[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 28, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H2491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
              HONORING CONGRESSMAN JOHN PAUL HAMMERSCHMIDT

  (Mr. HILL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to honor the life and legacy 
of one of Arkansas' great leaders--and my friend--former Congressman 
John Paul Hammerschmidt.
  For the past three decades, I have known and admired Congressman 
Hammerschmidt, and I have long respected his commitment to public 
service.
  One of his most important actions was his legislation that made the 
Buffalo River the country's first National River, ensuring the 
preservation and protection of that extraordinary treasure designed by 
God's own hand.
  Before John Paul's engagement, the Buffalo had been slated for a 
Corps of Engineers dam project, which would have destroyed the natural 
majesty that generations of Arkansans continue to enjoy.
  Arkansas' wilderness advocate and poet, Bill Coleman, captures the 
area's mystique:

       Giant bluffs rise like medieval castles above this ancient 
     river, sending us back to a time when all our land was wild.

  Congressman Hammerschmidt also served as a freshman Congressman with 
my former boss, President George Herbert Walker Bush, and these two 
great men became fast friends from their time in the Air Force through 
being freshmen in this great body together.
  They were close political allies, and Congressman Hammerschmidt was 
quick to support President Bush in all of his Presidential runs. The 
two men shared victories, defeats, joys, and sorrows throughout their 
great decades of personal friendship.
  President Bush once said of John Paul:

       He did something I could never do; he beat Bill Clinton.

  I am humbled to have had the opportunity to know and learn so much 
from Congressman Hammerschmidt. He will be greatly missed.

                          ____________________