[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 4474-4475]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  HONORING GODFREY ``BUDGE'' SPERLING

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. I rise today to congratulate Godfrey ``Budge'' 
Sperling, a man who has spent the last 35 years satisfying the 
appetites of reporters hungry for both a good meal and a good story. On 
more than 3,100 mornings, Budge has invited members of the Washington 
press corps to join him for breakfast and conversation with political 
news makers. He has hosted everyone from Members of Congress to 
presidential nominees to sitting presidents, as well as luminaries such 
as the Dalai Lama. Along the way, the Sperling Breakfasts have become 
more than an informal gathering of journalists and news makers, they 
have become a prominent part of Washington's political culture. In 
fact, they have become a brand name.
  Today, I would like to take a few moments to pay tribute to this 
institution by sharing with my colleagues a little bit about its 
founder. Budge Sperling was born in Long Beach, California, in 1915, 
but grew up in Urbana, Illinois. In 1937 he graduated from the 
University of Illinois with a degree in Journalism. He continued his 
studies at the University of Oklahoma, receiving a law degree in 1940.
  In 1946, after serving for five years in the United States Air Force 
during World War II, Budge joined the staff of the Christian Science 
Monitor, working his way through a variety of national bureaus until he 
and his breakfast became a brand name. Throughout a career that has 
spanned over 50 years, Budge has served as Chief of the Monitor's 
Midwest Bureau, New York Bureau, and Washington Bureau. He currently 
serves as the Monitor's Senior Washington Columnist.
  The Sperling breakfasts began, ironically, over lunch. On February 8, 
1966, Budge decided to invite some of his colleagues to join him for a 
midday meal at the National Press Club with Charles H. Percy, the 
eventual senator from Illinois, whom he had met on the campaign trail. 
After the successful meeting, Budge was urged by his fellow reporters 
to host another gathering. Budge invited New York Mayor John Lindsay, 
but was unable to book a room at the National Press Club for lunch. He 
decided to have the meeting over breakfast instead, and a tradition was 
born.
  Since that time, the Sperling Breakfast, or ``Breakfast with 
Godfrey,'' as it has been known, has served as the source of many news 
stories. One of the most well-known breakfasts occurred when Budge 
invited Senator Robert F. Kennedy to speak the day after the New 
Hampshire primary in 1968. While Kennedy was addressing the assembled 
reporters, news of the Tet offensive in Vietnam broke and Kennedy, who 
had repeatedly denied presidential aspirations, struggled visibly to 
reconcile this new information with his denials. As Budge recently 
recalled that morning he said, ``we felt we'd seen history in the 
making.''
  This is only one example of the many memorable breakfasts Budge has

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hosted. And while not every one of the thousands of breakfasts has 
resulted in headlines the following day, one thing is certain: Budge 
has his finger on the pulse of who and what are making news in 
Washington.
  At the beginning of each and every Sperling Breakfast, Budge begins 
by announcing. ``The only ground rule here is that we're on the 
record.'' With that one rule in mind, I am pleased to stand here today 
and state in the Record my congratulations and appreciation to Godfrey 
``Budge'' Sperling for all he has done to help inform the American 
people about their government.

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