S276 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 12, 2009 

the classic political ads in the history 

of our country. 

Senator MCCONNELL won that first 

race by a razor-thin margin, but he 

quickly became a leader among his Republican colleagues in the Senate in 

general. 

Senator MCCONNELL chaired the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 1998 and 2000 election 

cycles, served as Republican whip following the 2002 midterm elections, and 

now has served as the Republican leader since 2006. 

I became the Democratic whip in 1998 

and have been the Democratic leader 

since 2004. Our careers in the Senate 

have been very similar. During this period of time I was majority whip; he 

was. Back and forth, there was a lot of 

changing going on. So I have had a lot 

of interaction with Senator MCCONNELL because of our respective jobs. 

It is well known that in our positions 

as minority and majority leaders—both 

as whips and as the leaders—he and I 

have had disagreements at various 

times. Behind the scenes, though, it is 

a different situation. In places where 

the cameras do not record our discussions, in private conversations, as we 

have to have, we are not only friends 

but determined partners in the legislative process. We get a lot of work done 

very quickly. 

We just completed a meeting that 

took about 20 minutes, where I think 

the record will ultimately reflect that 

20 minutes was truly well spent working out some of the problems of this 

Senate. 

So I say, we are not only friends but 

determined partners in the legislative 

process of the Senate. That does not 

mean we always see eye to eye. Everyone knows that is not the case. But in 

the words of President-elect Obama, we 

are able to disagree without being disagreeable. 

We respect each other’s commitment 

to making our country stronger, and I 

think we have a special understanding 

of the unique challenges of keeping our 

respective caucuses together and striving toward the same goals. 

At the University of Louisville, 

MITCH MCCONNELL has worked with 

faculty to create a center for public 

service, to educate and prepare a new 

generation to answer the call of public 

service. 

A little more than a year ago, Senator MCCONNELL invited me to be a 

guest at the McConnell Center at the 

University of Louisville. After a terrific program with young and aspiring 

academics, he presented me with a real 

Louisville Slugger baseball bat, with 

my name inscribed on the ‘‘sweet 

spot.’’ That is where these great hitters 

have used these bats for generations to 

hit the ball as far as they can and as 

sharply as they can. 

On that day at the McConnell Center, 

Senator MCCONNELL and I spoke frankly and openly about the joys and difficulties of our jobs to these faculty 

members and these students. I, in fact, 

told the students an old story about 

President Lincoln that has been told 

many times, but it is always important 

because he sets the standard for what 

politics is all about as far as getting 

along with people, as finely written 

about in some detail in the ‘‘Team of 

Rivals,’’ this best-selling book. What 

President Lincoln said, when he was 

being criticized for being solicitous of 

members of the Confederacy, was: ‘‘Am 

I not destroying my enemies by making friends of them?’’ 

Well, Senator MCCONNELL and I both 

understand that through friendship and 

mutual respect we can find common 

ground to achieve common goals and to 

reach for the common good of the 

American people—common ground, 

common goals, common good. 

My wife Landra and I are pleased to 

call him and his lovely wife—and that, 

certainly, is an understatement— 

Elaine Chao our friends. Elaine, of 

course, is a national leader in her own 

right, having served for 8 years as our 

Nation’s Labor Secretary and also formerly as the Director of the Peace 

Corps. I have such great respect for 

Peace Corpsmen and especially someone who is able to lead that very elite 

group. So I have only high regard for 

MITCH and Elaine. They are a wonderful couple and do so many good things 

for our country. 

So I congratulate the Republican 

leader, a Kentuckian whose love of his 

State and its university athletic programs is well known and who now adds 

the distinction of being the longest 

serving Senator from the State of Kentucky to his long and impressive career. 

f 

RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY 

LEADER 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is recognized. 

f 

SERVICE TO KENTUCKY AND THE 

NATION 

Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I 

thank my good friend, the majority 

leader, for his very kind remarks about 

what has now become a rather lengthy 

period of service in the Senate. He and 

I came here at roughly the same time, 

and, as he indicated, came to the Congress at roughly the same time. We 

have shared a few positions on each 

side of the aisle that are remarkably 

similar no matter which party you represent. 

