[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16857-16861]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




THE HONORABLE J. STROM THURMOND, FORMER U.S. SENATOR AND PRESIDENT PRO 
           TEMPORE EMERITUS FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

  Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 191, which is at the 
desk, and I ask that the resolution be read.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 191) relative to the death of the 
     Honorable J. Strom Thurmond,

[[Page 16858]]

     former United States Senator and President Pro Tempore 
     Emeritus from the State of South Carolina.

                              S. Res. 191

       Whereas the Honorable J. Strom Thurmond conducted his life 
     in an exemplary manner, an example to all of his fellow 
     citizens;
       Whereas the Honorable J. Strom Thurmond was a devoted 
     husband, father, and most recently, grandfather;
       Whereas the Honorable J. Strom Thurmond gave a great 
     measure of his life to public service;
       Whereas, having abandoned the safety of high position, the 
     Honorable J. Strom Thurmond served his country during World 
     War II, fighting the greatest threat the world had thus far 
     seen;
       Whereas the Honorable J. Strom Thurmond served South 
     Carolina in the United States Senate with devotion and 
     distinction;
       Whereas his service on behalf of South Carolina and all 
     Americans earned him the esteem and high regard of his 
     colleagues; and
       Whereas his death has deprived his State and Nation of a 
     most outstanding Senator: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow 
     and deep regret the announcement of the death of the 
     Honorable J. Strom Thurmond, former Senator and President Pro 
     Tempore Emeritus from the State of South Carolina.
       Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate communicate 
     these resolutions to the House of Representatives and 
     transmit an enrolled copy thereof to the family of the 
     deceased.
       Resolved, That when the Senate adjourns today, it stand 
     adjourned as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
     Honorable J. Strom Thurmond.
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. Madam President, this resolution has been submitted by 
myself and on behalf of Senator Daschle, Senator Graham, and Senator 
Hollings in honor of the honorable and great J. Strom Thurmond.
  Last night shortly after 9:45, we were notified of the death of Strom 
Thurmond. At that time, I pointed out that it was a century ago--a long 
time ago--when Mark Twain was alive and Teddy Roosevelt was still 
President, J. Strom Thurmond was born in Edgefield, SC, and, thus, 
began a life of public service unmatched--unmatched--in the modern 
history of America.
  Strom Thurmond served as United States Senator from December 1954, 2 
years after I was born, until January of this year, nearly a half 
century of service in this body--this body we have the honor of 
participating in on a daily basis.
  Though his period of service is a remarkable accomplishment in and of 
itself, Strom led a remarkable life even before coming to the Senate. 
Late last night and over the course of the morning, if one turned on a 
television set, they would hear anecdotes, stories about this great 
man, and those pre-Senate years when he was a teacher, an athletic 
coach, and a superintendent of education.
  He studied law under his father, Judge J. William Thurmond, and 
became a city attorney, a county attorney, a State senator, and 
eventually a circuit court judge. He resigned his position as a circuit 
judge to volunteer to fight in World War II. This he did at the age of 
39, 18 years after serving as an Army reservist and having earned a 
commission as a second lieutenant.
  Indeed, as we all know, age never was an obstacle for Strom Thurmond. 
As a member of the 82nd Airborne, Strom landed a glider at Normandy on 
D-Day and helped secure the foothold for the Allies to liberate the 
European continent.
  For his distinguished service, Strom was awarded five battle stars 
and 18 other decorations, including the Legion of Merit with oak leaf 
cluster, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star for Valor, the Belgian Order 
of the Crown, and the French Cross of War. No wonder when a speech 
writer once used the word ``afraid,'' Strom Thurmond handed the text 
back with the retort:

       I've never been afraid of anything.

