Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021

May 26, 2021

From his enlistment in the Navy at age 17, to his service with the Marines in the Korean war, to his time as Secretary of the Navy, to his five terms in the United States Senate, John Warner lived an extraordinary life of service and accomplishment.

I had the privilege of serving alongside John in the Senate for three decades. The John Warner I knew was guided by two things: his conscience and our Constitution. And, when acting in accordance with both, he neither wavered in his convictions nor was concerned with the consequences.

From fighting for international rules and norms to help keep the peace among nations, to his principled stances to oppose torture and support our Armed Forces and our national security, I always knew that John's decisions were guided by his values, even when we disagreed on the policy outcomes. When told that if he voted in a way that was not in line with his party's positionâas he did numerous times on issues of rational gun policy, women's rights, and judicial nomineesâthat "people would say," his favorite rejoinder was, "Let 'em say it."

Indeed, that was his response when, in one of the great honors of my career, he crossed party lines to support me in the 2020 election.

When Senator Warner left the Senate, he asked that the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, "O Ship of State" be read into the Senate Record. In that poem is the stanza:

In spite of rock and tempest's roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee.

Through his service in uniform and the Senate, John Warner deftly helped guide our ship of state. Today our hearts and prayers are with his family.

Categories: Statements by the President : Deaths :: Warner, former Sen. John W., III. Names: Warner, John W., III.

Subjects: Armed Forces, U.S. : Servicemembers :: Deployment; Armed Forces, U.S. : Servicemembers :: Service and dedication; Civil rights : Women's rights and gender equality; Congress : Bipartisanship; Deaths : Warner, former Sen. John W., III; Foreign policy, U.S. : Peace efforts, expansion; Judiciary : Federal court nominations and confirmations; Law enforcement and crime : Gun control; Virginia : Former U.S. Senator, death.

DCPD Number: DCPD202100439.

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