January 6, 2009
Statement

Floor Statement Tribute to Claiborne Pell

Mr. REED. Mr. President, this evening I have the privilege of joining my friend and colleague from Rhode Island, Senator SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, to say a few words about our esteemed predecessor, Senator Claiborne Pell .

   Senator Pell served 36 years in the Senate--the longest serving Senator in the history of Rhode Island. He was elected in 1960, along with his friend and young Democrat John F. Kennedy. They brought a new spirit, a new vision, new hope to America. He served until 1997, when I had the distinct honor and, indeed, privilege of succeeding him as a Senator from Rhode Island. He was an extraordinary gentleman, and he will be missed by all Rhode Islanders and, indeed, by this Senate.

   I was honored yesterday to be asked by Nuala Pell to say a few words at his services in Newport, RI. First, I obviously pointed out that Claiborne's public service was sustained and inspired by his wife and his family. Nuala and all of their children were the support, comfort, and the meaning in his life. We owe them our thanks as well for his 36 distinguished years of service in the Senate.

   Claiborne Pell was a remarkable individual. He was born to great wealth and privilege, but he had an abiding affinity for the average guy. I sense that part of that was at a critical moment in his life, before Pearl Harbor, when the war clouds were gathering in Europe and Asia. He had graduated from Princeton, but he knew he had to serve. Because of his prestige, because of his family, he could easily have secured a safe posting somewhere. He chose instead to join the U.S. Coast Guard as an enlisted cook, to sail the North Atlantic on deadly convoy routes bringing needed supplies to Great Britain. There, he worked with other young Americans, without pretense, without preference. There, he understood the great talent, the great power of Americans, that if they had opportunity, if they could better themselves through education, they would be extraordinarily important to this Nation and they would be able to provide a better life for their families. They could, indeed, seize and realize the American dream.

   Many people had that experience in World War II, but Claiborne used to it shape his entire public life. He served in the diplomatic corps, but by 1960 he was committed to serving the people of Rhode Island, and he entered the primary against two venerable, well-known, distinguished Rhode Island Democrats, Dennis J. Roberts, former Governor, and J. Howard McGrath, former U.S. Senator, a former Solicitor General, former Attorney General in the Truman administration. Young Claiborne Pell won because he struck a cord with the people of Rhode Island, because he was able to translate his feeling for opportunity, for the privilege that education bestows on every person, to the people of Rhode Island. He and Nuala campaigned and won, and then for 36 years they served with such distinction, with such honor, and brought such credit to our State.

   He is best known as the author of the Pell grant, which provides grants to students to go to higher education, but he did so much more in the field of education. He was involved in numerous reauthorizations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. He labored over these provisions to make sure young Americans were prepared for college. He was also the author of the national sea grant college grant. Just as we have land grant colleges dating back to the Moral Act of the 1860s, Claiborne said we should have a sea grant act that would allow the sciences of the oceans, maritime sciences, to be taught, to be explored, to be investigated on college campuses.

   He did so much. In addition to his dedication to education, he also was the creator of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1965. He understood that in the great sweep of time, our military power might fade, our economic power might fade, but the power of our ideals, as expressed in our literature, in our arts, would continue to move the world. And in order to make that access possible, not for the well-to-do but for everyone, he created the notion of a National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities.

   Thinking back in preparation for my words yesterday, I thought of how often his life intersected with mine, starting at 10 years old in 1960. I saw the motorcade rushing by my grammar school with John F. Kennedy and Claiborne Pell in those final days of the campaign. But in regard to the National Endowment for the Arts, my first exposure to theater--and I was the proud son of working-class Cranstonians in Cranston, RI--was Project Discover in which Trinity Repertory Company brought students in to see an act from Richard the II. That was all part of the vision Claiborne had of giving people an opportunity to explore the arts, to find their talent. He did it remarkably well.

   Today, these two institutions endure. They provide access for millions of Americans to the arts, to the humanities. They have encouraged creativity, and all of it is a tribute to Claiborne Pell.

   He was perhaps most recognized in international affairs for his staunch support of the United Nations. Yesterday, one of the eulogists, President Clinton, pointed out that every time he saw Claiborne Pell , as President, Claiborne would take out from the back pocket a worn copy of the U.N. Charter which he carried and point out to him the value of the United Nations, the value of collective security. He was there in San Francisco in 1945 when the U.N. was created. He was there in New York City 50 years later for its 50th anniversary.

   But his notion of a powerful America leading the world, not standing apart from it, his notion that our values, our system, our commitment to human decency would prevail in the face of Soviet totalitarianism and other forms of totalitarianism was wisdom of the ages. In his service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he not only espoused those views, every day he reminded us our destiny would take us far beyond what simply a military operation or our economic power might because of our ideals, because of our commitment to multinational support of creating a world community--a remarkable man.

   He was someone who left and has left an indelible mark on Rhode Island and Rhode Islanders. As I mentioned yesterday, I had the privilege of witnessing this profound bond so many times. We have a parade each Fourth of July in Bristol, RI. It is the largest parade in Rhode Island. One hundred thousand people, which is about a tenth of the population of our State, gathers for it. It is the oldest consecutive Fourth of July parade in our country. To walk in that parade is a great honor. But to walk with Claiborne Pell is an extraordinary experience. For the first few steps, you pretend the cheers are for you, but that quickly fades because, mile after mile, people rush up and say: Thank you, Senator Pell . Thank you, Senator Pell . Thank you for the help when I needed it. Thank you for the Pell grant. Thank you for being the ideal public servant. Then you would see parents lift toddlers and say: There goes a great man, Claiborne Pell .

   Well, he has touched us and he has made us so much better. I had the rare privilege and opportunity yesterday to say, on behalf of the people of Rhode Island, something all of my fellow citizens wanted to say as soon as they heard the news, as soon as they realized the great light of Claiborne Pell had dimmed; and those are two simple words: Thank you, Senator Pell .

   Mr. President, now I would like to yield the floor to my colleague and friend, Senator SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, who is someone who is molded in the image of Claiborne Pell, someone who understands, as Senator Pell did, that opportunity is the engine that drives America, that our great skills have to be harnessed to a higher purpose. It is such a privilege and pleasure to serve with him. And not only that, but he has been a dear and personal friend of the Claiborne Pell family for many years, indeed generations. I yield to my colleague.

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