  After the war, Strom returned home to South Carolina. He was elected 
Governor in 1946, and then ran for President of the United States as 
the States Rights Democratic candidate. Strom won four States and 39 
electoral votes, and that tally stands as the third largest independent 
electoral vote in U.S. history.
  Though he did not win the Presidency, Strom was determined to serve 
in Washington. He ran for the Senate in 1954, became the only candidate 
elected to Congress by a write-in vote in American history, and he was 
reelected eight more times.
  In the most recent years, it became increasingly difficult for Strom 
to go back and forth to South Carolina, but that did not stop the 
people of South Carolina from coming to him, and it should not have. 
For decades, Strom attended every county fair, handled every 
constituent request, and sent a congratulatory note to every high 
school graduate, many of whom came to intern in his office. It has been 
said that almost 70 percent of South Carolinians have met Strom 
Thurmond face to face. Over the course of his long and distinguished 
career, Strom Thurmond was a witness to history.
  As a young man, he knew people who stood in the presence of Andrew 
Jackson. He campaigned for the votes of men who fought in the Civil 
War. He and Herbert Hoover won their first elective office in the same 
year, 1928.
  Strom more than saw history, he wrote it. He was the first major 
southern Democrat to switch to the Republican Party. He served for more 
than 17 years as President pro tempore of the Senate. As chairman of 
the Armed Services Committee, he ensured that our men and women of the 
Armed Forces had the best training, the best equipment, and the best 
leadership in the world.
  As we all know, Strom did set the record for the oldest and longest 
serving Senator. He served with about one-fifth of the nearly 2,000 men 
and women who have been Members of the Senate since 1789. He was nearly 
one-half the age of the U.S. Constitution. Strom certainly faced his 
trials. As the Dixiecrat candidate for President in 1948, he campaigned 
on a platform of States rights, but in doing so he also opposed civil 
rights, as he did for many years as a Senator.
  History will reflect that part of Strom's life. We will let history 
also reflect that when Strom saw that America had changed, and changed 
for the better, he changed, too.
  A longtime friend of Senator Thurmond's, Hortense Woodson, once said 
of him:

       Everything he's done has been done to the full. There's no 
     halfway doings about Strom.

  Indeed, Strom Thurmond will forever be a symbol of what one person 
can accomplish when they live life to the fullest. God bless our friend 
and our colleague from South Carolina, Senator Strom Thurmond.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina. Madam President, I compliment our 
majority leader for his statement. It was very eloquent and it means a 
lot to Senator Thurmond's family.
  I know personally that Senator Thurmond had a great fondness for 
Senator Frist. He told me he is a very smart man and he is a good 
doctor, too. If you ever need him, look him up.
  I rise today in support of this resolution on behalf of myself and 
Senator Hollings. I appreciate the majority leader and Senator Daschle 
allowing this to occur. It is offered in the spirit of Strom Thurmond's 
life. Something can be said about Strom Thurmond in the Senate very 
easily. He loved the Senate and the Senate loved him. His colleagues 
who have served with him so long all have personal stories of fun, good 
times, tough fights. He was a valuable ally and a worthy opponent, and 
the Senate has lost its longest serving Member. Many of us have lost a 
very dear friend. That goes for the Senate family, the people who help 
us with the doors, the clerks, and the reporters of debates. Everyone 
enjoyed and appreciated Senator Thurmond.
  It is important to comment on Senator Thurmond, the man. His children 
have lost their father. Whether one is 100 or 200, it is always 
difficult, no matter how long one lives, to give up their father and 
mother.
  I have talked to two of his three children today, and I have 
expressed my condolences. They are doing very well but they are sad 
because they have lost their daddy. I have talked with his wife. We 
reminisced about their life together, the raising of their children, 
and the experiences they have had. So

[[Page 16859]]

