[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 148 (Monday, November 15, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7884-S7885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING SENATOR TED STEVENS

  Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the late 
Senator Stevens as we prepare to travel to Arlington Cemetery to lay 
Senator Stevens to rest. Today, Janet's and my thoughts and prayers are 
with the Stevens family and the others who died, were injured, or had 
loved ones on that tragic plane trip.
  Senator Stevens was the first senator Alaska knew. His tenure lasted 
40 years in this Chamber. I am proud to have served with him for 10 of 
those years, most closely on the Homeland Security and Government 
Affairs Committee. During his time in the Senate, he was chairman of 
the Commerce Committee, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, 
chairman of the Ethics, Rules and Governmental Affairs Committee, and 
chairman of a number of subcommittees and President pro tempore of the 
Senate. He was the embodiment of an effective Senator and leader as he 
fought every day for Alaska.
  It was an honor to serve with Ted and amazing to think that his 
service in the Senate was only part of a life of service. He was 
instrumental in Alaska achieving statehood. He was a Harvard Law School 
graduate. He was an U.S. attorney in Fairbanks. He flew cargo over the 
Hump and into China during the Second World War. He was a decorated war 
veteran, part of America's Greatest Generation. He was a prostate 
cancer survivor and an advocate for research and funding to find a 
cure. He was an inspiration to all and an example of what one 
individual can do if he puts his nose to the grindstone and gets to 
work.
  I was able to get to know Senator Stevens on the Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs Committee where I got to see his great love of 
Alaska and the Senate, which you saw everytime he would speak about his 
fellow Alaskans, as he worked to assist all Americans, whether 
Alaskans, Louisianans, Ohioans, or others, respond to natural 
disasters. I will never forget Ted standing up at our Police and 
Steering Committing lunches and telling it like it is and showing his 
knowledge, experience, and common sense. When he talked, everyone 
listened. I regret that his voice is absent from the Senate at this 
critical time in our Nation's history. I also saw his strength as he 
worked to prepare all of us against the threat of terrorism.
  Senator Stevens always strove to do what was best for his home State 
of Alaska and the United States. You could be sure that if legislation 
was good for Alaska, Ted Stevens would support it regardless of the 
politics. We need more politicians today who are willing to do what is 
right regardless of party. His friendship and work with Senator Inouye 
should be a model for us all.
  He was a lion of the Senate. While Ted is gone, his legacy will live 
on. You see it here with his former colleagues and his former staffers. 
You see it in the legislation he championed, such as title 9, 
legislation on the Olympics, aid to rural Alaska, telecommunications, 
and, of course, his unwavering support for our military.
  May God bless Senator Stevens, his family and all who held, and still 
hold, him dear.
  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, as we remember the life of our friend, Ted 
Stevens, and celebrate his remarkable service to our country, each of 
us must surely remember a number of personal experiences which have 
helped us appreciate how much his friendship meant to us.
  I first met Senator Stevens during the Senate election campaign of 
1976. He was serving as chairman of the National Republican senatorial 
committee, and I had just won the Republican nomination to be a 
candidate for the U.S. Senate in Indiana. The senatorial committee was 
not as affluent in 1976 as presently, but Ted Stevens was able to steer 
a contribution into my campaign and to offer words of encouragement 
which included my first knowledge that he had been born in my hometown 
of Indianapolis, IN, on November 18, 1923.
  In the days to come, I discovered, additionally, that he had attended 
School No. 84 and Shortridge High School. I began my elementary school 
education at School No. 84 and graduated from Shortridge High School in 
1950. Later, I learned of the early struggles that Ted Stevens had in 
supporting relatives in Indianapolis and the challenging family 
circumstances that caused him to leave Indiana prior to graduation from 
Shortridge, but I always pointed out to Hoosiers that Ted Stevens was 
truly one of us.
  The 1976 Senatorial Republican Campaign brought eight new Republican 
Senators to the U.S. Senate. Although we were only a total of 38 in 
that session, Ted Stevens became the Republican whip in January of 1977 
and continued to serve in that capacity through 4 years of a distinct 
Republican minority and 4 more years of a glorious Republican majority 
during the first term of President Ronald Reagan.
  Following the Presidential and congressional elections of 1984, a 
successor to Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee was elected by the 
Republican caucus. Senator Baker had elected to retire after a most 
successful tenure as majority leader of the Senate, and five candidates 
appeared to seek the Republican majority leader position.
  The Republican caucus rules did not encompass such a large field, and 
I remember a meeting of the five candidates--Senator Robert Dole, 
Senator Ted Stevens, Senator James McClure, Senator Pete Domenici, and 
myself--to agree upon how the balloting would progress. At an informal 
afternoon session, we agreed that after the first ballot the candidate 
with the lowest vote would drop out and such a procedure would follow 
after each of the ballots until a majority occurred with the deciding 
ballot between the final two candidates. The voting was held in the Old 
Senate Chamber, and after the first two ballots, Senator McClure and 
Senator Domenici had left the field. I lost out on the third ballot, 
and Bob Dole defeated Ted Stevens in a close vote for majority leader.
  Ted was undaunted and preceded to chair the Appropriations Committee 
with essential vigor and comprehensive activity. His chairmanship 
lasted from 1997 to 2005 with a short break of 18 months during which 
Democrats controlled the U.S. Senate. His efforts on behalf of Alaska 
are legendary, and it was not surprising that Alaskans named Ted 
Stevens the Alaskan of the Century in the year 2000.
  At Republican Tuesday luncheons, Ted Stevens often gave comprehensive 
reports about legislation before the Appropriations Committee, which he 
felt vital to Alaska and the United States, and we all became much 
better acquainted with Alaska through his comprehensive tutorials. I 
admired the vision which he had for Alaska and for the position of 
Alaska as a part of vital foreign policy consideration with Russia, 
China, Japan, and the entirety of the Pacific Ocean Basin. He 
understood the important role which the Arctic Circle area would play 
in world history and the importance of giving proper and timely 
attention to a part of the world that was not normally the subject of 
our Senate debate.
  As President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate from January 2003 to 
January 2007, Ted Stevens was extraordinarily conscientious not only in 
the opening ceremonies of the Senate each day but