I noted with interest last week the 

photograph at the White House of the 

living former Presidents who had all 

had lunch together, and I was thinking, 

as the majority leader was speaking, 

we are in a rather limited fraternity, 

too—so far it is a fraternity; it will be 

a sorority at some point as well as a 

fraternity; a brotherhood or sisterhood, 

if you will—of people who have held 

these jobs which have their own unique 

set of challenges that are quite similar 

whether you are leading the Republicans or leading the Democrats. 

I wish to thank the majority leader 

for his very kind remarks not only 

about me but about my wife’s public 

service as Secretary of Labor, which 

will be coming to an end at noon on 

January 20, along with the current administration. I also wish to express my 

gratitude to the majority leader for 

coming down to the University of Louisville back in 2007. The students enjoyed it immensely. In fact, their last 

magazine about the program of the 

center has a very large picture of the 

majority leader and a lengthy article 

including a Q and A session he had 

with the students. 

So I am grateful for his friendship 

and look forward to working with him 

in this Congress to advance the interests of our Nation. 

A few months prior to this body’s 

convening last week, I was grateful to 

be chosen by my colleagues to serve 

once again as the Senate Republican 

leader. 

I would also like to thank the people 

of Kentucky for giving me another 

term in the Senate. I am certainly 

privileged Kentucky has sent me to the 

Senate five times now to speak for 

them and for their interests, and I intend to work harder than I ever have 

over the next 6 years to justify their 

confidence. 

At such a time as this, after the people of Kentucky have spoken, I cannot 

help but think of great Kentuckians in 

the past who the people of my State 

have selected to represent their interests. 

Some we know from the history 

books, such as Henry Clay. Although 

he was Speaker of the House, Secretary 

of State, and a three-time Presidential 

candidate, we know him best as the 

Senator from Kentucky—the Great 

Compromiser who staved off civil war. 

Or take John Breckinridge. Elected to 

Congress from Virginia, he resigned 

that seat to move to Kentucky, which 

at the time was America’s western 

frontier. A key architect of Kentucky’s 

early State government, Breckinridge 

went on to serve as a Senator from 

Kentucky, and then as our young Nation’s Attorney General under Thomas 

Jefferson. 

Moving to modern times, I can think 

of other legendary Senators from Kentucky whose footsteps still echo in 

these halls. 

Kentucky still fondly remembers the 

career of public service carved out by 

A.B. Chandler. He would be the first to 

tell you he made his mark not as a 

Senator but as a two-term Governor, or 

in the job he resigned the Senate to 

hold: commissioner of baseball. No 

matter what the job, with his winning 

personality, he was better known 

throughout the State by his nickname 

‘‘Happy.’’ 

I am sure he would be happy to see 

his grandson, Congressman BEN CHANDLER, continuing his family’s tradition 

of service to the people of Kentucky. 


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I have also spoken on this floor before of my admiration and respect for 

John Sherman Cooper, the conscience 

of the Senate in his day. I will always 

remember the man who mentored me 

as an intern in my first job on Capitol 

Hill and helped me navigate these hallways decades later as a freshman Senator. 

Of course, there is Alben Barkley, the 

first and, until recently, the only Kentuckian to be elected his party’s leader. After 12 years leading Senate Democrats through the Great Depression and 

World War II, he became America’s 

35th Vice President. 

Alben Barkley held the record as 

Kentucky’s longest serving Senator for 

over 40 years—until it was broken by a 

man who, like him, rose from humble 

beginnings to become famous across 

the Commonwealth. 

That Senator was Wendell Ford, a 

man many of my colleagues have had 

the honor to know and work alongside. 

Wendell was the senior Senator from 

my State when I was first elected, and 

I got to watch him up close for 14 

years. Over those years, I learned why 

Wendell is the first and only Kentuckian to be elected successively 

Lieutenant Governor, Governor, and 

Senator. It is because even while he attained high office, he never forgot the 

lessons he learned working alongside 

his parents on their farm. Countless 

times he reminded voters he was ‘‘just 

a country boy from Yellow Creek.’’ 

And Kentuckians respected him for 

proving that a country boy could walk 

the halls of power, dine with kings and 

Presidents and still come back to Yellow Creek and be right at home. 

