[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13780-13785]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING REPRESENTATIVE LOUIS STOKES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized 
for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the minority leader.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend deepest thanks to 
Congressman Garamendi for sharing his time with us and, also, to 
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, who has been waiting almost an 
hour to share her memories of a very great American.
  We are here this evening, Mr. Speaker, and we rise to honor the 
illustrious career of a dear friend and stellar colleague, the late 
Congressman Louis Stokes from Cleveland, Ohio.
  Our hearts are heavy, but immensely grateful for his path-breaking 
life and legendary generous service. As the first African American 
Member of Congress elected to serve from Ohio, he wrote new history for 
America, for Ohio, every day of his life.
  Rising from the public housing projects of Cleveland, he and his 
brother Carl became revered as they built a more inclusive and 
representative America. What courage and passion that required.
  A proud, personable, and gracious man whose fashion and manner exuded 
dignity, it was actually never his aspiration to be a politician. He 
opted instead to serve the local neighborhoods of Cleveland, where he 
grew up, after returning from 3 years of service in the U.S. Army 
during World War II.
  After using his GI benefits to go to college, Lou served in the 
Veterans Administration and the Treasury Department before attending 
law school. He loved the law. He loved being a lawyer, and he loved 
writing laws here.
  His enlightened leadership moved America forward socially, 
economically, and legally. In Congress, his gentlemanly demeanor and 
sharp intellect allowed him to chair, again, as the first African 
American, the Appropriations subcommittee on Veterans, Housing and 
Urban Development, and Independent Agencies.
  As a much newer, younger Member of Congress, I had the great 
privilege of serving under him as he chaired that important committee.
  He also chaired the House Select Committee on Assassinations and 
served on the House Select Committee to investigate covert arms 
transactions with Iran. His agile legal mind was evident in the 
investigations he conducted.
  The people of Cleveland and Ohio have been blessed throughout his 
life and hold abiding gratitude for his extraordinary accomplishments 
and generous spirit. I can still hear his laugh.
  I am privileged, actually, to have served with Congressman Stokes for 
almost a quarter century and hold lasting memories of his deep love for 
his wife, for his mother, for his brother, for his children, and his 
grandchildren.
  He had indefatigable and inspired efforts to gain respect and equal 
justice in the law for all of our citizens. And he saw progress, great 
progress, in his lifetime that we have so far to go.
  I witnessed his perseverance in building America's communities 
forward and his dedication to meeting our Nation's obligations to 
veterans, to advance space science, and to catapult Cleveland's health 
and human services to the top rung of national assets.
  I have so many memories of Congressman Stokes. I can remember one 
time in a subcommittee he had the head of Arlington Cemetery come up, 
and he had these big volumes that he brought with him of who were the 
veterans who were interred there.
  And Congressman Stokes pointed out to the entire committee, ``Go down 
and read the roster.'' And the roster said, ``No name,'' ``No name,'' 
``No name,'' ``No name.'' And Congressman Stokes informed us that, in 
fact, those were Africa Americans who had died in service to our 
country, but they were buried with no name at Arlington. And he made 
sure that that area was especially recognized, and he was writing 
history for America for the first time.
  I thought, wow, this isn't 1870. This was in the 1980s and 1990s. He 
was a great teacher.
  I shall sorely miss his dogged determination, easy smile, keen and 
measured counsel, and persevering nature.
  The last time we were together was at a Fair Housing meeting in 
Cleveland, Ohio, just a few months ago. Looking back on his generous 
attendance at age 90 and looking in really great shape, I think it was 
his way--he hadn't told anyone yet what was ailing him, but I think it 
was his way of saying good-bye.
  What a gracious gentleman he was. What a gifted leader has lived 
among us.
  I am going to place in the Congressional Record a special story that 
was in the Cleveland Plain Dealer entitled, ``Lou Stokes--The 
Congressman, Leading Lawyer, and Towering Political Presence Has 
Died,'' written by Brent Larkin, Tom Diemer, and Sabrina Eaton of the 
Northeast Ohio Media Group.
  Though I won't read the entire article into the record tonight, let 
me just read a few sentences:
  ``We have been blessed as a family with a legacy we can always be 
proud of,'' Lou Stokes said. ``Together with Carl''--his brother--``we 
made a name that stood for something. What greater honor could have 
come to two brothers who grew up in poverty here in Cleveland?''
  And he tells a story about his mother. He would always get tears in 
his eyes when he would talk of his mother. She had become ill at one 
point, and he went to visit her.
  And he said, ``I took her hands to give her some comfort and, when I 
felt those hard, cold hands from scrubbing floors in order to give me 
an education, I began to understand what her life was about, what her 
life meant.'' And that piercing memory Lou carried with him every day 
of his life.
  ``Beginning in junior high school, Stokes took jobs delivering the 
Cleveland News, shining shoes, and working in a small factory that made 
canned whipped cream.''
  When he was 16, a man named Isadore Apisdorf hired him to perform odd 
jobs at his Army-Navy surplus store on lower Prospect Avenue. Seeing 
something in the youngster, Apisdorf ignored the risk to his business 
in those days and hired Stokes as a salesman.
  When speaking of his early years, Stokes always remembered to mention 
the kindness demonstrated to him by a man ``who sort of acted like a 
father to me,'' Congressman Stokes said.
  Stokes graduated from Central High School in 1943. And with World War 
II raging, he joined the Army and was assigned to a segregated unit 
that remained Stateside, mainly in the south.
  Stokes recalled a layover his unit once had in Memphis where a group 
of German prisoners of war in a train station restaurant were treated 
better than the Black soldiers.
  Louis Stokes embodied so many memories and so much progress that he 
helped not just Cleveland, not just Ohio, but our country and people 
everywhere to persevere, no matter what the odds.

