June 10, 1975
Page 18115
CAMPOBELLO ISLAND
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, Donald R. Larrabee has recently written two articles on the Roosevelt Campobello International Park. As a member of the Campobello Commission, I was delighted to read his enthusiastic description of his recent visit to Campobello. Campobello is surely one of the most beautiful and serene places on our Continent, and I would be pleased to see more Americans, including the distinguished Members of this body, visit this idyllic and historic island.
For the benefit of my colleagues who might be so tempted, I ask unanimous consent that Don Larrabee's article in the Bangor Daily News of May 31 and his article in the Maine Sunday Telegram of June 1 be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the articles were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
[From the Bangor Daily News, May 31, 1975]
THE REAL POWER
(By Donald R. Larrabee)
LUBEC.– Sumner Pike, elder statesman and citizen of the world, sat in wonderful serenity looking out a window at the birds who gather at his feeder constantly. We were both 20 years younger when we last talked over dinner at the Metropolitan Club in Washington. He seemed even wiser now.
At 84, Sumner Pike is mentally as sharp as ever. It was a treat to reminisce in the living room of the family home. I had come to Washington County, first time ever, to give the commencement address at the University of Maine in Machias and to visit the Roosevelt Campobello International Park. Sumner Pike – all the Pikes – have contributed to the preservation of FDR's "Beloved Island" and to the beauty of this place.
In my talk at Machias, I noted that most people in government are immersed in their own importance and it is the happy, successful public figure who learns humility at the start and somehow manages to keep it. The best thing Washington-types can do is remind themselves that the real power of America lies not within the geographic bounds of the Federal City but with the people who live beyond it.
Sumner knew power in Washington. He was there for a dozen years, on the Securities and Exchange Commission and with the Atomic Energy Commission in its formative period in the early years of the nuclear age. We wondered if he missed that excitement.
"I never got infected with Washington fever," he replied. "If anything, I had a Washington allergy. I always felt I was just camping out there.
When he came back to Maine, Pike served in the legislature, resisted temptation to seek the governorship and found pleasure in such pursuits as serving on the International Campobello Commission. Along with Sen. Edmund S. Muskie and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., he was appointed to the original Commission ten years ago.
Last December, physically restricted from traveling far from home, he tendered his resignation to President Ford. Somehow, the fact that he had resigned escaped public notice last winter. Curtis Hutchins, Chairman of the Board of Dead River Co., was named to fill the vacancy.
Sumner unfolded a letter from President Ford. "The Commission has benefitted greatly from your experience and judgment and I am sure it will continue to benefit from your counsel as a neighbor and friend of the Park."
Of that, there can be no doubt. Sumner may not venture far from the old homestead but he has many ways to communicate his ideas, not the least of which is through his devoted brothers and his sisters who are all close enough to gather in the living room for "cocktails" every day at 5. Sumner doesn't indulge any more but he enjoys the fringe benefits.
We had the delightful experience of getting to know Radcliffe (Rad) Pike, roughly 72 and filled with the joy of living. Rad had just returned from London where he conferred with fellow- naturalists and horticulturists. He is an adviser on landscaping at the University of New Hampshire and ranking authority on the flora and fauna of Washington County and nearby Campobello. Rad was executive secretary of the Park Commission, now serves as naturalist consultant.
Another brother, Moses Pike, at 78, still operates the most successful sardine and fish canneries in an area which has seen them go down the drain, one by one. He is active in business, loves ice fishing and hunting. Alger Pike, 76, is the gardener of the family, with a host of interests as varied as those of his brothers. Sister Marjorie (McCurdy) is 79 – "Just a girl," says Rad.
When Rad is away, Linnea Calder comes in to cook the meals and keep an eye on things in the Lubec home. Mrs. Calder, who grew up in the Campobello world of the Roosevelts where her mother was the housekeeper, is practically a member of the Pike family.
Here at Passamaquoddy Bay, where the tides move quickly and more powerfully than anywhere in the world, we couldn't resist asking Sumner Pike about the energy that lies within reach. They've been talking about the Quoddy tidal power project since he was a young man. Did he think Quoddy would ever become a reality?