my prayers, along with the prayers of everyone in the Senate, go to the 
family. He was a good family man. If a script was written in Hollywood 
about his life, it would not have ended any better in this regard.
  He became a first-time grandfather at the age of 100 last week. He 
has three children under 30. He had his first child when he was 68. He 
was just a phenomenal person. He has done things that most of us could 
not dream of doing in many ways.
  I am convinced that two things drove him in his final years: That he 
wanted to finish out his term because he is not a quitter, and when he 
was elected to serve his last 6-year term he meant to serve it out. He 
helped me to become his successor, and I will be forever grateful. He 
also wanted to see his grandchild born, and God allowed him to do that. 
He was presented his grandson last week. They tell me it was a very 
magic and touching moment. A week later, he passed on.
  He has suffered personal tragedy, lost a daughter in an accident. He 
has experienced much good and bad in his life. He has touched so many 
people. It is a loss to the Senate. It is a loss to his family. It is a 
loss to his staff.
  Duke Short, who served with Senator Thurmond in Washington for so 
many years, was a very loyal and capable staff director. I know that 
Duke and his family feel the loss.
  Dr. Abernathy in South Carolina has been with Strom Thurmond since 
the 1940s when he worked with him as Governor. Dr. Abernathy is a 
legend in his own right.
  There are so many people who have worked for Senator Thurmond 
throughout the years, and I know they feel this loss. Senator Thurmond 
has had enough interns to probably fill up a football stadium. His 
first group of interns are now on Social Security.
  He was elected in 1954. I was born in 1955. All I have known in my 
life is Senator Thurmond, and for 36 years Senator Thurmond and Senator 
Hollings served together. Both of them are distinctive gentlemen, 
bigger than life. A lot of us who have associated with Senator Thurmond 
feel his loss.
  South Carolina has lost her favorite son. Much has been said and will 
be said of Senator Thurmond's legacy. The majority leader, Senator 
Frist, went over his life very well, and it is just an amazing story to 
tell: Being a superintendent of education in the 1920s; getting elected 
for the first time in 1928; being a judge in South Carolina at the 
start of World War II, deciding to give up that job which would have 
exempted him from service, being in his early forties; joined the 82nd 
Airborne, landing in a glider. The pilot of the glider was killed when 
it landed. His men were wounded. He led them out and secured the 
objective.
  When the war in Europe was over, he volunteered to go to Japan and he 
fought until they quit. He was just an unbelievable person who embraced 
life.
  People ask me: How did he make it so long? He just had a passion. He 
had a passion for everything he did--his family, his constituents. His 
legacy in South Carolina is quite simple for every South Carolinian--
black, white, rich, poor, no matter whether you are from upstate, 
middle, low State--I am sure every State has different regions and 
different dialects but the one thing we had in common: If we had a 
problem, we knew who to call. We knew to pick up the phone and call 
Senator Thurmond because if he could help you, he would.
  The average, everyday South Carolinian, from the company owner to the 
janitor, believed that Senator Thurmond was on their side. And when 
they called, they received a call back. When they wrote a letter, they 
received a letter back. The reason I know that is people tell me 
everywhere I go.
  One guy told me Senator Thurmond used to cut his grass. These stories 
abound. Some of them have been embellished, I am sure, but the only way 
that he could have lasted this long in politics, doing as many things 
as he has done, taking on the issues that he has taken on, is that at 
the end of the day people saw that he had a servant's heart.
  Part of his legacy is the 1948 campaign, and it needs to be 
mentioned. Senator Frist mentioned it. That was a tough time in our 
