[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15417-15418]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DR. JAMES BILLINGTON

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, in the original Hall of Representatives, 
which is now called National Statuary Hall, there is a beautiful clock 
that stands over the Chamber's doorway. The clock and its adjoining 
sculpture depict Clio,

[[Page 15418]]

the Greek muse of history, watching over the House of Representatives. 
The meaning of the clock and statue are clear: History will bear 
witness to all we do in Congress.
  For the last 28 years--almost three decades--James Billington has 
served as the Librarian of Congress. He has been our Clio, ensuring 
that the annals of American history are complete and available to 
everyone.
  Dr. Billington came to the Library of Congress in 1987. What a 
remarkable resume--valedictorian at Princeton University, a Rhodes 
Scholar, and he earned his doctorate from Oxford College. Following his 
graduation from Oxford, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. After his service 
in the Army, he taught history--first at Harvard and then at 
Princeton--for 16 years. During that time Dr. Billington became one of 
the foremost scholars of Russia.
  I had the good fortune of being able to travel with Dr. Billington to 
the Soviet Union. It was like having an encyclopedia with you. It was 
wonderful to travel to this country with which we had been involved in 
a Cold War for so many years and to have a scholar with us to give us 
insight everyplace we went and on everybody we talked to. He has 
written a number of important scholarly works on Russian history, 
culture, and politics.
  In 1973 James Billington came to Washington, DC, to lead the Woodrow 
Wilson International Center for Scholars, a prestigious organization. 
As director, he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian 
Studies. He served as their director for 14 years before coming over 
here to become the director of the Library of Congress.
  Dr. Billington has done extraordinary work during his tenure at the 
Library of Congress. He has brought the Library into the 21st century. 
Dr. Billington doubled the size of the Library's analog collections 
from 85 million to 160 million. He oversaw the creation of the Library 
of Congress's online portal, making hundreds of millions of documents, 
books, and material available to the American public.
  Using his relationship with Russian scholars, Dr. Billington founded 
the Open World Leadership Forum. This important forum creates dialogue 
and cultural exchanges between U.S. and Russian leaders. James 
Billington has accompanied 10 congressional delegations to Russia. I 
was fortunate to be on one of them, as I just said. In June 1988, he 
accompanied the President and Mrs. Reagan to the Soviet summit in 
Moscow, and I am confident President Reagan and his staff depended on 
James Billington's outstanding mind.
  Dr. Billington helped establish the congressionally mandated Veterans 
History Project, which collects and preserves first-person accounts 
from U.S. veterans dating back to World War I. Dr. Billington helped 
create the National Book Festival, which brings thousands of authors 
and readers to the National Mall every year.
  In every way imaginable, Dr. James Billington has made the Library of 
Congress and, by extension, the United States better--a better library, 
a better country. As he embarks on a well-deserved retirement after 28 
years of exemplary service, I wish him the very best. I have no doubt 
Dr. Billington will enjoy time with his wife Marjorie--a lovely woman I 
have come to know and admire greatly--and their 4 children and 12 
grandchildren.
  James Billington, thank you for a job well done. We will all miss 
you.

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