[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8633]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             TRIBUTE TO DAVID BLOOM, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to David 
Bloom of NBC News. In the passing of David Bloom, we lost a thoughtful, 
passionate and courageous journalist. Yet he was more than a 
journalist, more than a face on NBC News. He was a husband, father, 
colleague, and a wonderful friend.
  I met David Bloom for the first time several years ago. He was 
someone who was very special and very eager to learn more about the 
civil rights movement. David Bloom was born in 1963, the same year Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his historic ``I Have a Dream'' 
speech at the March on Washington.
  David was 2 years old when thousands of men, women, and children 
marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
  I will never forget the day that David called me. He said, 
Congressman Lewis, this has nothing to do with business. This is 
personal.
  He was driving from New York to Washington, listening to a tape of me 
giving an introduction to the speech Dr. King delivered at the end of 
the Selma-to-Montgomery march. He talked about how the speech touched 
him personally.
  I want to say, Madam Speaker, David Bloom's true greatness was yet to 
come. He was truly a wonderful, talented, and just smart human being. 
He had energy and vigor. When he was reporting a story, he did more 
than talk. He used facial expressions and moved his arm and hands to 
tell its meaning.
  David Bloom made an imprint on our hearts and minds. That will never, 
ever be forgotten. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife, his three 
daughters, and the entire NBC News family. He will truly be missed.

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