country. He ran as a States rights candidate with a lot of passion for 
the limited role of the Federal Government. He won on the platform that 
divided the races. That was a dark time in South Carolina. That was a 
dark time in our Nation.
  Senator Thurmond made a choice later in life. He could have done 
almost anything he wanted. But as the 1950s came to a close and the 
1960s came about and people started insisting their Government treat 
them better, Senator Thurmond made a choice. Instead of hanging on to 
the rhetoric of the past and the politics of the past, he embraced the 
future.
  Here is what he does not get much credit for. Instead of going with 
the flow, which some people want to ascribe to him, he in a subtle way 
led a change. He could have been a barrier to change, but he made it 
easy for people in South Carolina, politicians on the Democratic and 
Republican sides, to embrace change because when Strom came out for 
something, it made it easier for you to come out for something because 
it gave you cover. When Strom Thurmond appointed the first African-
American judge in the history of South Carolina to the Federal bench, 
it made it easier for the people in the statehouse to give appointments 
to African Americans. That is what we do not need to lose.
  When he embraced traditional Black colleges and started giving them 
the same recognition and funding as every other university in South 
Carolina, it made it easier for the legislature to improve the quality 
of life for everybody. At the end of his life, in 2001, he was awarded 
lifetime recognition from the Urban League in South Carolina, that is 
designed to build racial harmony, for his lifetime of service to 
traditionally African-American colleges.
  That needs to be mentioned as much as the 1948 campaign. He will be 
held accountable in history for that part of his life. History should 
know that in many subtle ways, in many bold ways, he allowed my State 
to move forward, and everybody in my State is better off for it.
  From a personal point, when I was in the House, I was the first 
Republican to be elected from my Third Congressional District in 120 
years. One reason I was able to win when everybody behind me was beaten 
for 120 years was, Senator Thurmond, for the first time in his 
political career, embraced a campaign very directly--because he had 
been smart enough not to get involved in political races and try to 
represent everybody. He took to me, and I am the beneficiary of that. 
He said: I will come and campaign for you, Lindsey. I said: Great. And 
I turned to my staff and said: What do you do with a 92-year-old man? I 
was worried we would wear him out and we could not utilize his 
services. I was worried about him at age 92. Three days he campaigned 
for me. When he left, I said: Thank God he is gone. He wore me out.
  He had a passion I had never seen. I picked him up at the airport on 
day 1, in an airplane flown by his personal pilot who was 75 years old, 
a single-engine plane. We went to a parade in September. It is hot in 
South Carolina in September. We went from one end of town to the other 
shaking hands. We went to the funeral home because he remembered the 
guy who owned the funeral home always gave him apples. He walked in 
unannounced because the Senator wanted apples, and he got the apples. 
He campaigned all day. We had a fundraiser that night. We went to a 
football game that night. He made a speech at half time. We went to a 
rodeo that started at 9 o'clock at night, and he got up in the middle 
of the ring on a barrel and gave a speech. He wanted to see the third 
shift change at the textile plant. I said: I am too tired, and I went 
home. That went on for 3 days.
  When he left, I asked him to sign a fundraising letter for me. We 
were all worn out. He looked at the letter and he said you misspelled 
your own name and you are in the Third District, not the Second 
District.
  At 92 years of age, he had a passion and he helped me. I stand 
appreciative. When I ran for the Senate, he endorsed me in a primary. I 
can tell you, I would not be his successor if he had not come out and 
said: Lindsey Graham is the