[[Page S7885]]

in managing the appearance of that office with attention to detail and 
commendable diplomacy.
  Although he sometimes displayed a choice of sharp words and even some 
short public displays of temper, I appreciated that each conversation I 
enjoyed with him was businesslike, friendly, and educational.
  I did not have the privilege of serving on the major committees which 
Ted chaired, but I did enjoy, especially, our work on the Arms Control 
Observer Group. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan, anticipating 
intensive negotiations with the Soviet Union over potential reductions 
of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, appointed a 
bipartisan Arms Control Observer Group to proceed to Geneva, 
Switzerland, and monitor what were anticipated to be spirited and 
productive negotiations. The Arms Control Observer Group would then be 
in a position to lead the debate on the Senate floor to obtain the two-
thirds majority needed for a historical arms control agreement with the 
Soviet Union.
  Senator Robert Byrd and Senator Robert Dole were appointed to the 
group along with other Senators such as Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, and Sam 
Nunn, who made substantial contributions to consideration of the 
negotiations with the Soviets over many years.
  Ted and his wife Catherine took the assignment so seriously that they 
rented an apartment in Geneva anticipating that they would stay and 
continue to monitor the negotiations even after the Senators had 
returned to their normal debates on the Senate floor.
  Unfortunately, negotiations did not proceed rapidly and, as a matter 
of fact, took several years to reach maturity. But Ted Stevens remained 
a thoughtful and vigilant observer in Geneva, in Washington, and in 
other places on Earth where his acute observations and comments were 
especially important.
  As former Senator Sam Nunn and I formulated the Nunn-Lugar 
Cooperative Threat Reduction Program which was adopted by the Congress 
in 1991, Ted Stevens was a strong supporter of our efforts, and many of 
my conversations with him centered upon the methods of verifying all 
aspects of the treaty and further steps we could take with the Soviet 
Union, and then later, Russia, to provide increasing safety for all 
American cities and military installations.
  I was visiting South Bend, IN, on the day that news of the tragic 
death of Ted Stevens flashed around the world. That night, I told all 
of the local correspondents that were following my activities that Ted 
Stevens was a son of Indiana, a student in two of the public schools in 
Indianapolis that had meant so much to both of us, and a remarkable 
champion both for his adopted state of Alaska and for our country. I 
will always be grateful for the friendship we enjoyed and the wonderful 
memories of that friendship that remain so vivid at this moment.

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