Wendell Hampton Ford was born in 

Daviess County, KY, and grew up on 

his family’s 250-acre farm in the little 

town of Thruston. The Ford family 

raised cattle, hogs, and chickens and 

grew tobacco and corn. Young Wendell 

was no stranger to work. He did his 

part by milking 30 cows by hand twice 

a day every day. Decades later, whenever anyone told him he had a strong 

handshake, Wendell would tell them: ‘‘I 

milked at an early age.’’ 

I know Wendell would credit his parents with teaching him everything he 

needed to know to succeed in life. Ernest Ford was a farmer, an insurance 

company owner, and a chairman of the 

Daviess County Democratic Party. He 

served in both the Kentucky State 

House and Senate. His mother, Irene 

Ford, worked harder than anyone on 

the family farm. She picked strawberries, she snapped green beans, and 

she canned everything that you could 

can. She could cook a pork tenderloin 

that was so good, Wendell recalls, 

‘‘We’d say it’d make you swallow your 

tongue.’’ She was devoted to her family, her friends, her neighbors, and her 

church. 

Wendell remembers: 

Mother never disliked anyone. She never 

would say anything unkind about anybody. 

And mother worked very, very hard. . . . if 

there’s anyone that ever went to heaven, my 

mother is there. 

Now, I am going to guess that maybe 

through his father’s political connections, Wendell scored a plum prize as a 

young child: he became a page in the 

Kentucky State House. The way they 

inducted pages back then is a little different from how we do it in the U.S. 

Senate today. Wendell’s sponsor, a representative from Taylorsville, had 

young Wendell come and stand on his 

desk on the House floor. He gave a 

speech about what a good little kid he 

was, and when he was done, the entire 

chamber applauded, making Wendell a 

page by acclamation. After an introduction to politics like that, is it any 

wonder Wendell decided he wanted 

more? 

Wendell was also lucky enough to 

meet one of the great Kentuckians I 

mentioned earlier—Alben Barkley— 

back when, obviously, Senator Ford 

was young. At the Seelbach Hotel in 

my hometown of Louisville, he heard a 

speech from the Senator and future 

Vice President. Like Barkley, Wendell 

always wanted to be around people—a 

trait that would serve him well as a 

public servant. 

Like most Kentuckians, Wendell 

Ford loves basketball. He played on the 

basketball team for Thruston Elementary School and he played on the team 

for Daviess County High School. But 

while in high school, Wendell broke his 

arm. That ended his basketball career, 

and that threatened to end his involvement with the team, the friendships he 

had made, and his seat on the bus to all 

the away games. So to stay involved, 

Wendell filled an open slot on the 

school’s cheerleading team. He got to 

keep going to the games, he got to 

keep up his friendships, and he ended 

up being voted ‘‘most talkative’’ in the 

Daviess County High School senior 

class of 1942. 

After high school graduation, Wendell attended the University of Kentucky. Then, in 1944, he was drafted 

into the U.S. Army, and SGT Wendell 

Ford reported for duty at Fort Hood, 

TX. But he was not the only Ford to 

trade in his bluegrass for a 10-gallon 

hat and make that trip. By his side was 

his lovely bride Jean, who met Wendell 

when they both worked at the J.C. 

Penney store in Owensboro the summer 

after Wendell’s high school graduation. 

They married in September 1943 just 

after Wendell had turned 19. Jean 

hailed from the town of West Point in 

Hardin County. She could hardly have 

known then how her life would turn 

out or how she and her husband would 

become respected across the Commonwealth. 

Oftentimes, my colleagues and I will 

talk about our wives or our husbands 

and what we will be doing over the 

next recess. You will frequently hear 

spouses’ first names tossed around, like 

my wife’s name is Elaine. But after 50 

years of marriage, Wendell only referred to his bride as ‘‘Mrs. Ford.’’ It is 

a testament to the fact that the country boy from Yellow Creek remains forever a country gentleman. 

After the end of World War II and an 

honorable discharge from the service, 

Wendell graduated from the Maryland 

School of Insurance. He and Jean returned to Owensboro, where his family 

had moved after selling the farm. Wendell entered the insurance business 

with his father and started to take an 

interest in what was happening in his 

community. 

