[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10832]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     IN HONOR OF BARBARA L. BAILEY

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise to speak today in memory 
of Mrs. Barbara L. Bailey, a great and gracious lady, the first lady of 
Connecticut Democratic politics, who passed away this past Monday.
  As my colleague Senator Clinton said when she introduced Mrs. Bailey 
at the White House a few years back, Mrs. Bailey ``has been a stalwart 
of the Democratic Party in Connecticut and progressive politics . . . 
in the country.'' I first met Barbara Bailey when I was writing my 
senior thesis at college on her husband, John Bailey, former Democratic 
National Committee Chairman under President Kennedy and legendary 
Connecticut political leader.
  Mrs. Bailey was an astute political advisor and partner to her 
husband. She was known as a gracious host to politicians at all levels 
of government. Mrs. Bailey entertained such political luminaries as 
President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and 
many, many others.
  After her husband died in 1975 Mrs. Bailey continued to follow 
Democratic politics closely and actively. In fact, a few years ago four 
generations of Baileys gathered at the White House when Barbara spoke 
about the importance of health care and introduced President Clinton at 
the White House on Mother's Day.
  Mrs. Bailey has also spent her life devoted to public service, 
especially on issues concerning women. Just last month, the 93-year-old 
Mrs. Bailey received a lifetime achievement award from the Ladies 
Auxiliary of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford. She 
also spent ten years as a trustee of the University of Connecticut.
  Mrs. Bailey is known to Connecticut as the matriarch of a 
distinguished political family. Her family has always been most 
important to her and I know it was a joy for her to see her children 
and grandchildren continue the tradition of civic involvement that she 
and her husband believed in so deeply. Her daughter, Barbara Bailey 
Kennelly, is the former U.S. Representative from Connecticut's first 
district and has run for Governor of the Nutmeg State. Her son, Jack 
Bailey, is currently the chief State's attorney. And just this summer 
Mrs. Bailey's grandson, Austin Perkins, represented Connecticut as a 
delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, CA.
  Barbara Bailey's death is a loss for me personally and for the whole 
of Connecticut. We will remember her fondly as a gracious woman of 
principle, a champion of good causes and a beloved mother, grandmother 
and friend.

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