[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
[November 12, 1997]
[Pages 1541-1542]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 1541]]


Remarks at a Memorial Service for Representative Walter H. Capps
November 12, 1997

    Laura, the staff and friends and admirers of Walter Capps; the first 
time I met Walter, he was not a Congressman. As a matter of fact, he was 
a man who had run for and been defeated for Congress. I knew he must be 
a special man because Laura was working for us, just next to my office, 
and I knew he had to have been a special father.
    So I met this guy, and I thought, this man is entirely too nice to 
be in Congress anyway. [Laughter] Besides that, he speaks in complete 
sentences and paragraphs. [Laughter] He would never get along in 
Washington in the 1990's; he's happy all the time. [Laughter] I don't 
think he has a mean bone in his body. Well, suffice it to say, when he 
ran again, I was elated and even happier when he won.
    For me, the defining image of the 1996 campaign will always be that 
magnificent day at the University of Santa Barbara when we were up on 
the hill and there were 15,000 or more people there, mostly students. It 
was a sunny day looking out on the ocean, and there was Walter Capps on 
the stage with me, beaming. You know, he wasn't exactly an experienced 
campaigner, and he used to joke that I had actually had to grab him and 
teach him how to smile and wave to a crowd from a stage. He was up 
there--he said, ``I never had a crowd like this before. I never had a 
crowd like this before.'' [Laughter] I said, ``Walter, this is easy. You 
just go up, put one arm around me and wave the other arm.'' [Laughter] 
``It's easy; you can do this.''
    I say this to make a point you have already heard from every 
previous speaker. The things I taught him were superficial things; the 
things that he taught us were deep and enduring things. And he seemed to 
naturally be upbeat, harmonious, uniting. I try to do that, but some 
days it's a real effort for me. I think it came out of the depths of his 
soul. I think he was at ease with the consequences of whatever could 
happen to him. Most people in politics are full of anxiety with the 
consequences of whatever could happen to them.
    He believed in his party, but principles were more important. He 
liked victory, but values were more important. And he knew that the mind 
was a wonderful thing, but the heart was more important.
    I can only tell you that, for me, perhaps the most important thing 
was that whenever I saw him, he made me prouder to be in public service. 
He made me want to stand a little taller. He was always so incredibly 
ingratiating and humble, and he was--``It's such a big thing to be in 
the White House,'' and ``I'm so proud my daughter works for the 
President,'' and all that stuff, you know, but he made me feel better 
being around him.
    He sent a message to young people that public service is a noble 
thing and that people who commit themselves to it can make positive 
changes. He was an instant and consistent rebuke to the cynicism that 
some people try to make their way with in this day and age, especially 
when they talk about the political system. He taught us about our common 
humanity, and he left us all a little better than we would have been. 
And if we remember not only what he said but how he lived, he'll make us 
a lot better than we would have been.
    Hebrews says, ``We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, so let us 
run with patience the race that is before us.'' He had a remarkable way 
of being avid, eager, almost lusty about everything he was trying to 
take in in life, and yet underneath, there was this calm patience. He 
had one thing I wish I could have, that I wish we all could--that has 
already been discussed--and that is, every moment seemed enough and 
self-contained, and he was always there. The lives we live in Washington 
leave us so crammed-headed, half the time we're not there in whatever is 
happening to us. Walter Capps was always there.
    For me, because my daughter is the most important person in the 
world to me and to Hillary, his role as a father meant a lot, and Laura 
is now a part of our family. But the integrity and the constancy that he 
brought to that role is something you could see in every single thing he 
did. So we only had him a little less than a year, and we feel a little 
cheated. But maybe the lesson from God, through Walter, to us is: It 
wasn't me; it was you. And we should be a little more like him every 
day.

[[Page 1542]]

That will be his great and enduring gift, not only to us but to the 
United States.
    May God bless his memory and his family.

Note: The President spoke at 12:39 p.m. at the Cannon House Office 
Building. In his remarks, he referred to Representative Capps' daughter 
Laura, Staff Director for the Office of Speechwriting at the White 
House.