[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 19038-19039]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        HONORING MIKE MANSFIELD

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 169 submitted earlier 
today by the two leaders, and others.

[[Page 19039]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 169) relative to the death of the 
     Honorable Mike Mansfield, formerly a Senator from the State 
     of Montana.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. LOTT. Madam President, it is a great honor for me to join Senator 
Daschle in sponsoring a resolution memorializing our friend and the 
great Senator from Montana, our former majority leader in the Senate 
and Ambassador to Japan, Mike Mansfield.
  I didn't get to know Senator Mansfield as well as many Senators who 
actually served with him. I was in the House during many of the years 
he was serving as the majority leader through 1976. I remember watching 
and liking the fact he would go on some of the talk shows and be 
interviewed. They would ask this convoluted, complicated, long 
question; he would answer with a one-syllable word. I loved that. Quite 
often that is all that is necessary: Yes; no. It makes it very 
difficult to drag out a long program.
  As I watched him closer over the years, there was something about his 
demeanor that was very attractive. When I became majority leader, I 
read books on previous majority leaders. There had only been 15 before 
I had the opportunity to be majority leader. There were some in 
particular, and I went over the style of their leadership: Lyndon 
Johnson, Mike Mansfield, Howard Baker, and all of our majority leaders.
  I particularly was attracted to Senator Mansfield's style. It was one 
of letting the Senate work its will. It was not threatening. By the 
way, the style was so different from Lyndon Johnson's. Lyndon Johnson 
was very effective but worked Senators late hours and weekends. Behind 
Lyndon Johnson came Mike Mansfield who took a completely different 
tack. Yet he got as much done. If you look at the substance of what was 
produced during the leadership period of Lyndon Johnson compared to the 
critical period that Mike Mansfield served, he got as much done.
  While some will disagree that I did this, I decided in my own mind I 
would try to adopt more of the style of Mike Mansfield, and not 
necessarily keep the staff here when it was not necessary, and see if I 
couldn't get more done by not being in session late at night or 
threatening weekends. I think it had an effect. I found quite often if 
you don't try to punish Senators, you get more done than you do if you 
press them to the wall. He was a great leader from Montana. He served 
longer than any other majority leader in history. Of the now 17 
majority leaders, only he served 15 years in that position.
  He also had the exact personality that we needed to have for 
Ambassador to Japan. In a way, he was maybe even Japanese in his 
demeanor: Soft spoken, courteous, honorable, man of high integrity, man 
of few words. When he spoke, it was worth listening.
  So we have lost a great leader in the Senate, a friend. He came back 
and spoke to our Leader's Lecture Series. I was totally enthralled with 
what he had to say. He gave us the speech he was going to give on the 
Friday that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He had not given that 
speech. It was a speech defending his style of leadership. It was quite 
interesting to get the juxtaposition of what we go through today and 
what he was going through, the historical nature of that speech. In 
fact, he delivered it to the Senate some 35 years later.
  So we will miss Mike Mansfield. He stayed active until the very end. 
But somehow I felt when Mrs. Mansfield passed away not too long ago 
that he wouldn't be long because they were inseparable. He loved her so 
dearly. And, once again, I think they exhibited the type of couple we 
want in government but also in life.
  As a Republican, but more importantly as a Senator of America, I came 
to admire Mike Mansfield. We owe him a great debt of gratitude. He has 
been a legend. He has made this institution a better place for his 
service. We shall miss him.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Madam President, I add my statement of support to what 
Senator Lott has said about Mike Mansfield. I had the opportunity to 
meet him at the Senate prayer breakfast. He was a regular attendee, a 
gentleman from appearance, demeanor, and actions, deep spiritually as 
an individual. He spoke often by not speaking, just by the way he was. 
He spoke volumes, really, of the beauty of a person who leads a good 
life. He led a life that was really lived and a model for many of us to 
follow. He will be dearly missed.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be added as 
a cosponsor of this resolution, and I further ask unanimous consent 
that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc, that the motion 
to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc with no intervening action 
or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 169) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record under 
``Submitted Resolutions.''

                          ____________________