By DIXIE HARRIS
On May 7, 120 members of Congress gathered in the Jefferson Building's Great Hall to honor retiring Sens. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.) and Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) - who together have served more than 50 years on the Joint Committee on the Library - and to celebrate Congress's support of the restoration of the Jefferson and Adams buildings.
Dr. Billington told the audience of some 300 guests that the Library will celebrate the 100th birthday and formal reopening of the Jefferson Building in 1997.
"This is a special day in the history of the Library of Congress," said the Librarian. "We celebrate the completion of the renovation and restoration of the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building and John Adams Building.
"And, most notably, we are paying tribute to those distinguished members of Congress who are retiring and who have supported the Library through the years - both the physical renovation of these glorious buildings and the dedicated work of the Library's skilled staff in serving Congress and the nation with the universal collections uniquely available here," he continued. "We thank you for strengthening this noble institution created by the nation's founders almost 200 years ago."
Dr. Billington also paid special tribute to the retiring members of the Joint Committee on the Library: Sens. Hatfield and Pell.
"The Library of Congress is losing one of the greatest friends it has ever known. . . . We would probably not be here tonight . . . were it not for Mark Hatfield. Along with Congressmen Vic Fazio [D-Calif.] and Jerry Lewis [R-Calif.], who are also with us tonight, Sen. Hatfield was the prime mover in 1984 in securing an appropriation of $81.5 million to renovate and restore the Jefferson and Adams buildings."
About Sen. Pell, the Librarian said: "I want to say a few words of appreciation for his long years of support for the Library of Congress. Sen. Pell, as you know, has been a lifelong friend of books, the world of learning and so many of the great cultural and educational enterprises of our time. . . . On a personal note, I want him to know how much he has meant to me during my tenure as Librarian. . . . We wish him all the best."
The Librarian also thanked Paul Allaire, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp., which funded the dinner and donated $1.1 million to enable the Library to unveil an exhibition of Library treasures on April 30 at the Jefferson reopening. The exhibition will include key documents from the Library's collections, such as Abraham Lincoln's rough drafts of the Gettysburg Address and George Washington's first inaugural address.
Sen. Hatfield, who is retiring from Congress this year after 18 years on the Joint Committee on the Library, said he wanted to "make a few comments about the mission of the Library by using three of the great persons of our history": James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Sen. Hatfield quoted each of these men.
"I think we can all say that this Library is a center of knowledge and education for the nation and also for the world." Sen. Hatfield then cited James Madison, who said, "Learned institutions ought to be the favorite objects of every free people. They throw the light over the public mind, which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty."
During his turn at the podium, Sen. Pell said he "had a long love affair with the Library." He said the Library in many ways represents "the strength of our nation."
Among others, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said he "emphatically disagreed" with the conclusions of the management analysts who looked at the Library during the recent audits overseen by the General Accounting Office (see story, page 178). "They assumed that in a time of limited budgets, as we enter the Information Age, this Congress should diminish and shrink and divide the greatest knowledge asset this country has. I believe just the opposite.
"By putting the various collections on the Internet we are in an act of generosity comparable to the Marshall Plan, saying to every human on the planet, 'We want you to be able to access all of the knowledge that we, the American people, have brought together,'" Rep. Gingrich said.
Later, in an interview, the Speaker said he hoped Congress will provide more funds for the Library in fiscal 1997 than it did last year.
Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) said in response to Rep. Gingrich's remarks, "Having listened to the Speaker . . . without equivocation, I agree with every world he said tonight and that too is somewhat rare. But he certainly spoke for all of us tonight."
House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) spoke highly of the Library and recounted how he met Dr. Billington. "At its heart, this is not the Library of Congress. It's the library of our country and our world," he said. "I met Jim Billington some years ago . . . on a trip to what was then called the Soviet Union. . . . I must say that he taught us more in our conversations about Russian culture and religion than you could learn from a lifetime of reading. . . . Because of that and all my experiences with Jim Billington . . . we could not have a better Librarian."
Senate Majority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who spoke on behalf of Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.), paid tribute to Sen. Hatfield and his chairmanship of the Joint Committee on the Library, the oldest standing committee in Congress. Sen. Lott said one of Sen. Hatfield's many accomplishments on Capitol Hill was shepherding the $81.5 million for the Library's restoration project through the appropriations process.
"The Library's Jefferson and Adams buildings are not just renewed. They are reborn. And it's fair to say that Mark is the putative father of that birth," Sen. Lott said. "Jefferson once wrote to John Adams, 'I cannot live without books.' The same can be said of Mark Hatfield. That's why the library at his alma mater, Willamette University, bears his name."
Sen. Daschle lauded Sen. Pell, who was first elected to the Senate in 1960 and has served on the Joint Committee on the Library ever since - three times as chairman. Sen. Pell's "love of the Library of Congress, as Jim Billington noted, is legendary. His father, who served the nation not only as a congressman but as a distinguished member of the Foreign Service, gave some of his most prized books to the Library. . . . [Rep. Pell's] guidance, his support and his remarkable leadership have been invaluable."
Dr. Billington presented Sens. Pell and Hatfield with a digitally reproduced map of Ferdinand Magellan's 1519-1521 trip around the globe. Actor James Earl Jones, a member of LC's James Madison Council, finished the program by reading Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!," a tribute to Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Jones has participated in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry Tour this year, advocating film heritage and preservation.
Dixie Harris is an intern from Brigham Young University working in the Office of Communications.