It all started with a razor. That is 

what Wendell was looking to buy on a 

lunchtime errand when he ran into a 

friend who invited him to a Jaycees 

luncheon. 

In my travels across Kentucky, I 

have met many who know and remember Wendell from his days with the 

Jaycees. Devoted to fostering leadership and community service, the Jaycees have done a lot for Kentucky and 

for the Nation. Once again, the man 

who played a role that cannot be ignored is Wendell Ford. 

A lot of beliefs that would come to 

characterize Wendell Ford’s career 

came from the creed of the Jaycees. 

That creed states that only faith in 

God gives meaning and purpose to 

human life, that government should be 

of laws rather than of men, and that 

service to humanity is the best work of 

life. 

Wendell would rise rapidly in his career, again and again, no matter what 

the arena, and his time in the Jaycees 

was no different. That first meeting at 

the request of a friend led to Wendell 

becoming a member. By 1954, he was 

the Kentucky Jaycees State president 

at 31. In 1956, he led the Kentucky Jaycees to their national convention in 

Kansas City with one goal: they wanted 

to return home with a Kentuckian as 

the organization’s national president— 

a Kentuckian named Wendell Ford. 

Kentucky has a rich history of colorful, memorable campaign ads, but it 

took Wendell Ford, as a candidate for 

the Jaycees’ national president, to 

come up with a brilliant ad by 

piggybacking his name on perhaps the 

most famous rock-and-roll song of all 

time. By convention’s end, every Jaycee delegate went home singing a familiar tune with the words ‘‘shake, rattle, and roll’’ replaced with ‘‘shake, 

rally with Ford.’’ Wendell remembers: 

We kept them up all night with that 

record. And I guess [we] made it even better, 

because we won. 

To work the crowds at the convention, Wendell bought two new suits for 

$35 apiece, one black and one gray. By 

rotating jackets with each pair of 

pants, he had four different outfits for 

the 4 days of the convention. Whether 

it was the song or the suits or both, 

Wendell went home the first Jaycees 

national President from Kentucky, and 

his network from that organization became the foundation for one of the 

Commonwealth’s most successful political careers. 

By the late 1950s, Wendell had caught 

the eye of Bert Combs, who had run for 

Governor of Kentucky but lost to 

‘‘Happy’’ Chandler. Combs was planning to run again, and he wanted the 


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S278 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 12, 2009 

impressive Jaycees president to be the 

youth chairman of his campaign. After 

winning that race, Bert Combs made 

Wendell his administrative assistant, a 

job he held from 1959 to 1961. 

But soon the time came for Wendell 

to emerge from the ranks of political 

staffers and run for office himself. In 

1965, he ran for a State senate seat representing Daviess and Hancock Counties, and clearly he was not afraid of a 

challenging race. The reason I say he 

was not afraid of a challenging race, 

the guy he ran against in the primary, 

a fellow named Cap Gardner, was not 

just any incumbent Senator, he was 

the State senate majority leader. I was 

in law school at the University of Kentucky at the time, and I remember 

reading about the primary in which the 

majority leader of the Kentucky State 

Senate was upset by an impressive 

young man named Wendell Ford. He 

won that race by 305 votes—after a recount. 

In those days, Kentucky was very 

much a one-party State, so winning the 

Democratic primary for most any office was tantamount to winning the 

election. In most counties, you could 

hold Republican Party meetings in a 

phone booth. It is not that way anymore, which I think is for the better— 

I think a competitive, two-party system makes both parties better, and 

that, in turn, serves the people best— 

but the Democratic Party ruled Kentucky then, and after Wendell won the 

primary, he easily won the general. For 

the first time, but not the last, he became Senator Ford. As a freshman Senator, he sponsored 22 bills, all of which 

became law. That is a record of success 

few legislators would dare seek to duplicate. 

But Wendell didn’t plan on staying in 

the State senate too long. Just 2 years 

later, in 1967, he ran for Lieutenant 

Governor, and once again he ruffled 

some feathers amongst the more established politicians of the Commonwealth who didn’t understand why this 

country boy from Yellow Creek 

couldn’t settle down and wait his turn. 

