October 14, 1978
Page 37591
A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR MURIEL HUMPHREY
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate passed the Humphrey-Hawkins bill, legislation that bears the name of Hubert Humphrey and now his wife MURIEL.
Had Hubert been here how happy he would have been.
And MURIEL would have shared his joy from the gallery.
But that was not to be.
MURIEL HUMPHREY was sworn in on January 26 of this year.
From that day on she worked tirelessly and effectively for the Humphrey-Hawkins bill.
The Senate passage of that bill is her most notable achievement during her tenure.
An achievement, I might add, that few, if any, have realized in a similar period of time.
MURIEL HUMPHREY has spoken eloquently, on the Humphrey-Hawkins bill and other matters.
But MURIEL will be remembered for much that is not recorded in statute or in the proceedings of the Senate.
I have known MURIEL HUMPHREY for many years.
And I have a very special affection for her.
She has been humble when times were good, strong when times were bad, and always warm, compassionate, and wise.
Her personal qualities are perhaps her greatest legacy.
Many in this Chamber have had the privilege of serving with Hubert and now with MURIEL HUMPHREY, a privilege I consider to be among the highest I could be accorded.
Her decision to step aside is one I regret but respect.
All of us will miss her.
A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR CLIFFORD HANSEN
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, my good friend from Wyoming, CLIFFORD HANSEN, is retiring after two terms in the Senate and many years of distinguished service to his State.
There have been many issues before the Senate on which CLIFF HANSEN and I have disagreed. But in 12 years I cannot recall a single bitter disagreement, or one which left us anything but friends.
CLIFF's deeply felt and continuous concern about the country's resources led him naturally into the field of energy policy before it became a front-page question. His Senate career has been marked by a dedicated effort to conserve American resources, develop America's energy potential, and set aside a portion of our country's most unusual natural resources for the enjoyment and benefit of future generations.
The Interior Committee on which CLIFF served is now the Energy Committee. To CLIFF, it was always the energy committee, and always the natural resources committee. He served all our people well by his continued work in both those fields. And I have enjoyed working with him, and occasionally at odds with him, in them both.
My enjoyment was partly based on the challenge he posed as an opponent. But for the most part, it has been based on my affection for him as an individual, my respect for him as a Senator, my appreciation of his value as an ally and my regard for his honesty and his straightforward manner.
I will miss him. The country will miss his services. I offer my hopes for an enjoyable and satisfying retirement.
TRIBUTE TO SENATOR JAMES O. EASTLAND
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, in the last hours of this session, I want to make it a point to recognize the achievements of the distinguished President pro tempore of the Senate, JAMES O. EASTLAND, who did not seek reelection after 37 years in this body.
The office of President pro tempore is far from a symbolic or ceremonial office.
Indeed, our distinguished colleague from Mississippi would be President tomorrow in the unfortunate event of the death of the President and Vice President. The office of President pro tempore is a recognition of JAMES EASTLAND's long experience and able work in this body for nearly four decades. It is a recognition that that kind of experience is of inestimable value not just to the Senate, but to the United States.
JAMES EASTLAND and I have disagreed from time to time, but we have also worked together on legislation to protect our fishing industry, on aid to American agriculture, and on many questions involving the rights and obligations of the Congress as a coequal branch of Government.
I have found his advice helpful, his support valuable, and when we disagreed, I have found his arguments always reasoned and deeply felt.
It has been a privilege to serve with a man who has served his constituents and his conscience with such ability, civility and energy.
JAMES EASTLAND will be returning soon to the land which he knows so well and which he loves. I wish him every happiness.
A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR JOHN SPARKMAN
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, my friend and colleague, JOHN SPARKMAN, is completing his service to his home State and to the country after 42 years in Congress.
It has been my good fortune to have worked closely with JOHN on the Senate Banking Committee, which was among my first Senate assignments, and on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which was an assignment I valued and enjoyed.
Together with our friend from Kansas, Senator DOLE, we also comprise a small, rather unsavory club, since we are all unsuccessful Vice Presidential candidates. I suspect JOHN feels as I do about that distinction.
To paraphrase the man who was threatened with being run out of town on a rail, if it were not for the honor of the thing, I would just as soon walk.
When I came to Washington as a freshman Senator, I determined that the best way to be a good Senator was to do my homework. To a great degree, JOHN was my teacher.
He taught me a great deal about Federal law, encouraged my work on the Banking Committee, and showed by example the value of courtesy, fairness, and grace.
He has had a hand in some of the most progressive and important economic development legislation in this country's history.
Through 42 years, he made it a point not only to remember who elected him, but why. He understood the need to bring opportunity and comfort to all Americans, and he had the legislative ability to shape the policies of Government toward those ends.
As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and since 1975 as its chairman, JOHN SPARKMAN has had a hand in developing an expanded role for the Congress in the shaping of American foreign policy, and it is no surprise to anyone who knows him that his view of foreign policy was a view of humanity. He dealt less with other countries than with other people.
Whether we measure JOHN SPARKMAN's remarkable career by his legislative accomplishments, by his political achievements, or by his warm humanity, we will reach the same conclusion. In the best sense of the word, JOHN SPARKMAN was a distinguished representative of the people of his State, and people across America.
We owe him a great debt. We will miss his grace and expertise. And we are sorry to see him go.
A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR KANEASTER HODGES, JR.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate is an institution nominally based on the theory that men and women representing different geographical and political viewpoints ought to have a place to debate the issues which face their country, discuss those issues freely among themselves, and reach a consensus on the best way to serve the common good.