[[Page 13781]]

  I shall miss him. What a gifted leader has lived among us. I know all 
of the people of Ohio join me, as do our colleagues, in saying: May the 
angels carry him to a deserved, peaceful rest close to the heart of 
God.
  There are other Members that wish to speak this evening. I just feel 
very honored to be here. I can still see Lou in the cloakroom in the 
back with his good friend, Bill Clay, and some of the guys. We weren't 
included, as women, in those conversations, but we respected them.
  And he was always cordial. He always sort of stood halfway turned so 
he could say hello to those Members going by. He had a special gracious 
manner about him.

                  [From Cleveland.com, Aug. 19, 2015]

  Lou Stokes--The Congressman, Leading Lawyer and Towering Political 
                           Presence Has Died

                           (By Brent Larkin)

       Cleveland, OH.--Louis Stokes, whose iconic career in public 
     life assures him a place as one of the most revered, 
     respected and powerful figures in Cleveland history, died 
     Tuesday night.
       He was 90.
       The older brother of former Mayor Carl B. Stokes had an 
     aggressive form of cancer, diagnosed in late June.
       A proud, personable and gracious man whose dress and manner 
     exuded dignity, Stokes never wanted to be a politician, 
     aspiring instead to become Cleveland's leading black lawyer.
       But the reluctant officeholder who came to Congress in 1969 
     left it 30 years later as a towering political figure both in 
     Washington and at home.
       Mayor Frank Jackson was one of dozens to publicly mourn the 
     death of his longtime friend.
       ``Congressman Louis Stokes' long career in public life was 
     a model of how to serve with dignity, integrity and honor,'' 
     Jackson said. ``His service paved the way for many who would 
     follow in both public and private careers. I know full well 
     that, but for him, I would have never had the opportunity to 
     become mayor.''
       For more than three decades, Stokes, his brother, former 
     Council President George Forbes, and former Cleveland School 
     Board President Arnold Pinkney dominated every aspect of 
     black political life in the city.
       Now, only Forbes survives.
       ``The four of us had parallel careers in public life,'' 
     Forbes said. ``It was not unusual for some of the things we 
     did or said to be questioned. But not Lou Stokes. If he said 
     it, or did it, it was like a pronouncement from Sinai. It was 
     the gospel. It was the last word. No one disagreed with 
     him.''
       Stokes' resume in the House included stints as chairman of 
     the select committee that from 1976 to 1978 investigated the 
     assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther 
     King Jr., chairman of the House Ethics Committee, a member of 
     the House select committee that investigated the Iran-Contra 
     affair, and the first black to chair the Intelligence 
     Committee and serve on the influential House Appropriations 
     Committee.
       In Cleveland, Stokes' political muscle was the 21st 
     Congressional District Caucus, a political organization 
     founded by his late brother that became so powerful, its 
     ability to influence election outcomes sometimes surpassed 
     that of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.
       When Stokes and the caucus urged Democrats in his district 
     to vote against a sitting Democratic president in the Ohio 
     presidential primary in 1980, they did just that, supporting 
     Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy over President Jimmy Carter 
     by a margin of nearly 2-1.
       Stokes never lost an election. Nor did he forget where he 
     came from.
       And he never strayed from his commitment to expand 
     political and economic opportunities for minorities.
       In an interview at his home just a month before his death 
     and days after he learned of his terminal illness, Stokes 
     emotionally reminisced on his storybook life.
       ``I was a very blessed guy,'' he began. ``I've been blessed 
     with the opportunity to participate in history, to rise to 
     opportunities I never envisioned . . . and to provide for 
     people opportunities that, in many cases, they would have 
     never had.
       ``We have been blessed as a family with a legacy we can 
     always be proud of. Together with Carl, we made a name that 
     stood for something.
       ``What greater honor could have come to two brothers who 
     grew up in poverty here in Cleveland?''


