[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2281-2282]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CELEBRATING PRESIDENT'S DAY

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, on Monday, February 18, the United States 
will celebrate President's Day. President's Day takes on a particular 
significance this year, as the Nation is actively involved in the 
selection process for a new President. It is heartening to see the 
level of interest and participation in all of the Presidential campaign 
events and in the primaries and caucuses. It is a sign that Americans' 
faith in the basic processes of their Government is still strong, even 
as a recent poll indicates that the public holds a very low opinion of 
the current President and of Congress. In a 1789 letter to Richard 
Price, Thomas Jefferson wrote that, ``Whenever the people are well-
informed, they can be trusted with their own Government. Whenever 
things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied 
upon to set them to rights.'' I believe we are witnessing the truth of 
Thomas Jefferson's observation.
  As early as 1796, Americans were observing the birthday of our first, 
and still one of our greatest, Presidents, George Washington. According 
to various old style calendars, George Washington was born on either 
February 11 or February 22, 1732. On whichever date people preferred, 
President Washington's birthday was feted with ``Birthnight Balls,'' 
speeches, and receptions. Here in the Senate, one of our most enduring 
traditions is the annual reading of Washington's 1796 Farewell Address 
by a current Member of the Senate. This practice began in 1862, and 
became an annual event in 1893. Beginning in 1900, the Senator who read 
the address then signed his or her name and perhaps wrote a brief 
remark in a book maintained by the Secretary of the Senate. For the 
historically curious, both Washington's Farewell Address and a 
selection of the remarks from the book can be found on the Senate's Web 
site (www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/
FarewellAddressBook.htm).
  After the 1865 assassination of President Lincoln, another revered 
President who was also born in February, similar memorial observations 
sprang up around the Nation. In 1865, both Houses of Congress gathered 
for a memorial address. President Lincoln's birthday became a legal 
holiday in several States, although it did not become a Federal holiday 
like President Washington's. However, in 1968, legislation was enacted 
to simplify the Federal holiday schedule. As a result, Washington's 
birthday observance was moved to the third Monday in February, 
regardless of whether or not that day was February 22. Officially, this 
holiday is still known as Washington's Birthday, but it has become 
popularly known as President's Day to honor both Washington and 
Lincoln, as well as all who have served as President.
  Why were President Washington and President Lincoln so widely and 
spontaneously revered by the public, even in the immediate aftermath of 
their deaths, before time had a chance to burnish their memories and 
fade their less enobling characteristics? Certainly, the great events 
that were shaped for the better by their decisions were a major factor. 
Both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln made a name for themselves 
as inspiring leaders of men and the Nation during pivotal wars in our 
Nation's history. Both demonstrated true patriotism, a deep love of the 
Nation that was the prism through which they viewed all problems and 
made all decisions. Both men selflessly sacrificed their own personal 
lives to serve the Nation throughout their lives.
  In honor of President's Day, I urge everyone to listen to or read 
Washington's Farewell Address and apply its wisdom to the Nation's 
current situation and to the decision each of us will make in November. 
A collaborative effort between George Washington and the authors of The 
Federalist Papers, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, 
Henry Cabot Lodge wrote of the Farewell Address that ``. . . no man 
ever left a nobler political testament.'' In it, Washington supported 
the Federal Government as ``a main pillar in the edifice of your real 
independence . . .'' warned against a party system that ``. . . serves 
to . . . agitate the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false 
alarms . . .'' and ``. . . kindles the animosity of one . . . against 
another.'' He stressed the importance of religion and morality, 
famously warned against the entanglements of permanent foreign 
alliances, cautioned against an over-powerful military establishment as 
`` . . . inauspicious to liberty . . .'' and urged the Nation to ``. . 
. cherish public credit . . .'' by using it as little as possible. Only 
then could the Nation avoid the accumulation of debt, because ``. . . 
towards the payments of debts there must be Revenue, that to have 
Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are 
not . . . inconvenient and unpleasant.'' We cannot have our cake and 
eat it, too--tax cuts and deficit spending cannot occur simultaneously 
if the economy is to remain sound over the long run.
  Washington's experience and wisdom may serve us well as the true 
litmus test to apply to our prospective 44th President. Mr. President, 
I close with a poem by the author of The Life of Abraham Lincoln, 
Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881) called ``God, Give Us Men!'' Penned 
before women had won the right to vote, it nonetheless resonates today 
and applies to anyone, man or woman, who would lead our Nation.

                           God, Give Us Men!

     God, give us men! A time like this demands
     Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
     Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
     Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
     Men who possess opinions and a will;
     Men who have honor; men who will not lie;

     Men who can stand before a demagogue
     And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
     Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
     In public duty, and in private thinking;

     For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
     Their large professions and their little deeds,
     Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
     Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sanders). The Senator from Florida.

[[Page 2282]]


  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I never cease to be amazed at 
our senior colleague, Senator Byrd of West Virginia, for the great 
oratorical skills he has, the vast memory store he carries, of which we 
have just had an example that from memory he can recite poems and he 
can recite historical dates. He is such an inspiration to the rest of 
the Senators, and he is, indeed, the pillar upon which this Senate 
rests. Once again, we have been treated to the oratory of the great 
Senator from the State of West Virginia.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. I am happy to yield to the distinguished 
Senator.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I deeply thank the able and distinguished 
Senator from the State of Florida in which I once lived. I thank him. I 
cherish his friendship. May he ever be one for whom the motto ``E 
pluribus unum'' will dwell in his heart.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, that is about the best 
admonition this Senator could have. E pluribus unum--out of many, one. 
I am grateful to the Senator from West Virginia for reminding not only 
me but the whole Senate of that duty, that responsibility, that 
obligation we all have.

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