"We ought to keep it alive," he said, "but, no, I doubt if it will ever be built. With the cost of oil as high as it is, that helps the benefit-cost ratio of the project but, of course, you've got higher construction costs, too. And the impact on the fisheries is something that will concern Canada, perhaps now more than ever."
Rad Pike remarked later that his brother seemed a bit too pessimistic about Quoddy. Rad wouldn't write it off just yet.
The jury also still seems to be out on a refinery for the area – but the Pikes clearly would just as soon not see it come to their beloved Bay. Sumner is slightly amused with the heavy – almost complete – emphasis at environmental hearings on the impact of oil spills from such a project.
"The Pittston people would bring in Middle East oil for desulfurization. The refinery would emit a chemical which when mixed with the fogs around here would become sulfuric acid and that would be sprayed all over the countryside."
Rad Pike winced at the thought. He has found rare ferns and mosses, bushes and shrubs, blossoms and berries in the unique ecology of their homeland that would suffer possible extinction from the daily emissions of such a refinery.
And it comes as a disturbing thought also to a first-time visitor who saw Spring come to the Nation's Capital a few weeks ago – but never with anything like the beauty of its arrival in Washington County. The clean, clear unspoiled grandeur of this garden spot is worthy of the dedication of its native sons and daughters – the Pikes and their neighbors and friends.
No wonder Sumner Pike never let Washington, D.C. get to him. He had Washington County to come back to – and preserve. Little wonder, too, that FDR shed a tear when he realized he could no longer sail these waters and tramp the woods, bogs and beaches of his "Beloved Island."
[From the Maine Sunday Telegram, June 1, 1975]
CAMPOBELLO: FDR'S BELOVED ISLAND IS A JOY TODAY
(By Don Larrabee)
WASHINGTON.– It was 13 years ago this summer that President John F. Kennedy visited Maine for a leisurely sail along the coast and suggested the creation of a park at Campobello. A bridge had just been opened between Lubec and the Canadian island, the summer home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt until he contracted polio in 1921. Kennedy saw it as a vehicle to draw the two countries closer together and he spoke tentatively of an international park.
It was Maine's Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, then in his first term, who put the bee in Kennedy's cap. Muskie went sailing with JFK and mentioned it often.
As it turned out, Eleanor Roosevelt was paying her last visit to the family cottage about the same time. She was weak when she arrived but said she found her strength renewed in the peace and quiet of FDR's "beloved island." The old Roosevelt cottage by that time was owned by Dr. Armand Hammer and his brothers who were trying to restore the 34-room "cottage" to its special turn-of-the-century grandeur.
Neither Kennedy nor Mrs. Roosevelt lived to see FDR's "second home" become an international park, but they would be delighted with the way a handful of dedicated Americans and Canadians have built on the gift of the Roosevelt cottage from the Hammers to create a 2,600 acre joint memorial to the late U.S. president during the past decade. President Lyndon Johnson helped lay the cornerstone of the Reception Center nine summers ago and Queen Elizabeth officiated at the opening a year later.
We had the opportunity to see the progress that has been made during an all-too-brief visit last weekend and now we know why Rogers C. B. Morton, the former U.S. Secretary of the interior, told associates last summer that the National Park Service could learn a thing or two from the way the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission had labored to protect the rugged island's beauty in its natural state.
Muskie, Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and Lubec's elder statesman, Sumner Pike, were the original commission members on the U.S. side. Pike, no longer able to travel freely at 84, resigned last December to be replaced by Curtis Hutchins of Bangor's Dead River Company.
Thanks to the Hammers, much had already been done to retain the furnishings and atmosphere of the original Roosevelt cottage with its breathtaking view out over the bay to Eastport. The rooms are filled with such memorabilia as FDR's crib, the family telescope, megaphones for hailing boats offshore, personal china from the White House, a small painting of a sailboat painted by young FDR, children's games and books that are kept close at hand for the rainy days at any summer cottage.