                           Humble beginnings

       Lou Stokes was born Feb. 23, 1925, the first of two 
     children born to Charles and Louise Stokes. Carl was born a 
     little more than two years later.
       Their father died when Lou was three, and Louise Stokes 
     took an $8-a-day job as a domestic worker at homes in the 
     eastern suburbs. To help raise the young boys in their small 
     apartment on East 69th Street, Louise's mother moved to 
     Cleveland from Georgia.
       Stokes spoke often and with great emotion of his mother, 
     and her repeated lectures on the importance of an education.
       ``One night, she was lying in bed ill and I went into her 
     room and sat with her,'' Stokes recalled during an interview 
     last year at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.
       ``I took her hands to give her some comfort. And when I 
     felt those hard, cold hands from scrubbing floors in order to 
     give me an education, I began to understand what she meant.''
       Beginning in junior high, Stokes took jobs delivering the 
     Cleveland News, shining shoes and working in a small factory 
     that made canned whip cream.
       When Stokes was 16, Isadore Apisdorf hired him to perform 
     odd jobs at his Army-Navy surplus store on lower Prospect 
     Avenue. Seeing something in the youngster, Apisdorf ignored 
     the risks to his business and hired Stokes as a salesman.
       When speaking of his early years, Stokes always remembered 
     to mention the kindness demonstrated to him by a man ``who 
     sort of acted like a father to me.''
       Stokes graduated from Central High School in 1943. With 
     World War II raging, he joined the Army and was assigned to a 
     segregated unit that remained stateside, mainly in the South. 
     Stokes recalled a layover his unit once had in Memphis where 
     a group of German prisoners of war in a train station 
     restaurant were treated better than the black soldiers.
       After the war, Stokes attended Western Reserve University 
     on the G.I. Bill. He worked for a time for the Veterans 
     Administration and Treasury Department before graduating from 
     Cleveland State University's Cleveland Marshall College of 
     Law in 1953.
       Stokes opened up a small law office on St. Clair Avenue, 
     and was later joined by his brother. Carl also became a 
     lawyer and, in 1962, became the first black Democrat elected 
     to the Ohio House.
       Around this time, Stokes drew the attention of Norman 
     Minor, considered one of the greatest lawyers in Ohio history 
     and the greatest black lawyer Cleveland ever produced.
       ``I tried to be like Norman Minor in every way I could,'' 
     Stokes recalled in 2014. ``Carl loved politics. I didn't have 
     that love. I loved being a lawyer.''


                             Making history

       On the night of Nov. 7, 1967, Stokes sat with Martin Luther 
     King Jr. in the Rockefeller Building just west of Public 
     Square, and experienced what he described as ``a pioneering 
     political event for America''--Carl Stokes' election as the 
     nation's first black, big-city mayor.
       In 1965 and again two years later, King had made numerous 
     trips to Cleveland aimed at registering blacks to vote. Carl 
     Stokes lost the 1965 mayoral primary by about 1,700 votes. 
     Two years later, he beat Republican Seth Taft by about 2,500 
     votes.
       Lou Stokes said King was ``tremendously helpful'' to his 
     brother in both those elections.
       Less than a month after his brother's winning election, 
     Stokes enjoyed his own first moment of fame, arguing a case 
     before the U.S. Supreme Court.
       The case involved John Terry, a Cleveland man suspected of 
     preparing to rob a Euclid Avenue store downtown in 1963. 
     Terry and two others were stopped on the sidewalk by a 
     Cleveland policeman, who frisked Terry and found a gun.
       The landmark case of Terry v. Ohio upheld the arrest, but 
     allowed police to stop and frisk suspects only when the 
     officer has a ``reasonable suspicion'' the suspect is about 
     to commit a crime, and may be armed and dangerous.
       That same year, another landmark Supreme Court ruling known 
     as ``one man, one vote'' led to Carl Stokes and Gov. James 
     Rhodes collaborating in the creation of a new, majority-
     minority congressional district comprised of Cleveland's East 
     Side and some eastern suburbs.
       At his brother's urging, a reluctant Lou Stokes put his law 
     career on hold and became a candidate. In the Democratic 
     primary, Stokes beat 13 opponents, including George Forbes, 
     Leo Jackson and George White.
       In January 1969, Stokes entered Congress along with Shirley 
     Chisholm of New York and William ``Bill'' Clay of Missouri. 
     Their elections brought to nine the number of blacks in 
     Congress.
       Stokes immediately began to make his mark, becoming a 
     founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus a little 
     more than a year after taking office.
       Always served well by his personality, Stokes was a tall, 
     hard-working man with a loud, infectious laugh. His gentle 
     nature masked a steely commitment--and, at times, he was 
     viewed as a bit too thin-skinned. Nevertheless, among his 
     colleagues, Stokes was always considered one of the body's 
     most popular members.
       When Tip O'Neill became speaker of the U.S. House in 1977, 
     Stokes' career took off. O'Neill's respect for Stokes earned 
     him prestigious and powerful committee assignments, which 
     often translated into federal spending on projects important 
     to Cleveland.

[[Page 13782]]

       ``We had a very special relationship,'' Stokes said of 
     O'Neill during his July 14 interview. ``He used to call me 
     `Louie, my pal.' He gave me some very tough assignments.''
       In 1987, Stokes had a memorable back-and-forth with Oliver 
     North during the Iran-Contra hearings, telling the Marine 
     Corps lieutenant colonel, ``While I admire your love for 
     America, I just hope you will never forget that others, too, 
     love America just as much as you do--and . . . will die for 
     America just as quickly as you will.''


