May 6, 1971
Page 13988
SENATOR MUSKIE ADDRESSES POLISH CONSTITUTION DAY RALLY IN CHICAGO
HON. ROMAN C. PUCINSKI OF ILLINOIS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Thursday, May 6, 1971
Mr. PUCINSKI. Mr. Speaker, every year the people of Chicago who are of Polish-American descent hold an outdoor rally commemorating the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791.
This year, despite unseasonably cold and blustery weather, thousands once again turned out to commemorate the anniversary of one of mankind's great historical documents. The language of the Polish Constitution, modeled so closely on our own hallowed document, lit a candle of hope that has burned for 180 years throughout Europe.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE attended this gigantic rally in Chicago and delivered one of the most eloquent speeches it has ever been my privilege to hear. With few words, he restored to all the thousands of those present the wonder, the excitement, and the certainty of a brandnew future in a brandnew land that has been felt by every immigrant who ever arrived in America.
Mr. Speaker, I commend Senator MUSKIE's excellent statement to my colleagues today so that they might share with me a renewed appreciation of the very special qualities of our diverse American heritage:
REMARKS BY SENATOR EDMUND S. MUSKIE AT THE POLISH NATIONAL ALLIANCE THIRD OF MAY CELEBRATION,
HUMBOLDT PARK, CHICAGO, ILL., MAY 2, 1971
My thoughts right now go back to my parents and grandparents.
I have images of frightened immigrants, huddled together below the decks of ships. I have a picture in my mind of thin, palefaced boys, carrying suitcases and dreams. I see these ancestors of mine and yours carrying these dreams on trains and on foot to Pittsburgh, Detroit, Omaha and Chicago. And many of them went out from the cities to the farms, supplying the energy that strengthened and re-invigorated the American spirit.
They helped fashion a nation for all of us as they struggled to build a new life for themselves.
Each of them made his own contribution to the building of a new kind of community. You and I know how tough it was. The only jobs open to them were the meanest and lowest.
Poverty was their constant companion. They were met with resentment, hostility and prejudice.
Their conquest of all these obstacles is their glory and our pride. They climbed the economic and social ladder.
They made good on their promises to give their children a chance to know the meaning of growth and freedom.
We all share that heritage.
And we come here to do them honor.
We commemorate today a landmark of parliamentary government – the Polish Constitution of the 3rd of May. This milestone in European democracy was achieved 180 years ago. And it was achieved without bloodshed or disorder.
It established the principle of popular sovereignty in eastern Europe.
Only a few years later, Poland succumbed to the tyranny of powerful neighbors. And yet this constitution remains part of Poland's democratic tradition. That tradition is represented here this afternoon. That tradition is sustained and enriched in the fertile soil of America.
Our task is to make that tradition ever deeper and stronger.
Yet today I sense among many Americans regardless of ancestry a feeling that somehow our glory lies behind us.
Something has happened to take the shine off our dreams.
Seven years of war and death in Indochina have cut deeply into the American soul, into our pride, and into our confidence.
But I believe that we are going to recapture that sense of excitement about both our past and our future. And I think we can draw new energy from the legacy of the brave men and women we are proud to call our ancestors.
The one thing our fathers never did was to shrink from life. They had no time for defeatism or despair. Neither do we.
There is a world beyond Vietnam. This war with all its horrors is going to end – more quickly perhaps than even some men in Government like to believe is possible.
And when it ends, the work of rebuilding must begin. Not only in Vietnam but here in the United States.
We have new connections to make with our young people as we rebuild our great Nation together.
We have veterans coming back from Vietnam. There is important work for them to do. And I can think of nothing more unAmerican than the notion that this society of ours can send a man to war, but can't give him a decent job when he comes home.
My father came to this country because his father wanted him to have a place to grow, a place to achieve his promise.
My father found that his father was right. Here in America he could openly believe in freedom and justice. Here in America he could raise a family without being afraid about his children's future. Here in America he could join with others to honor the Third of May.
My father and I discussed many things.
Sometimes we would argue, strongly. In those discussions and arguments he taught me this above all else: To carry on the belief in liberty and the democratic way of life. That is a task we all must share.
America is threatened by the loss of her greatest traditions – the traditions of immigrants who brought to this land their skills and a thirst for freedom.
All that we came to take for granted has been threatened – the right to earn a decent living, the right to raise a family in safety, the right to be treated with respect.
These are the rights of every American. These are the rights we must fight to protect for every American.
We are going to apply ourselves to the unfinished business of American Democracy. And we don't have to turn our backs on the rest of the world to do it.
The United States is part of the world and we have strong obligations for the keeping of the peace.
I'd like to see the United States make a commitment to a world under law – eliminating anarchy among nations, putting an end to the arms race.
I'd like to see the United States make a commitment to the protection of the world's resources.
I'd like to see the United States make a commitment to work with all other nations to keep the world's oceans free from poison and to keep our atmosphere free from filth.
I'd like to see the United States commit all its moral power to the idea that conditions of sanity and safety can be created on earth so that man neither has to kill or be killed.
I'd like, in short, to see us make inspiring commitments to a planet made safe and fit for the human family.
This world and everything in it belongs to the people who inhabit it.
I can imagine no commitment more in keeping with the spirit of our ancestors than a commitment to help lift the insane burden of war from the world's peoples and to advance the prospects for a decent and just existence for all the human family.
These are the kinds of commitments that make sense in our time. These are the commitments we must work to assure if we are to remain true to the greatness that is our heritage.