[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 7]
[SEN]
[Pages 10166-10167]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  THE HARRY S TRUMAN FEDERAL BUILDING

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
now proceed the consideration of H.R. 3639, which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3639) to designate the Federal building 
     located at 2201 C Street, Northwest, in the District of 
     Columbia, currently headquarters for the Department of State, 
     as the ``Harry S Truman Federal Building.''

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a farmer, 
Army captain, Senator, and President of the United States who founded 
the United Nations, launched the Marshall plan, and forged the North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]. As an original cosponsor of the 
bill to name the Federal building located at 2201 C Street, Northwest, 
in the District of Columbia, currently headquarters for the Department 
of State, as the ``Harry S Truman Federal Building.'' I am pleased that 
my colleagues from both sides of the aisle and in both Houses have 
unanimously agreed to adopt this measure.
  Fifty-five years ago, President Truman challenged Democrats and 
Republicans in his Four Point Speech to join together and lend their 
full support to international organizations; continue programs for 
world economic recovery; join with other free peoples in the defense of 
democracy; and draw on our country's vast storehouse of technical 
expertise to help people overseas help themselves in the fight against 
ignorance, illness, and despair. President Truman envisioned ``that 
what happens beyond our shores determines how we live in our own 
lives,'' and the American people agreed. He exemplified the very best 
of what we need in our elected officials.
  The United States is extremely fortunate to have had such a man be 
its Chief Executive in a time of two wars, where he presided over the 
fall of Germany, the ultimate surrender of Japan, and the preservation 
of South Korea. It is only appropriate for us to honor a man who made 
the United States a major force in world affairs by working with all 
the world for freedom and democracy. I look forward to seeing this 
legislation adopted, and giving President Truman the recognition he 
deserves for his tireless efforts to bring peace.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to endorse the measure to name 
the State Department's headquarters after one of the great leaders of 
the twentieth century--President Harry S Truman.
  Harry Truman symbolized the path that this country took during the 
``American Century,'' moving from a small community in the American 
midwest, to the center of the world stage, where he helped rebuild a 
devastated Europe and contain Communism.
  Harry Truman might have stayed on his farm in Independence, Missouri, 
but World War I intervened and he found himself in Europe as a captain 
in the Field Artillery. The man whose poor eyesight had kept him out of 
West Point, was a hero on the battlefields of France. When he returned 
to Independence--and the beautiful Bess Wallace--his reputation as a 
leader in battle led to his election as county judge in 1922. In 1935 
he was elected Senator from Missouri, and in 1945, he became President 
upon the death of Franklin Roosevelt.
  Truman's mother once said of him: (i)t was on the farm that Harry got 
his common sense. He didn't get it in town. It was this common sense--a 
hard-eyed pragmatism, really--that made him a great President. Having 
fought through the First World War in Europe, he was able to understand 
the ruin that faced Europe after the Second World War. This led to his 
support of the brilliant plan of his Secretary of State, George 
Marshall, who rebuilt Europe. It is not an exaggeration to say that our 
European allies own the peace and prosperity that they have enjoyed for 
the last two generations to Truman and Marshall.
  It was also this hard-eyed pragmatism that gave Truman a clear view 
of the Communist threat that come on the heels of World War II. He laid 
out--and acted upon--the Truman Doctrine--in 1947, when he provided 
$400 million to fight the spread of Communism in Greece and Turkey. In 
1949, he joined with Europe to form the alliance that contained the 
Soviet Union for nearly 50 years--NATO. And, although we were weary of 
war in 1950, he sent American forces to defend South Korea from 
incursions by the Communists of North Korea.
  Harry Truman's foreign policy decisions were never easy. Europe's 
reconstruction, fencing in Communism, creating NATO, required clear 
vision, and a decisiveness that had nothing to do with favorable poll 
numbers or reelection prospects. Those are the attributes that made 
Harry Truman a great President--an ability to see what needed to be 
done, and the willingness to do it.
  Because President Truman's greatest legacy was in international 
affairs, it is fitting that his name be bestowed on the State 
Department's main building. I hope that it will provide an inspiration 
to our diplomats, as they seek to defend the interests of our country, 
and the world.
  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, it is my great privilege to speak on the 
passage of H.R. 3639 as I am the sponsor of the Senate's companion 
bill, S. 2416. This bill will name the State Department's headquarters 
at 2201 C Street in Washington, DC, the ``Harry S Truman Federal 
Building.'' First, I would like to provide my deepest thanks to my 
esteemed co-sponsor who have joined this effort. From the onset, this 
proposal has had strong bi-partisan support in both Houses. Senators 
Bond, Warner, DeWine, and Moynihan and Representatives Roy Blunt and 
Ike Skelton have been incredibly helpful in seeing this proposal become 
a reality. Furthermore, I would like to thank the Honorable Secretary 
of State, Madeleine Albright, for her unqualified support and 
cooperation for honoring President Harry Truman befittingly honored in 
this manner.
  Today I enjoy the privilege, granted to me by the citizens of 
Missouri, of occupying the Senate seat formerly held by Harry S Truman. 
Truman left this seat in January 1945 to become Vice President, and by 
April of that year assumed the office of President of the United States 
in the wake of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death. The day 
after becoming President, Truman told a group of reporters that ``boys, 
if you ever pray, pray for me now . . . I feel like the moon, the 
stars, and all the planets have fallen on me.''

