[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 135 (Friday, September 19, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             MARKING THE PASSING OF THOMAS HALE BOGGS, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 18, 2014

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the memory of a civic-minded 
giant and one of our nation's leading legal minds: Thomas Hale Boggs, 
Jr., who passed earlier this week at the age of 73.
  Thomas Boggs, Jr. belonged to a great American family--a family 
devoted to public policy and leadership. His father, Congressman Hale 
Boggs, represented the people of Louisiana in the House for almost 28 
years, elected by his colleagues to become Democratic Whip and Majority 
Leader. When Leader Boggs tragically died, Thomas's mother Lindy won 
the election to fill his seat, serving for 18 years as a forceful and 
dynamic Congresswoman unafraid to know her own power and make her own 
mark. Tommy's late sister Barbara Boggs Sigmund won public office as 
mayor of Princeton, N.J., and his sister Cokie Roberts is one of our 
nation's finest journalists.
  Thomas Boggs's family taught him that public service was a noble 
calling, leaving a sterling legacy of leadership and civic engagement 
that would guide and define his entire life. As an undergraduate at 
Georgetown University, he studied government from within the halls of 
Congress, working as an elevator operator in the House of 
Representatives. As a law student at Georgetown, he worked with the 
Joint Economic Committee, at one point helping to advance President 
Johnson's 1964 anti-poverty tour of Appalachia.
  Later, he spent 15 months as Assistant to the Director of the Office 
of Emergency Preparedness, before leaving to pursue a life in law.
  In 1966, he joined the law firm that would become Squire Patton 
Boggs, building a list of accomplishments that includes critical 
victories for American automakers and preserving thousands of American 
jobs. Although he lost an election for Congress in 1970, he continued 
his commitment to public service as part of the Presidential Commission 
on Executive Exchange and as a Presidential Delegate to our trade 
mission to China in 1979.
  In recognition of his intellect and ability, The National Law Journal 
has named him to their list of the top 100 lawyers in the United States 
every year since the list's inception.
  Thomas Boggs was a towering advocate for American workers and middle-
class families--carrying forward the legacy of public service that his 
family continues to exemplify. I hope that it is a comfort to his wife, 
Barbara, his children, his sister Cokie, and all of his loved ones that 
so many people throughout the world share their grief and mourn the 
loss of the devoted and loving patriarch of the Boggs family during 
this most difficult time.

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