[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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               JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

 Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the 50th 
anniversary of the dedication of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Elementary 
School in Butte, MT. The school is marking 50 years since it became the 
first in the country to change its name in honor of President Kennedy. 
I would like to commend the faculty, staff, and students of the school 
and the entire Butte community on this important occasion. In January 
1964, Senator Mike Mansfield spoke at the dedication ceremony for the 
school. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Mansfield's speech be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

Dedication of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Elementary School, Butte, Montana


             Address by Senator Mike Mansfield (D-Montana)

                    Butte, Montana, January 4, 1964

  It was in this neighborhood that Maureen Mansfield, my wife, lived as 
a child. These streets echoed her footsteps. These by-ways knew her 
childhood laughter and tears. These dwellings housed her friends and 
neighbors.
  Many who knew her in those days not so long ago have gone and many 
who do not know her have come. But the attachment remains. And for that 
reason I am grateful to be here today among old friends and new.
  And I am grateful, too, for another reason. After the immense sorrow 
of the past few weeks, I am grateful for the occasion which has 
summoned us all here. For we have come together to give a name to a 
school. The name we give is that of a fine human being, a man of 
warmth, of depth, and of deep dedication to his country.
  John Fitzgerald Kennedy was an extraordinary man in an ordinary way. 
He loved his family. He loved the United States of America. And he 
fused these two great loves of his life, in the fires of a profound 
human understanding and an exceptional intellect, into a great 
leadership.
  It was a leadership which sought to awaken us to our responsibilities 
to one another in this nation. It was a leadership which called to us 
to correct through our individual lives and our common institutions and 
the inequities and inadequacies which weigh heavily on millions of 
Americans. It was a leadership for the things which enlighten for 
confidence, for tolerance, for mutual restraint and respect among all 
Americans. It was a leadership against the things which divide--against 
arrogance and the purveyance of fear, bigotry, hatred and the idolatry 
of ignorance.
  This nation is a better nation because John Fitzgerald Kennedy lived 
among us and was our president and died in our service. He gave to us 
in life. He gives to us, too, in death. For the loss which we have 
suffered has awakened in all who were touched deeply by it, an 
awareness of all that is finest in ourselves and in this nation. Out of 
that awakening may we find the quiet strength to seek a new decency at 
home and to pursue in the years ahead, a reasoned peace in the world. 
These were the two fundamental objectives of President John Fitzgerald 
Kennedy and with God's help they shall be achieved in the fullness of 
their time.
  Today, we give this school his name. There is no more fitting way in 
which to express a respect and appreciation for him. He knew that 
education was a master key to human decency and to international peace. 
And the contributions which, under his leadership, this Congress has 
made to its advancement represent one of the most significant advances 
in many decades.
  A school is bricks and mortar. It is wise and understanding teachers. 
It is young people, eager and trusting. It is all these things brought 
together and held together by the belief that truth is the end and that 
by reason and faith we shall know it. That belief, John Fitzgerald 
Kennedy held in every fiber of his being. May his name help to solidify 
in this school that belief. May it help to bring to all who are of it 
in all the years to come a measure of his courage, his wisdom, his 
decency--his humanity.

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