[[Page 10167]]

  As the new President, Harry Truman inherited a world on fire. The 
most destructive war in human history still raged on in Europe and 
Asia; and Truman, the only chief executive in this century who did not 
enjoy a university education, faced a most crucial role bringing the 
war to a close and constructing a viable international system in the 
postwar. Truman, whose strong personal integrity and vast common sense 
was forged in the small towns of western Missouri, brilliantly 
succeeded.
  This bill will name the building that houses our Nation's Department 
of State--the agency responsible for international relations--in honor 
of Missouri's favorite son and one of our country's greatest statesmen. 
This is benefitting, for it was the decisions made by President Truman 
in the realm of foreign policy that made his Presidency one of the most 
monumental and influential in our country's history.
  President Harry Truman led during one of the most trying times in our 
nation's tumultuous history. During Truman's years in the White House, 
crisis compounded crisis overseas and hard decisions continually 
confronted a President who stoically dealt with the awesome 
responsibilities he had to face.
  After Truman assumed office he successfully led the United States to 
victory against the Axis powers. However, the end of the Second World 
War brought little respite for the new President from Missouri. The 
cooperation Truman, and most Americans, hoped to find with the Soviet 
Union collapsed as an Iron Curtain descended across the heart of 
Europe. Behind it, the creation of totalitarian Communist regimes 
confronted the United States with a new dark challenge--the cold war.
  In response to this newest danger, President Truman led the free 
world forward. He emphasized the need to support free people and assist 
those who resisted attempted subjugation by armed minorities and 
outside pressures. To this end, Truman began the United States' single 
most successful foreign aid initiative, the Marshall plan. Under 
Truman's leadership, this ambitious program saved the economies of 
Western Europe and set vital United States allies on the path of full 
recovery within a democratic political framework.
  President Harry S Truman realized that economic recovery of war torn 
areas would not, in itself, secure the free world from Communist 
aggression. Therefore, President Truman spearheaded the creation of the 
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, one of the most successful military 
alliances of all time and the cornerstone of Western Europe's defense 
for the past five decades.
  Europe was not the only place where President Truman took a stand for 
freedom and democracy in the face of aggression and hostility. When 
Communist North Korea blatantly invaded South Korea in 1950, only 
Truman's quick action, and continued resolve, made possible South 
Korea's escape from the control of North Korea's totalitarian regime. 
Throughout the world, in Northern Iran, Berlin, China, and the Eastern 
Mediterranean, Truman's strong and wise leadership, grounded in a small 
town Missouri sense of right and wrong, heroically guided our country 
through some of its most dangerous years. In addition to his commitment 
to fight Communist aggression, the institutions created during the 
Truman years--such as the United States Air Force, the Department of 
Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence 
Agency--eventually ensured victory in the cold war, and enhanced the 
United States strength in the years after. Surely Winston Churchill 
exhibited his always impressive observational abilities when he told 
Truman in 1950 that ``. . . you, more than any other man, have saved 
Western Civilization.''
  I am proud to be a part of this effort today to see President Harry S 
Truman so honored. More than any other post-war President he shaped the 
world we live in today. To name the headquarters of the United States 
State Department after this fellow Missourian is a fitting and just 
choice.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 3639) was read the third time and passed.

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