                            The power broker

       Back in Cleveland, the 1971 decision by Carl Stokes to 
     leave town for a television career in New York instead of 
     seeking a third term as mayor created a significant power 
     vacuum within the black political establishment.
       Stokes moved decisively to fill that vacuum, and Democratic 
     leaders awarded him a co-chairmanship of the county party. 
     But Forbes and Arnold Pinkney were becoming powerful black 
     political figures in their own right.
       For the next 10 to 15 years, the inevitable tensions that 
     arise with power-sharing led to public disagreements and some 
     angry private moments--with Call and Post founder and 
     publisher W.O. Walker often serving as a mediator.
       Over time, those strains disappeared. And while Forbes 
     would eventually cement a legacy as the most powerful City 
     Council president in Cleveland history and Pinkney twice 
     waged competitive campaigns for mayor and became a nationally 
     recognized political consultant, there was never any doubt 
     who owned the magic political name.
       That name at times moved Stokes and the 21st Congressional 
     District Caucus to part ways with the Democratic Party. And 
     Stokes was not above using the caucus as a weapon to punish 
     and defeat candidates he believed did not deserve black 
     votes.
       The caucus' influence was often most pronounced in down-
     the-ballot races for judge and other offices. But in the 1977 
     election for mayor, one of the most competitive and dramatic 
     in the city's history, support from the Stokes brothers 
     probably made the difference in Dennis Kucinich's victory 
     over Democratic Party-backed Edward Feighan.
       Tim Hagan served as Feighan's de facto campaign manager. 
     Several months after the election, he would become chairman 
     of the county's Democratic Party.
       ``If Congressman Stokes was with you, it gave you 
     unquestioned credibility with the people he represented,'' 
     said Hagan. ``It made the difference between winning or 
     losing an election. Lou's endorsement was the most important 
     endorsement a candidate sought.''
       There were a few stumbles, but none major. And they did 
     little or nothing to tarnish Stokes' relationship with his 
     constituents. [In 1983, following a late-night session of 
     Congress, he was convicted on a minor charge of driving under 
     the influence and also of running a red light; Stokes said he 
     was overly tired but sober, but decided not to appeal the 
     jury verdict.] In the early 1990s, he had 551 overdrafts at 
     the House Bank, most for small amounts.
       In 1993, Stokes reached the height of his power in 
     Congress, joining the prestigious ``College of Cardinals'' 
     when he became chair of the Appropriations subcommittee for 
     the Veterans Administration and Housing and Urban 
     Development. It was a position that gave Stokes enormous say 
     in how and where tens of billions in federal dollars were 
     spent. The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center on East 
     105th Street is one of several Cleveland buildings named in 
     his honor.
       But his enthusiasm for the job would soon wane. In 1994, 
     Republicans took control of the House. Two years later, at 
     age 71, Stokes had open heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic 
     and a tumor removed from his vocal cords.
       When, in April 1996, Carl Stokes died of cancer, Stokes 
     lost his best friend.


                             The denouement

       By 1998, after 30 years in office, Stokes decided not to 
     seek re-election.
       On the day he announced his retirement, Plain Dealer 
     columnist Elizabeth Auster wrote, ``Stokes brought more than 
     money home from Washington. He also brought laughter and 
     inspiration and pride. And sometimes those are harder to come 
     by.''
       Then-Cleveland Mayor Michael White said of Stokes, 
     ``Someone will fill his seat, but I don't think anyone will 
     ever fill his shoes.''
       It was always a foregone conclusion Stokes' job would pass 
     to Stephanie Tubbs Jones, county prosecutor at the time. When 
     Tubbs Jones died unexpectedly in 2008, Marcia Fudge became 
     only the third person to hold the seat.
       In retirement, Stokes became senior counsel at the 
     Cleveland-based law firm of what was then Squire Sanders & 
     Dempsey. He served on several corporate boards, including 
     Forest City Enterprises.
       When asked in the July interview about the lack of civility 
     in Washington today, Stokes said he was sometimes embarrassed 
     to be a former member of Congress.
       ``I have members of Congress whom I see, on both sides of 
     the aisle, and they tell me, `Louie, you wouldn't want to be 
     here now.' It's a waste of your time and intellect to be 
     involved there now and see how difficult it is to concentrate 
     on doing what's best for people--considering you were sent 
     there to help people. That's gone now.''
       Stokes retired from the law firm in 2012, and resigned from 
     the Forest City board last year. In recent months, he spent 
     time assisting his daughter, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge 
     Angela Stokes, who is contesting disciplinary charges filed 
     against her by the Ohio Supreme Court's Disciplinary Counsel.
       Besides Angela, he is survived by his wife of 55 years, 
     Jeanette (Jay); daughter Shelley Stokes-Hammond, retired 
     public affairs director at Howard University; daughter Lori, 
     a television news anchor in New York City; son Chuck, 
     editorial and public affairs director at a Detroit television 
     station; and seven grandchildren.
       Funeral arrangements are pending.

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, 
who I know was a very, very dear friend of Congressman Stokes. I thank 
her so much for joining us this evening.