We were greeted by an extraordinary woman who watched the Roosevelts at play through a little girl's eyes many years ago and who remembers almost every detail of every room. She is Linnea Calder, an indispensible fixture of the permanent park staff, whose mother was housekeeper for the Roosevelts.
When she walks through the kitchen or the upstairs bedroom corridor, she straightens pictures and quickly notices when an item isn't in its proper place. She makes the "cottage" come alive again and you can almost hear the vacation sounds of a close family packing the picnic basket and collecting gear for a sail or a hike in the woods or along the ponds and beaches.
She began helping out in the kitchen and fussing with the "temperamental" wood stove when she was 12 and today, she delights guests with authentic tid-bits of a by-gone era. She can readily tell you which wallpapers, curtains and rugs are the originals and which are reproductions. Here is a rare person with indelible links to an American past that may be erased if she falls to put it all done on paper or on a tape recording.
There are others at Campobello who love it and keep it lovely.
The park superintendent and executive secretary is Harry Steven, a sensitive native of the area who probably never laid eyes on the senior Roosevelts but who can communicate with those who did and who shares their dedication to preserving Campobello's life style.
Harry took over the supervisory chores from Ratcliffe (Rad) Pike, 72-year-old younger brother of Sumner. Rad is a sometime adviser on landscaping at the University of New Hampshire. He is the ranking authority on the flora and fauna of Washington County and nearby Campobello.
If you want to relive the outdoor life of young FDR and his family, go with Rad on a walk or travel through the wooded paths and drives (don't call them "roads" in his presence) to capture the vista of islands and shores of Passamaquoddy and Cobscook Bays in New Brunswick and Maine.
Lake Glen Severn, Herring Cove, Raccoon Beach, the duck ponds and the bogs and fog forests are Rad's domain. He can explain the lichens on the bark of the spruce firs and he knows where there is a hemlock tucked in among the other trees – "extremely rare."
We had glorious sunshine for a steamed clam picnic at the Lower Duck Pond with its large and colorful cobbles and piles of driftwood. Back through the woods, Rad talks poetically of fog enveloping the forest "like a Japanese silk screen" and he speaks of long-range plans to develop foot trails "so that hundreds of people can be here and think they're alone."
"You can't have things for everybody to go see in a car," he remarks assuredly. "You need trails that stimulate you along the way and make you think. I hope we can create something that will attract students who want to observe the changes in the woods."
The dead wood and the fallen timber must be gathered often but never burned. Rad mentions that Campobello had a "no burning policy, long before it was fashionable."
The park is open now and until mid-October, seven days a week. There is no admission charge and there are tourist facilities. in the Campobello villages of Welshpool and Wilson's Beach.
Soon there will be a book available on the history of FDR's "beloved" outer island. Senator Muskie, who has had a love affair with Campobello for a long time has written the introduction.
In the living room of the family home in Lubec, we talked with Sumner and Rad Pike about projects that might destroy the peace and virginity of the area. The Pikes would be happy not to see a refinery come to their back yard.
Sumner seemed a bit amused with the heavy – almost complete – emphasis on the impact of oil spills from such a project. He notes that the plan for Eastport calls for bringing in Middle East oil for desulfurization. The refinery would emit a chemical which, when mixed with steady fogs, would become sulfuric acid – a liquid spray that the countryside has never known.
Rad Pike winces at the thought. He has found rare ferns and mosses, bushes and shrubs, blossoms and berries in the unique ecology of their homeland that would suffer possible extinction from the daily emissions of such a refinery.
And it comes as a disturbing thought, also, to a first-time visitor who saw spring burst upon the nation's capital a few weeks ago but never with anything like the beauty of its arrival in Washington County and environs. The clean, clear unspoiled magnificence of this northeastern garden spot is worthy of the dedication of its native sons and daughters – the Pikes and their neighbors and friends.
No wonder Sumner Pike left Washington, D.C.'s stifling atmosphere before it got to him in younger days. He had Washington County to come back to – and preserve. Little wonder, too; that FDR shed a tear when he realized he could no longer sail the adjacent waters and tramp the woods, bogs and beaches of his "beloved island."