Sadly, too often the demands of Senate business, constituent service, and travel to our home States consume so much time that we Senators exchange pieces of paper, and not ideas, or worse, see each other too seldom to exchange anything but a casual greeting.
In such an atmosphere it is virtually impossible for one man in 1 year to make much of a mark on the institution and those who serve in it
It is this circumstance which makes KANEASTER HODGES such a rare man. He is one the most unusual men I have met, not for his ideas or his hopes so much as for the strength of his personality, the breadth of his understanding, and the power of his intellect.
I have enjoyed and profited from our work together on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. I have come to regard my colleague from Arkansas as a friend. I hope that our paths will cross again, here in the Senate or elsewhere. and that the people of Arkansas will see fit to enlist his talents and ability for their benefit and the benefit of us all.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to know and work with this talented, honest, and valuable human being.
A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR JAMES B. PEARSON
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, our colleague from Kansas, JAMES B. PEARSON, is retiring after 16 years of distinguished service to the people of Kansas and to the country.
It has been my good fortune to have worked with JIM PEARSON on a variety of issues ranging from rural development to strategic arms limitation. I have found him to be a man of integrity, ability and honesty.
JIM PEARSON's legislative accomplishments are many, and literally tens of thousands of people in my own rural State of Maine benefit today from Jim's work. He recognized that our concern for the plight of urban America can and must be matched by governmental support for the people who live and work, and want to stay, in the small towns which are the backbone of our country.
His is a philosophy I share, and his effective work in behalf of rural America will long be remembered and appreciated.
Jim's achievements in this area would be enough to remember him by. But he has also left a distinctive and important mark on the conduct of American foreign policy, from the Peace Corps to nuclear nonproliferation, and from the Voice of America to SALT.
He has understood the need for a country not only strong but compassionate, a country willing to reach mutual agreement with our adversaries in behalf of all the world's people.
He has understood that compassion and peace are the essence of America.
In addition, his expertise in the area of African affairs has been of utmost value as the people of that continent have groped for identity and independence and a greater role in world affairs.
Finally, but not least, JIM PEARSON has been a leader in the development of a new rationale for the conduct of American politics, culminating in the Federal Elections Campaign Act. I know he worked together with my friend Phil Hart on the question of access to the political arena. The changes JIM has made in the fabric of American politics will not be fully appreciated until history records our time. But I believe the changes have been good for the country, and for the political system.
I thank him for that, and for the contributions he has made to life in America and around the globe.
But beyond all these accomplishments, Mr. President, the things which make JIM PEARSON so special to me are the human qualities of decency, openness, and honesty.
These are qualities too often ignored and too little appreciated in our public servants. They are qualities I have particularly enjoyed and benefitted from.
So I thank my friend from Kansas for his help, and his talent, and especially for his humanity. I know I speak for all my colleagues when I say I will miss him in the Senate. And I wish him well.
A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR JAMES ABOUREZK
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, it was not clear in the closing days of the 95th Congress that a tribute to the retiring Senator from South Dakota would be appropriate. It appeared for a time that my good friend and colleague, JIM ABOUREZK, has second thoughts about leaving us and would extend his tenure by keeping the 95th Congress in session in perpetuity.
For we who have enjoyed so much Jim's style and respected his conscience, his ability, and his dedication, it would have been a fitting response to our desires that he continue his service in the Senate. Such, of course, could not be and was not the case. JIM ABOUREZK concluded his service in the Senate — as he served for 6years — with his own style, according to his own lights which were always clear, and without regard to the odds confronting him.
JIM's humanity and good humor make him one of the most respected and well liked Senators with whom I have served. JIM always spoke for those least able to speak for themselves in the corridors of power. The poor and the disadvantaged; the Indians whose love and respect he enjoys and has so well earned as chairman of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs; disadvantaged children and the elderly.
JIM's roots are in rural South Dakota and his understanding and love of the people and land in his State led him to champion the cause of the family farm against the myriad powerful pressures threatening that traditional agricultural institution.
JIM ABOUREZK’s vision of justice led him to challenge every privilege for the powerful and wealthy he encountered. He perceived provisions in the income tax law as privileges for the wealthy few and fought for their repeal and modification.
Mr. President, JIM ABOUREZK is a young man. He served only one 6-year term with us. I do not know where his future will carry him. I do not know why he decided to leave us. I suspect that the same energy, imagination, and deep sense of justice which made him so valuable to us made the frustration with the legislative process, which we all chafe under, unbearable to JIM ABOUREZK. Ido not know what the future holds for him but I am confident that he will continue to speak for and serve his people, his conscience, and his country.
A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR PAUL HATFIELD
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, PAUL G. HATFIELD will complete his service in the Senate at the end of this session. I know that a man of his ability and judgment will not be gone long from the public eye.
I hope that his service as a judge, culminating in his election as chief justice of Montana, did not make him suspicious of legislatures. And I hope his service in the Senate did not confirm those suspicions.
PAUL G. HATFIELD has demonstrated talent, deep understanding, and respect for the law, a willingness to work hard, and a commitment to the people of Montana. He has served his State and country well in the past year.
I do not know whether it is the "Big Sky" or the clean air in Montana which keeps producing such good representatives, but I do know that the affection and respect I had for Lee Metcalf, and have for Mike Mansfield, I also have for PAUL G. HATFIELD.
I wish him well.