                              {time}  2100

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to 
join Congresswoman Kaptur in sharing some sentiments.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand in recognition of the late Congressman Louis 
Stokes, a dear friend and a tremendous patriot, who dedicated his life 
to serving our great Nation. He was dedicated to expanding political 
and economic opportunities for all Americans, and he was determined to 
transcend the culture of discrimination and injustice.
  Louis Stokes rose from humble beginnings in the local housing 
projects of Cleveland, Ohio, to serve 30 years in the U.S. House of 
Representatives. He was first elected in 1968. Reluctant to enter the 
political arena, Stokes was persuaded to run for office by his younger 
brother, Carl B. Stokes, the first African American mayor of a major 
American city, elected in 1967.
  Prior to serving in Congress, Mr. Stokes served as a civil rights 
lawyer. He was the first African American to represent the State of 
Ohio in Congress and was a founding member of the Congressional Black 
Caucus. Throughout his tenure in the House, he chaired several 
congressional committees and was the first African American to win a 
seat on the House Committee on Appropriations.
  During his long tenure in Congress, he headed and participated in 
several major House investigations. In March of 1977, he was appointed 
to lead the Select Committee on Assassinations, formed to conduct an 
investigation of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of President 
John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  He also served as the chairman of the House Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence and became the first African American Member 
of Congress to head this committee.
  He was the dean of the Ohio congressional delegation. His work in the 
area of health led to his appointment as a member of the Pepper 
Commission of comprehensive health care, and he was the founder and 
chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust. In 1981, 
he chaired the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
  When Louis Stokes retired in 1998, he became the first African 
American in the history of the U.S. Congress to retire after 30 years 
of service. Following his service in Congress, he became a senior 
counsel at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP, a global law firm, and 
distinguished visiting professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social 
Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.
  He also served as a vice chairman of the Pew Environmental Health 
Commission at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and was 
appointed by the former Health and Human Services Secretary, Donna 
Shalala, as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Minority Health.
  As a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, he engineered 
a vehicle that would foster collaboration and strategic alliances for 
generations. Because of his visionary leadership, we all benefit from 
an organization powerful enough to engage, empower, and excite 
generations of African American leaders who influence the political 
landscape, impact the outcome of elections, and serve as strong

[[Page 13783]]

voices for those weakened by poverty, discrimination, and lack of 
opportunity.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud and honored to have had the privilege of 
serving with this Congressman. I was inspired by his intelligence, 
preparation, dignity, generosity, and forward thinking. He leaves 
behind a legacy that inspires not only those who served with him, but a 
generation of future leaders.
  I am grateful for this vision that he had, his integrity, his grace, 
his friendship, and his mentorship.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Thank you, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, 
a long way from Cleveland, for your great service and for sharing your 
memories of our beloved friend, Congressman Louis Stokes.


                             General Leave

  Ms. KAPTUR. I know others want to enter material in the Record in 
memory of Congressman Stokes.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 
legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to mention that Congressman 
Stokes' beautiful wife, Jeanette, who was at his side through all his 
years of service; his daughters, Angela, Shelley, Lori; his son, Chuck; 
and seven grandchildren.
  What an amazing family--the Stokes family has made many contributions 
to Ohio and to our country, but I think Jeanette and Congressman Stokes 
are proudest of the children and grandchildren that they have raised. 
They have represented the family well during this most difficult time.


