[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15169-15170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  EULOGY TO FORMER SENATOR JAMES EXON

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the eulogy 
given by former Senator Bob Kerrey at the funeral of our late 
colleague, Jim Exon, be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                      Eulogy for Senator Jim Exon

                            (By Bob Kerrey)

       To Governor Dave Heineman--I thank you for the wisdom and 
     the generosity to allow these services to be conducted in the 
     rotunda of this capitol that Jim Exon loved so much. It is a 
     precedent worthy of the risk.
       To the family of Senator Jim Exon--I pray your pain will 
     pass and become a loving memory. I hope you will always feel 
     pride to have known this great man so well.
       To his friends, both in attendance and not--let us count 
     our blessings that we were so fortunate that he cared for us.
       To his colleagues who have left their work in the Senate to 
     travel to Nebraska to pay tribute to one of their own: 
     Senators Hagel and Nelson, Leader Reid, Senators Bingaman, 
     Levin and Akaka--thank you for honoring Jim in this way.
       To the lawyers present--I apologize for I must begin my 
     eulogy to Jim Exon with a lawyer joke. It is, I assure you, 
     the least offensive one he ever told me. A doctor, a teacher, 
     and a lawyer are killed in an automobile accident and find 
     themselves at the gates of heaven at precisely the same time. 
     Saint Peter is in an unusually good mood and asks them each a 
     very easy question: how much is 2 plus 2? In turn the doctor 
     and the teacher give the correct answer and are granted entry 
     through the pearly gates. The lawyer hesitates, pulls Saint 
     Peter aside and whispers: ``What do you want it to be?''
       This was a question Jim Exon never asked. He always added 
     up the numbers and gave them to you straight whether or not 
     you liked the answer.
       He was born on August 9, 1921. It was a bad day for his St. 
     Louis Cardinals; they lost to the Brooklyn Dodgers 8 to 7.
       Each of us is influenced--though by no means limited--by 
     the circumstances of our births. Jim Exon was born the same 
     year that Adolf Hitler became Chairman of the Nazi Party. In 
     that year the United States officially ended World War I and 
     signed a peace treaty with Germany. Radicals Sacco and 
     Venzetti were found guilty of murder by a Massachusetts 
     judge. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated by 
     President Harding at Arlington Cemetery on November 11, 
     Armistice Day. In South Dakota, where Jim was born, 
     scientists held a conference that summer to discuss the 
     unrealized potential of electricity.
       He was eight years old when the stock market crashed and 
     the Depression officially began. He was witness to the dust 
     storms and the terrible consequence of the loss of that top 
     soil. He came of age when the possibility of an economic 
     revolution was real, when the New Deal became a salvation and 
     a political way of life for many who believed that FDR had 
     saved their lives.
       He was a teenager when the lights came on in two-thirds of 
     Nebraska thanks to rural electrification. He remembered the 
     enactment of Social Security legislation and the hope which 
     the WPA and the CCC gave to grown men and women who had given 
     up.
       He was twenty years old when Japan invaded Pearl Harbor. In 
     a single day the naive innocence which had propelled our 
     twenty year disarmament came to a sudden and terrible end. 
     The United States had steadfastly stayed out of the war 
     trying at all cost to avoid this conflict. Thus it was that 
     he came of age at a time when losing our freedoms was not 
     political rhetoric but a real possibility. He knew the 
     terrible price of weakness and isolation.
       Both of these big events--the Depression and the Second 
     World War--defined Jim Exon. They explained a lot about who 
     he was, why he took the political and economic positions that 
     he did, and why he always seemed so grateful to be alive and 
     an American. It explains why he didn't complain, why he 
     seemed to take whatever came his way in stride, and why he 
     talked little about the hardships he had so obviously 
     endured. Most of all it explains his values: a lifetime 
     commitment to Pat, his children and his community, and his 
     unrelenting desire to make life a little better for everyone.
       The events of Jim Exon's youth explain a lot about Jim 
     Exon, the man. But one thing remains a mystery to me: Where 
     did that laugh come from? I have never heard anything quite 
     like it. It was more like a duck call than a laugh. But, like 
     so many other things about Jim Exon (his pipe, his short 
     sleeve shirts, his big ears) his laugh added to his 
     authenticity. He was a man who never caused you to wonder: 
     what's he thinking? What you saw was what you got with Jim 
     Exon. Except that some people saw this large, big wristed son 
     of the high plains and concluded that he was a rube who 
     could be easily fooled. The thing is Jim Exon could tell 
     when someone was underestimating him and he'd turn it into 
     his advantage--either for fun or the benefit of 
     Nebraskans.
       He came to New York City once to visit a number of people, 
     including the New Deal economist Eliot Janeway. Arriving in 
     Mr. Janeway's plush offices Governor Exon saw from the look 
     on the receptionist's face that she was a little taken aback 
     by his look. So, after asking directions to and using the 
     bathroom, he returned to comment to a startled receptionist 
     how wonderful it was to find a place with indoor plumbing.
       ``That's something we don't have back in Nebraska. And what 
     are those white porcelain bowls hanging on the walls?''
       After she explained their function and he exclaimed that he 
     was going to have one installed in the Governor's mansion 
     when he returned to Lincoln, she realized she was being put-
     on.
       Basin Electric in Wyoming was not so lucky. As Governor, 
     Jim had persuaded his friend Attorney General Paul Douglas to 
     bring a lawsuit against the State of Wyoming over a water 
     dispute involving Wyoming's decision to grant a permit to 
     Basin Electric for a new power plant. Negotiating in private 
     Governor Exon emerged with an agreement which created the 
     Sandhill Crane Trust on the Platte River near Grand Island. 
     The net for Nebraska has been hundreds of millions of tourism 
     dollars and sufficient stream flow to guarantee the 
     preservation of an ancient wild bird flyway.
       This conservation ethic produced a locally famous encounter 
     at Valentine High School shortly after I arrived in the 
     Senate. Senator Exon had introduced legislation to designate 
     a portion of the Niobrara River as ``scenic,'' which would 
     limit development--something that Cherry County residents are 
     not known for favoring. I suggested to Jim that we schedule a 
     town hall meeting in the high school and invite opponents and 
     supporters to give us their views.
       Needless to say few of the latter showed up. In fact we 
     were welcomed at the door of the school by two cowboys on 
     horseback who turned their horses as we approached. In doing 
     so we were able to see hand painted signs they had hung from 
     their saddles. One said Senator Exon; the other said Senator 
     Kerrey. Both had arrows pointed down at the horses' rear 
     ends.
       A humbling moment.
       As humbling as when he and I first met in 1982. As a 
     relatively unknown candidate for Governor, I wanted to get a 
     photograph of Senator Exon and myself to include in my 
     campaign brochures. Upon meeting him I was surprised how tall 
     he was and even more so when the film was developed. I looked 
     like a small imitation of the real thing standing

