[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 36 (Monday, February 24, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1100-S1101]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Remembering Charles Portis

  Madam President, on a separate subject, I also pay tribute to an 
Arkansas veteran who is one of the State's most famous sons--literary 
icon Charles Portis. Mr. Portis, the author best known for his 1968 
Western novel ``True Grit,'' passed away on February 17, 2020.
  Born in December 1933, in El Dorado, AR, Portis spent his childhood 
in southern Arkansas. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and served as an 
infantryman and, during the Korean war, reached the rank of sergeant 
before his discharge in 1955. Following his military service, he 
attended the University of Arkansas and wrote for the student 
newspaper, the Arkansas Traveler. He graduated from the university in 
1958 with a degree in journalism.
  After graduating, Portis began his career as a reporter. He first 
worked at the Arkansas Gazette and then at the New York Herald Tribune. 
Though he voluntarily ended his journalism career in 1964, he used the 
skills and tools he had acquired as a reporter when he returned home to 
Arkansas to begin writing fiction.

  His most celebrated work is the Western classic ``True Grit.'' This 
book chronicles the efforts of a Yell County

[[Page S1101]]

teenager, Mattie Ross, along with U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, to 
avenge the death of Mattie's father at the hands of a drifter. The 
novel incorporates distinct references that are familiar to many 
Arkansans, and it depicts life on the frontier in what was then the 
wild, wild West. It was later adapted into film in 1969 and 2010. While 
it is his most well-known work, Mr. Portis also wrote four other novels 
and several shorter works of fiction and nonfiction.
  During his career, Portis was honored with the Oxford American's 
first Lifetime Achievement in Southern Literature award and was 
presented with the Porter Prize's 30th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement 
Award. ``True Grit'' has been praised as ``one of the great American 
novels.''
  I take this opportunity to say how proud we are of Charles Portis and 
his legacy as an acclaimed writer and storyteller. My thoughts and 
prayers are with his friends and family as they remember and reflect on 
his life. I hope they find comfort in the fact that Mr. Portis has left 
a profound, lasting mark on Arkansas, as well as within our Nation's 
culture and literary traditions.
  Charles Portis had a remarkable career that will be remembered for a 
long time to come. I wish to honor him and his loved ones today and 
help to celebrate his life. On behalf of all Arkansans, we celebrate 
Charles Portis and his notable contributions to our State.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I am pleased to have arrived on the 
Senate floor just a bit early to have heard the Senator from Arkansas, 
Mr. Boozman, pay tribute to the DAV, Disabled American Veterans, and I 
very much want to join in his comments.
  I will also take a moment to thank him for his continual service for 
veterans, not only for those of Arkansas but of our Nation, and to 
recognize that he and I, since our days in the House of 
Representatives, have worked together on veterans' issues and both now 
find ourselves in positions in the hopes that we can do even more.
  To Senator Boozman, I say thank you for his continued efforts in 
making sure that all who serve our Nation have a better future and that 
the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as the American people, do 
everything they can to make sure that what they are entitled to they 
will receive. So I thank the Senator from Arkansas.