                      Honoring Speaker Jim Wright

  Ms. KAPTUR. I would like to turn to a different subject, if I might, 
in the remaining time.
  Mr. Speaker, several weeks ago, there was a Special Order that was 
given on Speaker Jim Wright, and I was unable, because of duties in 
Ohio, to join my remarks to those of his friends and colleagues here in 
the Congress. I rise tonight to honor him for the leader and master of 
the legislative process that Speaker Jim Wright of Fort Worth, Texas, 
was.
  He approached life with an eager and courageous mission and a true 
democratic heart. He loved this House. He just loved it. He just basked 
in its glory and its power, and he had the keenness of intellect, the 
balance of knowledge, the intuition, the direction, and the wisdom that 
comes from the long years of experience that he had at the level of 
Fort Worth and then the State of Texas and then, obviously, federally.
  He was a veteran of World War II and had been a pilot and received 
the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was truly--truly--a courageous hero 
for our country and chose to serve then in elected life.
  What I will forever remember of him was his dignity and his strength. 
His personal ability to also forgive those who sought to harm him and 
move on was an amazing trait, and I think it revealed some of what he 
was able to bring as a negotiator and a statesman to the work here.
  He was a passionate fighter for the people of our country, especially 
those of ordinary means who might not have their voices heard, and when 
he got into a topic that he loved, he was absolutely unstoppable.
  He was a gifted orator. He spoke with all of his heart, and he 
elevated this House and the people who served in it. He loved Congress. 
He referred to it as a heady place to be, where Members of both 
political parties should cooperate to make America a world leader and 
to build and support a strong middle class.
  His early life growing up during the Great Depression had a permanent 
imprint on him, and he never forgot the common person. His service in 
the Army during World War II instilled in him a life of service and a 
dedication to help those less fortunate, but also a passion for 
liberty.
  His legislative achievements were legion. He helped create the Clean 
Water Act and the Interstate Highway System, and he helped guarantee 
benefits for returning veterans. I remember what a master he was. I 
believe he chaired the House Public Works Committee and rose from 
there.
  I can still see him making the case, right at this podium here in the 
House, for a modern transportation bill, clinking dimes in a large 
glass bowl to say that we have to pay our way forward here. He 
understood what it took to build and maintain a great nation's 
prosperity. He was a terrific, terrific orator.
  In foreign affairs, Speaker Wright had a contribution that one could 
describe as profound. He was a peacemaker. He visited the Middle East 
and facilitated the meeting that led to the accord between Israel and 
Egypt in 1977.
  More than a decade later, he led a successful push for a compromise 
that would end the war between the Sandinista government and the 
Contras in Nicaragua. Over time, his approach would lead to the end of 
U.S. military financing and the start of democratically held elections 
there. How many Americans can say they have ever been involved in 
something of that magnitude?
  In his farewell speech before Congress, Speaker Wright said: ``When 
vengeance becomes more desirable than vindication, harsh personal 
attacks on one another's motives, one another's character, drown out 
the quiet logic of serious debate on important issues, things that we 
ought to be involved ourselves in, surely that is unworthy of our 
institution, unworthy of our American political process. All of us in 
both parties must resolve to bring this period of mindless cannibalism 
to an end. There has been enough of it.''
  Speaker Wright returned to Fort Worth where he donated his official 
papers to Texas Christian University's library and taught a TCU course 
called Congress and the Presidents for more than 20 years. His 
intention to keep the class small was simply impossible, as his 
enrollment grew at an increasing rate every year.
  Speaker Wright always treated me graciously. Here I was from Ohio, a 
completely different part of the country, but I appreciate the fact 
that he assisted my efforts to seek a seat on the Committee on 
Appropriations--it took me over a decade to arrive there--since no one 
from our part of Ohio had ever served on it.
  He saw the exclusion, and he helped me. I am so grateful to him 
forever for that and what I have been able to do to help the country in 
that position.
  He and I shared many experiences and pursuits during our shared years 
in Congress, but one of my favorite memories is something we had in 
common, and that was a love of gardening and roses. He was especially 
fond of a gray-purplish variety of rose that he had raised to 
perfection. He just loved life.
  Speaker Wright would often quote Horace Greeley in saying: ``Fame is 
a vapor; popularity an accident; riches take wings; those who cheer 
today may curse tomorrow; only one thing endures--character.''
  Speaker Wright was certainly a man of great character and great 
talent and ability and great accomplishment.
  We shall miss him greatly. May the hearts of his loved ones, his 
beloved wife, Betty; his four children; 15 grandchildren; 24 great-
grandchildren; and his sister Betty Lee Wright be warmed by the light 
of his memory and the legacy of liberty he bestowed upon us all and the 
great affection we shall always have for him in our hearts.
  May God bless the Wright family.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, Louis Stokes rose from the local 
housing projects to serve 30 years in the U.S. House, becoming a potent 
symbol for his Cleveland-based majority-black district. Reluctant to 
enter the political arena, Stokes was persuaded to run for office by 
his prominent brother and by community members he had served for 
decades as a civil rights lawyer.
  His accomplishments were substantive and of historic proportions. The 
first Black to represent Ohio, Stokes chaired several congressional 
committees (including the Permanent

[[Page 13784]]