[[Page 15170]]

     next to him. In order to use the image I chose to turn the 
     negative slightly when it was printed making us appear a 
     little closer in stature.
       Truth is I had to do a lot of that during my sixteen years 
     in elected politics when standing next to him.
       What impressed me most about Jim Exon was that he never let 
     his size or his power inflate his personal opinion of 
     himself. Remarkably and gratefully he never lost his 
     humility. He never stopped typing notes to Lenny in the 
     cloakroom about some baseball detail that only he knew. He 
     never stopped returning the calls of friends who had helped 
     him get started or he knew along the way. He began and ended 
     the same.
       He made friends with rich and poor alike, with the powerful 
     and the powerless. He could count half a dozen Presidents he 
     had met, including President Bill Clinton with whom he was 
     especially close. They were all the same to him--just another 
     human being with a range of strengths and weaknesses.
       He left behind a big and lasting legacy. Balanced budgets, 
     stronger defense, land conserved, rural communities 
     healthier, better schools and jobs, and a more just America. 
     Beyond those accomplishments was something more important. To 
     all of us who met him, knew him, respected and loved him, he 
     was like Jimmy Stewart in ``It's A Wonderful Life.'' Our 
     lives and the places we call home would not have been the 
     same without him. Governor, Senator, Big Jim, J.J. Exon died 
     on Friday at 8:30 p.m. on June 10, 2005, after the 
     Cardinals had secured a 7 to 1 victory over the New York 
     Yankees. For him a perfect ending to his life on this 
     earth.

                          ____________________