[[Page 16860]]

right guy to follow me. That will stick with me forever.
  What have I learned from Senator Thurmond? If you are willing to 
change, you can serve your State and Nation well. If you care about 
people, they will take care of you. Let it be said that God gave to 
this Nation, my State, South Carolina, a public servant, a man of great 
character and heart, and that we miss him, but we thank God that he 
gave us J. Strom Thurmond.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. BENNETT. Madam President, I enjoyed hearing my colleague from 
South Carolina tell his stories about Strom Thurmond. I rise to join 
the tribute to the memory of Strom Thurmond that is, very 
appropriately, the day after his death.
  Most of the time when someone dies, we gather in great sorrow and we 
mourn his passing and we think about what might have been. In Strom's 
case, there is no reason to think about what might have been. He did it 
all. There was nothing left undone. There was nothing left to 
accomplish.
  This should not be a time of mourning or sorrow but a time of 
celebration. So I rise to celebrate the life of Strom Thurmond. The 
best way to do that, I think, is to tell Strom Thurmond stories. All of 
us are full of Strom Thurmond stories.
  I remember D-Day, when the big celebration occurred on the 
anniversary of D-Day and Strom Thurmond was not there. Arlen Specter, 
who was there, greeted him in the Senate and said: Strom, it was a 
marvelous, marvelous celebration, and you should have been there. And 
his response was: I was there when it counted. It put us in our place.
  My father had the experience of working with Strom Thurmond. My 
father was elected in 1950, and, as has been noted, Strom Thurmond was 
elected in 1954. They became instant friends, not just political 
friends. There were occasions when they disagreed politically, but they 
became personal friends.
  When Strom married, my mother--old enough to be Strom's wife's 
mother--kind of took Nancy under her wing and they became friends. The 
Thurmonds and the Bennetts remained close for a long, long time, to the 
point when my children started getting married, my parents said: You 
have to send Strom Thurmond an announcement. And we did and thought we 
had taken care of our social obligation. Then we get a phone call from 
Strom Thurmond's office: We got this announcement, and we don't mean to 
be prying, but who are you? Well, we are the children of Wallace 
Bennett. There was a pause. Then the person on the end of the line 
said: And who's Wallace Bennett?
  But Strom knew who Wallace Bennett was, and when I came to the 
Senate, Strom greeted me very warmly and called me Wallace. It took a 
little while for him to figure out that I was not my father. And that 
was a compliment to me because I was very proud of my father and the 
service he performed in the Senate, and I took the opportunity to touch 
base with Strom.
  From that, I thought: This man in his nineties is not all that sharp. 
He confuses me. He does not have all of this as straight as he might. 
Then I had a couple of experiences that set me straight. We had an 
issue with the State of Utah that was all wrapped up in the Armed 
Services Committee. It was quite a complicated issue. Someone said to 
me: Explain that to John Warner because John Warner is second ranking 
to Strom and is handling all of the detailed kind of things. You go 
talk to John Warner. He said: You will be talking to somebody who I 
know can handle the problem.
  So I went to Senator Warner and I started outlining the details of 
this situation to him. He cut me off. He said: You are going to have to 
talk to the chairman.
  I, having had this image of this old man, thought, I don't really 
want to have to talk to the chairman. And, as delicately as I could, I 
said to John: Can't we work this through and kind of handle it? He said 
no. He said: That is a serious enough issue, I don't dare handle that. 
You are going to have to talk to the chairman.
  Just then, Senator Thurmond walked through the doors. So, gathering 
up my courage as a freshman Senator, I walked over to him and said: 
Senator Thurmond, I would like to visit with you about--and I no sooner 
got the title of the issue out of my mouth, than he said: It's all 
taken care of. And he kept walking. I followed him along, sure that he 
had not understood what I was talking about. This was a complicated 
kind of issue, and he had oversimplified it and assumed that it had 
been taken care of.
  So I started to intrude again with some of the details. He was very 
respectful and wasn't patronizing. But he said: I know; I understand; 
all taken care of.
  Well, thus dismissed, I went back to my staff and said: I think we 
have a problem here. Senator Warner won't handle it, and he insists 
that Senator Thurmond has to handle it, and Senator Thurmond just said 
it has all been taken care of.
  We contacted the Armed Services Committee staff, and they said: Oh, 
yes, that has all been dealt with. Senator Thurmond stepped in, he 
understood the issue, he made his decisions, he took care of it, and it 
is all taken care of.
  So I decided, well, I had better not underestimate this man, in spite 
of his age.
  Then I had the experience while I was on the campaign plane with 
Senator Dole in the 1996 election when we were flying around the 
eastern States on the day of the South Carolina primaries. The word 
came in that Senator Dole was winning the South Carolina primary. We 
had some exit polls that looked pretty good. We decided to change our 
itinerary and fly to South Carolina so that Senator Dole could be there 
to receive the plaudits and applause and the excitement of winning the 
South Carolina primary. So we did. Of course, this had been a long day. 
We didn't leave South Carolina to come back to Washington on the 
campaign plane until after the returns were in and all of the 
celebrations had been held.
  Senator Dole, very appropriately, went up into the front part of the 
plane to take a nap as we were flying back. Senator Thurmond had 
hitched a ride back to Washington on the campaign plane. That left 
Senator Thurmond and me and one or two others sitting around the table 
just behind the front part of the plane chatting.
  It was now midnight, way past my bedtime, and here we were having 
political discussions on a campaign plane in the middle of the 
Presidential campaign--the kind of thing that political junkies like me 
love to do. It was a great discussion. But the interesting thing about 
it was that Strom Thurmond not only understood the discussion and 
participated in the discussion, but he led the discussion. He was 
instructing us about political lore. He was telling tales out of his 
past, which is what old people often do. But he was also analyzing 
things for the future and had a firm hand on everything. I thought I 
was talking to a man at least 20 and maybe 30 years younger than his 
chronological age. I understood: OK, this man still has all of his 
faculties, mental as well as physical.
  We landed at Dulles Airport well after 1 o'clock in the morning. 
Everybody was dragging except Strom, who strode off to his car in fine 
style. I remember what he said on that occasion about how you live a 
long time. He said you eat right, you exercise regularly, and you keep 
a positive outlook. He did all of those things, although I am not quite 
sure about the eating right part because there were times when I caught 
Strom eating some things that I am not sure a dietician would 
recommend.
  The time came for him to run for reelection. I couldn't believe at 94 
he was going to run for reelection. Ninety-four is the time you retire. 
Being a skeptic, I had a hard time believing the people of South 
Carolina would vote for a 94-year-old man. So I sidled up to one of his 
top staffers as we were getting ready for that campaign. I said: Can 
Strom Thurmond really win one more time in South Carolina? Is this 
going

[[Page 16861]]