Select Intelligence Committee) and was the first African American to 
win a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
  He used his success to try to increase opportunities for millions of 
African Americans, saying, ``I'm going to keep on denouncing the 
inequities of this system, but I'm going to work within it. To go 
outside the system would be to deny myself--to deny my own existence. 
I've beaten the system. I've proved it can be done--so have a lot of 
others.'' Stokes continued, ``But the problem is that a black man has 
to be extra special to win in this system. Why should you have to be a 
super black to get someplace? That's what's wrong in the society. The 
ordinary black man doesn't have the same chance as the ordinary white 
man does.''
  Louis Stokes was born on February 23, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, to 
Charles and Louise Cinthy (Stone) Stokes. His father worked in a 
laundromat and died when Louis was young. Stokes and his younger 
brother, Carl, were raised by their widowed mother, whose salary as a 
domestic was supplemented by welfare payments. Louis Stokes 
supplemented the family income by shining shoes around the Cleveland 
projects and clerking at an Army/Navy store. He attended Cleveland's 
public schools and served as a personnel specialist in the U.S. Army 
from 1943 to 1946. He returned home with an honorable discharge, taking 
jobs in the Veterans Administration and Treasury Department offices in 
Cleveland while attending college at night with the help of the GI 
Bill. He attended the Cleveland College of Western Reserve University 
from 1946 to 1948. Stokes eventually earned a J.D. from the Cleveland 
Marshall School of Law in 1953 and, with his brother, opened the law 
firm Stokes and Stokes. On August 21, 1960, Louis Stokes married 
Jeanette (Jay) Francis, and they raised four children: Shelly, Louis 
C., Angela, and Lorene.
  He devoted himself to his law practice, where he became involved in a 
number of civil rights--related cases--often working pro bono on behalf 
of poor clients and activists. He was an active participant in civic 
affairs. Working on behalf of the Cleveland NAACP, Stokes helped 
challenge the Ohio legislature's redistricting in 1965 that followed 
the Supreme Court's ``one man, one vote'' decision.
  The state legislature had fragmented the congressional districts that 
overlay Cleveland, diluting black voting strength. Stokes joined forces 
with Charles Lucas, a black Republican, to challenge that action. They 
lost their case in U.S. District Court, but based on Stokes's written 
appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the brief in 1967. From that 
decision followed the creation of Ohio's first majority-black district. 
Later that year, in December 1967, Stokes made an oral argument before 
the U.S. Supreme Court in Terry v. Ohio, a precedent-setting case that 
defined the legality of police search and seizure procedures.
  At his brother Carl's behest Louis Stokes made his first run for 
elective office in 1968. He sought to win the seat in the newly created 
congressional district that encompassed much of the east side of 
Cleveland. Stokes was hardly a typical newcomer to the political 
campaign. First, his brother, Mayor Stokes, put the services of his 
political network at Louis's disposal. Stokes won by a landslide. He 
won his subsequent 14 general elections by lopsided margins in the 
heavily Democratic district taking as much as 88 percent of the vote.
  As a freshman Representative, Stokes received assignments on the 
Education and Labor Committee and the Internal Security Committee 
(formerly the House Un-American Activities Committee). He 
enthusiastically accepted the former assignment, believing Education 
and Labor would be a prime platform from which he could push the agenda 
for his urban district: job training, economic opportunity, and 
educational interests. But Stokes was less pleased with the Internal 
Security panel, which had lapsed into an increasingly irrelevant entity 
since its heyday investigating communists in the 1940s and 1950s. 
(House leaders disbanded it entirely in the mid-1970s.)
  During his second term in the House, Stokes earned a seat on the 
Appropriations Committee. During more than two decades on the 
committee, Stokes steered hundreds of millions of federal dollars into 
projects in his home state. He eventually became an Appropriations 
subcommittee chair, or ``cardinal,'' for Veterans, HUD, and Independent 
Agencies. Stokes was the second African-American ``cardinal'' ever (the 
first, Julian Dixon of California, chaired the DC Subcommittee). Years 
later, Stokes said of the Appropriations Committee, ``It's the only 
committee to be on. All the rest is window dressing.'' In addition to 
chairing an Appropriations subcommittee, Stokes is one of fewer than 
two dozen African Americans ever to chair a House committee and one of 
just a handful to wield the gavel on multiple panels: the Permanent 
Select Committee on Intelligence (100th Congress), the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct (97th-98th Congresses, 102nd Congress), 
and the Select Committee on Assassinations (95th Congress).
  The growing ranks of black Members sought to create a power base, 
realizing--in the words of Representative William (Bill) Clay, Sr. of 
Missouri they ``had to parlay massive voting potential into concrete 
economic results.'', As freshman House Members, Stokes and Clay quickly 
developed an enduring friendship and became strong supporters of the 
formation of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), to promote economic, 
educational, and social issues that were important to African 
Americans. This strategy dovetailed with Stokes's perception of his 
role as an advocate for the ``black community'' in his district. Stokes 
served as chairman of the CBC for two consecutive terms beginning in 
1972, after Chairman Charles Diggs, Jr., of Michigan resigned from the 
post. A centrist, Stokes was widely credited with shepherding the group 
away from the polarizing politics of various black factions toward a 
more stable and organized policy agenda.
  Using his position as CBC chairman and his increasing influence on 
the Appropriations Committee, Representative Stokes pushed a 
legislative agenda that mirrored the needs of his majority-black 
district. He earned a reputation as a congenial but determined activist 
for minority issues, consistently scoring as one of the most liberal 
Members of the House in the Americans for Democratic Action and the 
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations 
vote tallies. He advocated more funding for education (particularly for 
minority colleges), affirmative action programs to employ more blacks, 
housing and urban development projects, and initiatives to improve 
access to health care for working-class Americans. In the 1980s, Stokes 
vocalized black concerns that the Ronald W. Reagan administration was 
intent on rolling back minority gains made in the 1960s and 1970s. He 
described conservative efforts to scale back school desegregation 
efforts and affirmative action programs--as well as massive spending on 
military programs--as a ``full scale attack'' on the priorities of the 
black community. He also was an early advocate of federal government 
intervention in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
  From his seat on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 
Stokes was a particularly forceful critic of the Reagan 
administration's foreign policy. He gained national prominence as a 
member of the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms 
Transactions with Iran when he grilled Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North 
in 1987 about his role in funding anticommunist Nicaraguan Contras 
through weapons sales to Tehran. At one juncture he reminded North, ``I 
wore [the uniform] as proudly as you do, even when our government 
required black and white soldiers in the same Army to live, sleep, eat 
and travel separate and apart, while fighting and dying for our 
country.''
  House leaders repeatedly sought to capitalize on Stokes's image as a 
stable, trustworthy, and competent adjudicator--turning to him to lead 
high-profile committees and handle controversial national issues, as 
well as the occasional ethics scandals in the House. When 
Representative Henry Gonzalez of Texas resigned as chairman of the 
Select Committee on Assassinations, Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill of 
Massachusetts tapped Stokes to lead the panel, which was investigating 
the circumstances surrounding the deaths of President John F. Kennedy 
and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1978, Stokes's committee filed 27 
volumes of hearings and a final report that recommended administrative 
and legislative reforms. While the panel found that the King and the 
Kennedy murders may have involved multiple assassins (James Earl Ray 
and Lee Harvey Oswald have traditionally been described as lone 
killers), it concluded there was no evidence to support assertions of a 
broad conspiracy involving domestic groups or foreign governments--an 
assessment that has been upheld for the past three decades. The 
committee did suggest that Oswald may have had an accomplice on Dealey 
Plaza, where Kennedy was killed in November 1963.
  Stokes's chairmanship of the Select Committee on Assassinations led 
to his appointment by Speaker O'Neill in 1981 as chairman of the House 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (often called the Ethics 
Committee). Stokes steered the panel through a turbulent period that 
included investigations of Members implicated in the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation's ABSCAM sting and a sex scandal that involved two House 
Members and current and former House Pages.

