[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20213-20214]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            A CATSKILL EAGLE

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, on a cold winter afternoon in 1941, a young 
boy of fourteen went about his daily business, engaged in his humble 
profession. I can imagine that to many of the pedestrians who made 
their way down Central Park West that day, this youngster perhaps was 
nothing extraordinary, just another shoeshine boy. However, this was 
not just another winter day; it was December 7, 1941. It marked the 
beginning of America's active participation in the greatest struggle of 
the twentieth century, a war that would take this boy and make him a 
man. And it was, perhaps, the last time Daniel Patrick Moynihan was 
left standing on the sidelines as the controversies and events that 
would affect our Nation unfolded. So this was not just another boy. 
Today, I honor this man and commemorate his transformation from a 
humble shoe-shine boy to the senior Senator from the State of New York. 
It is with a heavy heart, a heart that is filled with admiration, that 
I bid Senator Moynihan farewell and thank him for his ceaseless efforts 
on behalf of the people of New York and this Nation.
  He will not be leaving this afternoon or tomorrow or the next day, 
but this is his final year, by his own choice, in which he will serve 
the Nation and his State of New York from his position in this Chamber.
  Raised by a journalist and a bar-keep in Manhattan's melting pot, 
Senator Moynihan climbed the ladder of academia with the callused hands 
of a blue-collar day laborer to become a man of accomplishment and 
great learning, the embodiment of the American Dream. He once arrived 
for an examination at City College of New York with a dockworker's 
loading hook tucked into his back pocket next to his pencils, as if it 
were a study in contrasting worlds.
  It was this unrelenting desire, this hunger, this thirst for 
knowledge that led this former shoeshine boy from the sidewalks of New 
York, that led this longshoreman who had worked out in the cold with 
the swirling snow and the wintry winds about him, to his improbable 
destiny in the life of our Nation.
  Having served honorably in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a 
gunnery officer aboard the U.S.S. Quirinus, he earned a doctorate from 
the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1961. He taught briefly at 
both Harvard University and Tufts University and then worked in a 
series of high positions in the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford 
administrations. Now get that, high positions in four administrations--
the Kennedy, the Johnson, the Nixon, and the Ford administrations. He 
became the first and only man ever to serve in the Cabinets or 
subcabinets of four successive Presidents.
  What an outstanding career. What an outstanding man for that career. 
However, this was only the beginning, for this great thinker among 
politicians. He was also to become one of the finest politicians among 
thinkers.
  A true visionary, Senator Moynihan is the kind of philosopher-
politician

[[Page 20214]]

