[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22870]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING VICTOR ASHE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I had the privilege of going earlier today 
to the flag ceremony at the State Department for Victor Ashe who is 
retiring as our ambassador to Poland. Victor Ashe is a longtime friend 
of mine, and in fact, we roomed together in San Francisco where we were 
attending the 1964 Republican National Convention. I was between my 
junior and senior years in high school and at the time was an honorary 
assistant sergeant at arms at the convention. I don't suppose you can 
get any lower than being an honorary assistant, but it got me in the 
door. And Victor that summer had just completed his first year at Yale, 
and I'm sure had a much more important position.
  In the years since then, Victor Ashe has had one of the most 
distinguished careers of anyone from our State. He was elected to the 
Tennessee State House at the age of 21, the minimum age for service in 
that body. He began his service in the Tennessee State Senate at the 
age of 30, also the minimum age required. He was the Republican nominee 
for the U.S. Senate and then spent a year and a half as the executive 
director of the President's Commission on Americans Outdoors.
  In 1987, he was elected as mayor of Knoxville, eventually serving for 
16 years and becoming the longest-serving mayor in the city's history. 
In that position, he achieved national recognition by being named 
president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
  Five years ago, President George W. Bush named Victor Ashe as our 
Ambassador to Poland, where he served longer than any other U.S. 
ambassador to that country. Political appointees usually become our 
very best ambassadors, and that was certainly true in the case of 
Victor Ashe. He visited approximately 200 villages, towns and cities in 
Poland, covering almost every nook and cranny of that country. He 
hosted receptions and parties for over 28,000 people and had 320 
overnight guests at the ambassador's residence. Showing that he never 
forgot where he came from, most of his overnight guests were from the 
Knoxville area.
  I had the privilege of leading a congressional delegation of 11 
Members to Poland; and Ambassador Ashe and his wife, Joan, went far 
above and beyond the call of duty in hosting us at that time. In 
addition, I had several Members of Congress who had met him on other 
trips, and they always came back singing the praises of our great 
ambassador.
  I have met many U.S. ambassadors and ambassadors from other countries 
during my time in Congress. I have never met, heard of, or read about 
anyone who has worked as hard or has spent as much time going around 
the country getting to know people from all walks of life. I want to 
commend Victor Ashe for all his service to the people of Tennessee in 
the State house and senate and as mayor of Knoxville. But tonight I 
especially want to salute him for his great service as the 24th U.S. 
Ambassador to one of our strongest allies, the nation of Poland.
  Having summed up his distinguished career thus far, I also want to 
commend him for continuing to advocate good things for our Nations.
  James Morrison, a friend of mine, writes the ``Embassy Row'' column 
for the Washington Times. This past Friday, most of his column was 
about the farewell message Victor Ashe posted on the Web site of the 
U.S. embassy in Poland. In that message, Ambassador Ashe criticized the 
construction of ``fortress-like'' American embassies throughout the 
world. He pointed out that these fortresses have been built even in 
countries where Americans face little danger of terrorist attacks.
  Going ridiculously overboard on security causes two very serious 
problems. One, it sends an unfriendly message from our diplomats, who 
are supposed to be trying to make friends; and, two, it has cost U.S. 
taxpayers many unnecessary billions all over the world. Ambassador Ashe 
wrote: ``The design of many of these buildings quite often creates a 
fortress-like atmosphere, and the impression given to host nations can 
be less than friendly, not the warm, welcoming impression we should 
offer as Americans.''
  He complained that the State Department is imposing security 
requirements and design elements for all new U.S. embassies, regardless 
of the threat posed in more peaceful nations. ``Given different 
security situations in virtually every nation, wide flexibility in 
construction design and location is needed, as opposed to the one-size-
fits-all approach,'' Mr. Ashe said. ``As such, different sites and 
designs can be adopted at less cost and with greater architectural 
warmth.''
  I agree with Victor Ashe and congratulate him on his outstanding 
service to our country.

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