[[Page 13785]]

  During the 1990s, Stokes's seniority made him an influential voice on 
the Appropriations Committee. In 1993, at the start of the 103rd 
Congress, he assumed the chairman's gavel of the Subcommittee on VA, 
HUD, and Independent Agencies, which controlled one of the largest 
chunks of discretionary spending in the federal budget. Stokes prodded 
federal agencies to hire and serve more minorities. Republicans praised 
him for his nonpartisan leadership of the subcommittee, but when the 
GOP won control of the House in the 1994 elections, and Stokes became 
the Ranking Member of the panel, he often found himself fighting 
Republican efforts to trim federal spending that involved cutting 
welfare programs, including public housing.
  In January 1998, Stokes announced his retirement from the House, 
noting that he wanted to leave ``without ever losing an election.'' 
Moreover, a new generation of rising black politicians Cleveland was 
displacing those of Stokes's generation. Among his proudest 
accomplishments as a Representative, Stokes cited his ability to bring 
Appropriations Committee money to his district to address needs in 
housing and urban development and the opportunities that allowed him to 
set ``historic precedents'' as an African American in the House. ``When 
I started this journey, I realized that I was the first black American 
ever to hold this position in this state,'' Stokes told a newspaper 
reporter. ``I had to write the book . . . I was going to set a standard 
of excellence that would give any successor something to shoot for.'' 
After his congressional career, Louis Stokes resumed his work as a 
lawyer. He was a great American Hero--to be admired and remembered by 
us all.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the life of a truly 
remarkable man--former Congressman Louis B. Stokes, who passed away 
last month at the age of 90.
  It was my honor to meet with Congressman Stokes when I was a staffer 
in the office of Congressman Ron Dellums. I later had the honor to 
serve with him as a member of the House of Representatives as we worked 
to secure funding for homeless shelters in my district.
  Congressman Stokes was a trailblazer.
  Born in Cleveland in 1925, he loved his home city and his home state 
of Ohio. And he was determined to improve the lives of everyone in his 
community. After serving in the military, he returned home to become a 
civil rights attorney and work on behalf of the poor and 
disenfranchised.
  Raised in poverty along with his brother Carl, he dreamed of a more 
just and equal world. He refused to allow prejudice or adversity to 
slow him down.
  Through his life, Lou showed an unwavering commitment to the people 
of Cleveland, and particularly the vulnerable and voiceless.
  As the first African American member of Congress from Ohio--and an 
original cofounder of the Congressional Black Caucus and founding chair 
of the CBC's Health Brain Trust--Congressman Stokes was a proud voice 
for civil rights and equality.
  And as the first African American to serve on the House 
Appropriations committee--the committee on which I now serve--
Congressman Stokes worked tirelessly to bring resources and 
opportunities to folks struggling across the country.
  In many ways, Congressman Stokes was ahead of his time. He was one of 
the earliest and most vocal supporters of addressing the burgeoning 
HIV/AIDS crisis.
  As a veteran, he fought to ensure every veteran had the highest 
possible quality services and care upon returning home. And as the 
chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on Veterans Affairs and 
Housing and Urban Development, he worked to ensure agency services 
reached communities of color.
  His work to combat discrimination in every form--housing, education, 
health care access, economic opportunity and more--continues to inspire 
me.
  While Congressman Stokes will be greatly missed, his legacy and work 
lives on.
  By opening doors of opportunity, and inspiring generations of leaders 
in Cleveland, Ohio and beyond, Congressman Lou Stokes has made our 
nation a more just and equal place. He was a great man and a good 
friend who will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his 
family and my deepest gratitude for sharing this great human being with 
us.

                          ____________________