[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 831-832]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING AMBASSADOR CHARLES PRICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Dreier) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, ``Pray Silence.'' Pray Silence is the very 
British expression that was used regularly by Ambassador Charles Price 
when he would stand up after dinner to offer thoughtful, insightful, 
and humorous remarks. He did it most often at the wonderful home--
Sunnylands--of Ambassador Walter and Mrs. Annenberg, and he was one who 
provided a great deal of inspiration and leadership. I'm very saddened 
to have had the news, Mr. Speaker, of his passing, but I have to say 
that he lived a very, very full and active 80 years.
  Ambassador Price and I shared a hometown and many mutual friends in 
Kansas City, and we also shared a great love of California. Mr. Price 
was someone who was very big physically, he was very big 
intellectually, and he had a great big heart. I always felt comforted 
around him because he had that

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wonderful embrace when he would bring you in. And with me, for the past 
several decades, he's offered very thoughtful political insight and 
advice and counsel on a wide range of issues.
  He served as Ambassador to the Court of St. James after having served 
as Ambassador to Belgium under President Reagan during the 1980s. He 
was the first American to go to the site in Lockerbie, Scotland, where 
Pan Am Flight 103 went down. He was on the cutting edge of many very, 
very important decisions that were made with our very important ally, 
Margaret Thatcher. And I have to say that Ambassador Price was someone 
who had that very unique ability, Mr. Speaker, to, as Rudyard Kipling 
said, ``walk with kings and keep the common touch.''
  He was known for his great sense of humor, and he was known for 
having a great desire to spend time with working men and women. And to 
listen to people, he would often go to pubs in England, and I suspect 
that Charlie Price might have enjoyed a Guinness or two at the same 
time.
  But, Mr. Speaker, he was also a great business leader and a great 
philanthropist. I remember that, as the leading diplomat that he was, 
our great former Secretary of State, George Shultz, once said to me, in 
describing Charlie Price, that when the Secretary would arrive in 
London and he would get into the car with Charlie Price, there was no 
ambassador who could provide him with more cogent, thoughtful insight 
into the circumstances that existed on the ground as they were.
  Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of Winston Churchill, I read in my 
original hometown paper--and Charlie Price's as well--the Kansas City 
Star, that he had just, not long ago, written a note to a grandson of 
his to lift his spirits. In that note he said: ``Never, never give up. 
You will always succeed if you accept that you will not succeed every 
time. But never accept losing as anything other than a learning 
experience to drive you to be a champion in all walks of life.''
  Mr. Speaker, my thoughts and prayers go to Carol Price and to the 
wonderful family. I have to say that, as we look to next week's--a week 
from this Sunday--dedication of the great new operation at Sunnylands 
in southern California, I know that Carol will be there, but Charlie 
Price will be greatly missed.

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