to be close? He said: No, it is not going to be close at all. Strom is 
going to win going away.
  By the way, I remembered when the Republicans had taken control of 
the Senate in 1994 and we were having our discussions about platforms. 
One of the issues that was raised by one of the freshman Senators newly 
elected was term limits and how we needed to be for term limits. We 
were debating back and forth. Strom was sitting there not talking. 
Suddenly, he spoke up, and he said: I am for term limits. We all kind 
of giggled a little. He said: But if they are not enacted, I am going 
to run again.
  Here he was running again--94 years old. And I was being told by his 
staff that Strom would win overwhelmingly. I said: Look, we all love 
him. We all love the history. But 94 years old? He said: Let me tell 
you a story.
  This is my favorite Strom Thurmond story.
  He said: I was Strom's AA, and I got a phone call from a woman in 
South Carolina who said to me: I need the Senator's help. Here is the 
situation. My fiance and I got married just before he shipped out in 
the Navy for a 6-month cruise in the Mediterranean. We knew we would 
not like the separation, but we decided, for a variety of reasons, that 
we should get married now rather than wait until after he got back. He 
has just called me and said he has been given leave. He has 2 weeks of 
leave right now in the middle of this 6-month tour, except that he 
cannot leave the theater in case something should arise that would 
require him to be back on the ship within 24 hours. He has to stay in 
or around the Mediterranean area where his ship is. So he said catch an 
airplane, come over here, we can have a 2-week honeymoon in the 
Mediterranean and I can still be available for the military situation, 
if it should arise.
  She said: I went down to get my passport and I was told it takes 2 
weeks to get a passport. By the time I get a passport to fly over to be 
with my husband, his leave will be up and he will have to get back on 
the ship. Can the Senator help me get a passport any faster than 2 
weeks?
  Well, said the staffer, I will find out. He called the woman in South 
Carolina who was handling passports and introduced himself and said: I 
am calling on behalf of Senator Thurmond to see what we can do about 
getting this woman's passport a little faster. The passport lady said: 
It takes 2 weeks. Well, Senator Thurmond would really be grateful. She 
said: I don't care what Senator Thurmond wants. It takes 2 weeks. I 
don't care who you are, and I don't care who he is. Passports take 2 
weeks.
  Well, he said, I have to tell you that under these circumstances, I 
am now going to have to call Senator Thurmond. When there is a 
situation I can't handle myself, I have to involve him. Those are my 
instructions. She said: Call him. Tell him anything you want. He can 
call me. I don't care. Passports take 2 weeks.
  So he said: Well, I am not threatening you. I am just telling you. I 
have to call Senator Thurmond.
  So he hung up talking to the passport lady, and he picked up the 
phone and called Senator Thurmond. Now, it seems Senator Thurmond was 
in Germany, and it was in the middle of the night in Germany, but his 
instructions were that he was to call Senator Thurmond in any such 
situation. So he woke Senator Thurmond up, in the middle of the night 
in Germany, and started to explain this situation.
  He did not get half way through the explanation I have given here 
when Senator Thurmond said: What is her name?
  He said: Well, her name is--and he started to describe the wife of 
the marine who was sent out with the Navy.
  Senator Thurmond said: No, no, not her name, the passport lady's 
name.
  So he gave Senator Thurmond the passport lady's name.
  Senator Thurmond said: Thank you very much--and hung up.
  Ten minutes later the staffer said: I got a phone call from the 
passport lady. She exploded over the phone and said: He called George 
Shultz. The Secretary of State now knows my name.
  Senator Thurmond called George Shultz and he said: George, you've 
been a marine. This is their honeymoon. Can't you get this lady to give 
the woman a passport?
  She got her passport. She got to the Mediterranean. She had her 
honeymoon.
  The staffer said to me: Senator, South Carolina is full of stories 
like that. South Carolina is full of people like that. Strom Thurmond 
will win, big time. No matter how old he is, no matter what his 
situation, that is the kind of service Strom Thurmond has rendered as a 
Senator.
  One of our colleagues was in the Senate doctor's office, as we go in 
there from time to time, and he noticed Strom coming out of the 
doctor's office with a very worried look on his face. We were all very 
concerned about Strom and his health in his later years. So the 
colleague said to the doctor: What's the matter with Strom?
  The doctor said, appropriately: I cannot discuss the medical 
condition of one patient with another patient, so I can't say anything 
to you. He said: However, I don't think it would be violating medical 
ethics to tell you that Strom is a little worried about the fact that 
he can no longer do one-arm pushups.
  This was a man of legend. Eat right, exercise, keep a positive 
attitude, always be available for your constituents, even when it is 
the middle of the night in Germany, and never worry about who you may 
call or upset as long as you are working on behalf of a constituent. 
This was Strom Thurmond.
  We have all kinds of stories. These are my favorite ones. I offer 
them as part of the celebration of an extraordinary life, a life fully 
lived, of someone about whom we need not say: Well, we worry about what 
might have been. In his case, there was nothing left over that might 
have been because he did it all.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina. Mr. President, I thank Senator Bennett 
from Utah for that remembrance. It was just exactly what needed to be 
said. I say to the Senator, I know he loved you and your father dearly. 
On behalf of the people of South Carolina, I thank you very much for 
what you just said.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid 
upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 191) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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