[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 1] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page 1243] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO SENATOR EUGENE J. McCARTHY ______ HON. JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD of california in the house of representatives Wednesday, February 8, 2006 Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, as we resume our business I want to pause for a moment and note the death of a giant in American political history. On December 10, 2005, the Honorable Eugene Joseph McCarthy, former Representative and Senator from Minnesota, departed this life at age 89. Although many Americans, especially the young, may not know much of McCarthy's career or his role in our country's history, we are all fortunate that he chose public service and once trod the halls of this Capitol as a Member. In the days following the Senator's death here in Washington of the effects of Parkinsonism, much has been written about him. Born on March 29, 1916, McCarthy grew up in Watkins, Minnesota, where, he once said, the culture revolved around baseball, the church, and the railroad. After earning a master's degree at the University of Minnesota, following initial diversions through study for the priesthood and a semi-professional baseball career, McCarthy became a college professor. He worked in the War Department during World War II and married, having three daughters and a son. In 1948, the historic election ultimately featuring the erroneous Chicago Tribune headline ``Dewey Defeats Truman,'' McCarthy won a seat in the U.S. House, representing St. Paul. Taking his seat in 1949, Eugene McCarthy embarked on a solidly liberal voting record in the House, whose Members included John F. Kennedy, Gerald R. Ford, and Richard M. Nixon. It immediately became clear that Eugene McCarthy had uncommon political courage. During his first term, another McCarthy, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, created an uproar in a February 1950 speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, by waving around an alleged list of Communists in the State Department. Joe McCarthy's subsequent Red-baiting rampage through the early 1950s thus began, destroying numerous peoples' careers and intimidating countless more. In 1952, Eugene McCarthy, then a second-term Congressman of the minority party, had an opportunity and the courage to confront the author of ``McCarthyism'' in a nationally broadcast television debate, one of the earliest of its kind. Observers of the ``McCarthy vs. McCarthy'' debate considered the outcome a draw--in reality, a tremendous victory for the mild-mannered Congressman from Minnesota. After five terms in the House, during which he helped to found the Democratic Study Group, an organization committed to advancing liberal public policies, Eugene McCarthy successfully challenged the incumbent conservative Republican Senator Edward Thye. For Democrats, the 1958 election yielded spectacular results, and McCarthy joined a large class of new Senators, one of whom, the distinguished senior Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Byrd, serves to this day. In the years to follow, the new Senator McCarthy continued his solidly liberal voting record, supporting civil rights, anti-poverty legislation, and the creation of Medicare. He decried racism and the ills of poverty, and supported most proposals of the ``New Frontier'' and the ``Great Society'' during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Of course, the momentous event of Eugene McCarthy's 22 years in Congress was his courageous, insurgent campaign for the 1968 Democratic Presidential nomination, which changed the course of history for America and the world. Like 87 other Senators, Eugene McCarthy had voted for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in August 1964, which gave President Johnson authority to wage war in Vietnam. The climate in which that vote had occurred, a few days after an alleged attack by North Vietnamese patrol boats against two American destroyers, made the resolution virtually impossible to oppose. But Senator McCarthy, who served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, came to regret his vote when it became clear to him that the Johnson administration would expend vast sums and thousands of lives in a conflict that even the President himself, we now know from taped telephone conversations, doubted could be won. McCarthy believed the war was not only unwinnable, but morally wrong. Defying the administration, he urged a new course and called for a negotiated settlement in Vietnam. By the time he announced on November 30, 1967, that he would seek the 1968 Democratic Presidential nomination, more than 15,000 American service men and women had died, along with tens of thousands of Vietnamese, with no end in sight. Senator McCarthy's decision to challenge President Johnson shocked and divided the Democratic Party and the country. But dissatisfaction with the war policy had found a champion. Senator McCarthy argued that the billions of dollars being spent in Vietnam could be better put to work, and that withdrawal from Vietnam would not hurt American national security. He launched a campaign focusing on four States scheduled to hold Democratic primaries, beginning with New Hampshire. In addition to others eager for change, the McCarthy campaign attracted the support of thousands of college students from across the country, many of whom flocked into the State and rang doorbells in support of the Senator, explaining the problems with the war and his vision for a rational solution. To respond to the charge that only ``hippies'' and ``communists'' opposed the war, young men shaved their beards and went ``clean for Gene.'' Ben Shahn and other famous artists painted campaign posters, entertainers, including singers Peter, Paul and Mary, who remained the Senator's lifelong friends, wrote and performed. In the New Hampshire Democratic primary, the Senator received an astounding 42 percent of the vote, to the President's 49 percent, leading the President to withdraw from the race later that month. The McCarthy campaign continued, exhilarated by the result. But after Senator McCarthy demonstrated the vulnerability of the President and overall dissatisfaction with the war, Senator Robert Kennedy entered the race also on an anti-war platform, and fellow Minnesotan Hubert Humphrey, the Vice President, entered as the ``establishment'' Democrat after President Johnson's withdrawal. Following the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, who had endorsed Senator McCarthy in the California primary, and Senator Robert Kennedy, Vice President Humphrey amassed the delegates needed to win the nomination, and nearly defeated Richard Nixon in the general election. After leaving the Senate in 1970, McCarthy remained a vital force in American politics, offering an independent point of view on issues, especially campaigns and elections. He wrote dozens of books, poetry, and continued making his unique contribution to our culture until his death. Mr. Speaker, although the Senator's wife Abigail and their daughter Mary preceded the Senator in death, their daughters Margaret and Ellen survive, along with son Michael. In a personal note, as many of our colleagues know, daughter Ellen McCarthy serves on the Democratic staff of the Committee on House Administration. Every day, Ellen skillfully helps our Committee, other Members and their staffs to navigate the maze of rules, regulations, and other issues they confront in the course of their work here in the House. Speaking for the Committee, we are grateful that Senator McCarthy's dedication to public service led to Ellen's work with us, and we share not only her loss, but also her intense personal pride in her father's accomplishments in this world. Mr. Speaker, all Members of this Congress, and indeed every American, should give thanks for the life and career of Eugene McCarthy. He had the wisdom to see a wrong, and the courage to act when it mattered, all at great political peril, and ultimately, sacrifice. We have too seldom seen his like before, and I fear we shall not soon see his like again. ____________________