who the Founding Fathers had fervently hoped would populate the Senate. 
Men, who, like Socrates' philosopher-kings described in Plato's 
Republic, ``are awake rather than dreaming''--men who have broken the 
bonds of ignorance and have sought the truth of fine and just and good 
things, not simply the shapes and the half-defined shadows of the 
unthinking world; men who have shared the light of their learning, 
illuminating the path for others--some of whom always seem to be left 
in the dark.
  If there is, in fact, one man among those of us in the Senate who 
truly epitomizes Socrates' philosopher-king, it is surely, indubitably, 
and without question, the senior Senator from the State of New York, 
Mr. Moynihan.
  With a pragmatic eye and a unique talent for seeing the issues that 
face our Nation on a larger scale--on a grand scale--Senator Moynihan 
has spent most of his life breaking through the partisan politics 
inside this beltway. He possesses both a startling ability to foresee 
future problems, far beyond the ken of most men, and the courage to 
address these problems before they become apparent to common men. 
Issues that few others tackle with insight, such as Social Security, 
health care, and welfare reform, he has passionately addressed for many 
years--crossing party lines, challenging every administration--and all 
without personal concern for political backlash. Simply put, Senator 
Moynihan states facts, the cold, hard truths that many others in high 
places refuse to face and that some are unable to see. His conscience 
is his compass, and his heart is steadied by his unfaltering belief in 
the power of knowledge and the possibilities of government.
  As Senator Moynihan steps away from his desk on the Senate floor for 
the final time--he will never step away from it in my memory. I will 
always see him at that desk. I will always see his face--that unkempt 
hair, the bow tie, the spectacles which he frequently readjusts. I can 
hear him say: ``sir; sir.''
  As he steps away from his desk on the Senate floor for the final 
time, he will walk away with his head held high, with his legacy 
intact, and with a distinguished and singular place in our Nation's 
history well secured. He will always be looked to as a leader of men, 
as an author of many books--more books than most Senators have read--
and as a compassionate intellectual who has no peer in this Senate, who 
has used his considerable talents to become one of the principal 
architects of our Nation's foreign policy and our Nation's social 
security safety net. He will be remembered thusly, for these and more.
  U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, author of the 
Welfare Reform Act of 1988 and the Intermodal Surface Transportation 
Efficiency Act of 1991, chairman of the Senate Committee on the 
Environment and Public Works from 1992 to 1993, chairman of the Senate 
Committee on Finance from 1993 to 1994, Daniel Patrick Moynihan has 
left his indelible mark on this country.
  He served as the chairman of that Finance Committee, one of the 
oldest of the few committees that sprang into being early, I believe it 
was in 1816. It was from that Committee on Finance that the 
Appropriations Committee was carved in 1867, a half century later. In 
the beginning, the Finance Committee handled both the finance and the 
appropriations business of the Senate. The Finance Committee was well 
led when Daniel Patrick Moynihan sat in the chair.
  I certainly will never forget the role that Senator Moynihan played 
in our battle against the line-item veto. Like Socrates' quoting the 
shade of the dead Achilles in Homer's epic, the ``Odyssey,'' Senator 
Moynihan would rather, `` `work the Earth as a serf to another, one 
without possessions,' and go through any sufferings, than share their 
opinions and live as they do.''
  Incapable of indifference and unable to sit by as others were 
paralyzed by ignorance, Senator Moynihan rose up and fought the good 
fight--the just fight--and he won, sir. He won.
  In the 24 years that Senator Moynihan has walked the marble halls of 
the Capitol, he has graced us all with intellectual vigor and a stellar 
level of scholarship. He has helped us all to ascend the path of true 
knowledge and reach for wisdom. Each of us, Democrat and Republican 
alike, recognizes that when Senator Moynihan speaks, we should listen 
for we may learn something that could fundamentally shift our thinking 
on a given matter. Senator Moynihan has been a guiding light, a sage of 
sages, the best of colleagues, and always, always a gentleman--always a 
gentleman.
  On this day, when I state this encomium in my feeble way--feeble 
because I cannot meet the challenge, strive though I must, I cannot 
meet the challenge to gropingly find the appropriate words to express 
my true and deep abiding admiration and love. I cannot find it for this 
man.
  I have served with many men and women in this Senate. Everyone here 
knows of my great admiration for some of those men--I say ``men'' 
because, for the most part, of these more than two centuries, only men 
served in this body. Every colleague of mine knows of my deep 
admiration for certain former Senators--Senator Richard Russell, 
Senator Russell Long, Senator Lister Hill, Senator Everett Dirksen, and 
others--and yet Senator Moynihan is uniquely unique. He is not the 
keeper of the rules as was Senator Russell. He is not the great orator 
that was Senator Dirksen, but this man is unique in his knowledge, in 
his grasp of great issues, in his ability to foresee the future and to 
point the way, always unassuming, always courteous, always a gentleman. 
Ah, that we could all be like this man!
  I wish I could have been so fortunate as to sit in Senator Moynihan's 
classes at Harvard or, to paraphrase Garfield, on a log in the West 
Virginia hills with Pat Moynihan on one end and me on the other. That 
is the picture I have of one to whom I look up, one whom I admire and 
at whose feet I would gladly sit to learn the lessons, the philosophy, 
the chemistry of the times.
  Erma and I offer our best wishes to his lovely and gracious wife 
Elizabeth as our esteemed colleague, Senator Moynihan, embarks on yet 
another adventure--retirement. I thank him for being this special man, 
always a philosopher-Senator. He will be sorely missed here. Whence 
cometh another like him?
  Herman Melville, in his classic work, Moby Dick, said this:

       There is a Catskill Eagle in some souls that can alike dive 
     down into the blackest gorges and soar out of them again and 
     become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he forever 
     flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so 
     that even in his lowest swoop, the Mountain Eagle is still 
     higher than the other birds upon the plain, even though they 
     soar.

  Many who have passed through these halls have soared, but very, very 
few could ever truly be likened to a Catskill Eagle.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. When I arrived at the Senate near 25 years ago, it was 
very clear to me that I would look to Robert C. Byrd as my mentor; and 
he has been. I have sat at the foot of this Gamaliel for a quarter 
century. As I leave, sir, he is my mentor still. I am profoundly 
grateful.
  If I have met with your approval, sir, it is all I have hoped for. I 
thank you beyond words. And I thank you for your kind remarks about 
Elizabeth. And my great respect and regard to Erma.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the Senator.

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