were inefficient and extravagant. Now, 
     the paramount task of your generation will be to correct 
     those mistakes with an efficient infrastructure that respects 
     the limitations of our environment to keep up with damages we 
     are causing.

  I cannot improve on words Stewart spoke in defense of conservation 
some years ago. Given the challenges we face today, I believe they 
still ring true, and I wish to close my tribute to his public service 
by recalling them now.
  He said:

       Over the long haul of life on this planet, it is the 
     ecologists, and not the bookkeepers of business, who are the 
     ultimate accountants.

  Our progress as a society cannot be measured solely or even in part 
by the output of our economy, the number or complexity of our machines, 
or the brilliance of our technology. Our progress and success as human 
beings cannot be defined by gross domestic product, billions expended 
or invested, profit margins, trade balances, or numbers of hits on a 
Web page. In the end, our progress in any category of endeavor depends 
on our survival, and our survival is tied to the health and well-being 
of the planet we share. Stewart Udall illuminated this simple truth and 
made it the centerpiece of his public service. I am proud to have known 
him, I am honored that he was my uncle, and grateful, as are so many, 
to have been his pupil. His voice will be missed, but his wisdom 
endures.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I wish to thank my colleague from 
Colorado for that beautiful and meaningful tribute to Stewart Udall and 
the lessons he has given us through his life and through this wonderful 
tribute. We very much appreciate it this evening.

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