In the primary, Wendell faced Robert 

Matthews, the incumbent State attorney general. I am sure the entrenched 

political forces in Kentucky expected 

and perhaps even desired Matthews to 

win, but Wendell wasn’t going along 

with their program. He defeated Matthews in the primary—barely—36.1 percent to 35.9 percent. Wendell went on 

to win a similarly close race in the 

general election, defeating Thomas 

Ratliff and becoming the Lieutenant 

Governor of Kentucky. 

But at the same time, something unusual happened. You heard me say just 

a minute ago that in those days Kentucky was very much a one-party 

State, but in 1967, Kentuckians elected 

a guy named Louie Nunn to be Kentucky’s first Republican Governor 

since World War II. At that time, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant 

Governor in my State ran separately. 

So while the Democratic candidate for 

Governor lost, Wendell Ford quite remarkably won, and he instantly became two things: the top-ranked Democrat in State government and, of 

course, a real thorn in the side of Governor Nunn. 

Wendell had to beat a Republican 

tide—a rare tide in those days—to become Lieutenant Governor. He was 

clearly a man of great talent and ambition who was not yet done making his 

mark on Kentucky politics. So naturally he looked next to the top job in 

State government, the office of Governor. 

In that era, Kentucky Governors 

were forbidden to succeed themselves 

by running for a second term. In fact, 

Kentucky retained that term limit for 

Governors right up until the 1990s—one 

of the last States to do so. So Wendell 

would not have to face Governor Nunn 

in the 1971 election. He would, however, 

have to face a different Governor, his 

friend and mentor, former Governor 

Bert Combs. 

Everybody in Kentucky thought Governor Combs, who had subsequently 

had a distinguished career as a U.S. 

court of appeals judge after his term as 

Governor, was a lead pipe cinch to be 

the next Governor of Kentucky, or at 

the very least to win the Democratic 

primary for sure. But once again Wendell Ford beat everybody’s expectations. Bert Combs resigned his judgeship to run for Governor and couldn’t 

believe what a tough race his former 

administrative assistant gave him. 

When a mutual friend of the two candidates said to Combs that he had 

taught Wendell well, Combs replied, 

‘‘Yes, I taught him too damn well.’’ 

Wendell beat Bert Combs 53 percent to 

44 percent in the primary and went on 

to easily win the general election. On 

December 7, 1971, he was sworn in as 

Governor of Kentucky. 

Right from the start, Governor 

Ford’s guiding belief as Kentucky’s 

chief executive was that the only reason for the existence of government at 

any level was to serve people. Wherever 

he felt that wasn’t happening, he believed there must be change. 

Throughout his term, no bill that 

Governor Ford supported failed to pass. 

He commanded the forces of the State 

government below him the way a general commands his troops. But Governor Ford didn’t ask anyone else to 

work harder than he did himself. His 

work ethic back then was legendary, 

and I think some of my colleagues can 

attest to the fact that he kept right at 

it after he joined us here in the Senate. 

As Governor, a 14-hour workday was 

routine, a 16-hour day frequent, and an 

18-hour day not uncommon. 

When Governor Ford used to fly here 

to Washington for official matters, he 

was all business. Time in the car or the 

plane was spent reading memos or 

writing speeches. Dinner was a cheeseburger and fries in the hotel room. 

As early as possible the next morning, Wendell was up and flying home to 

Kentucky where he would put in an 

extra-late night at the State capitol to 

make up for time missed. 

Once he had successfully enacted the 

major points of his platform—including 

shrinking and streamlining State government, creating the State’s first environmental protection agency, and enacting a severance tax on coal—Wendell Ford decided he was not finished 

serving the people of Kentucky just 

yet. 

I have already said at that time, a 

Kentucky Governor could not run for a 

second term. So Wendell looked to the 

U.S. Senate election in 1974 where he 

would have to take on incumbent Republican Senator Marlow Cook. 

The 1974 election came on the heels 

of the Watergate scandal and Richard 

Nixon’s resignation. It goes without 

saying it was a very hard year for Republicans. But even if it had been an 

easy year for Republicans, Governor 

Ford would have been very hard to defeat. 

So Wendell won over Marlow Cook 

pretty handily, and Governor Ford became Senator Ford. I should point out, 

I actually used to work for Senator 

Cook as a legislative director in the 

early part of his one term. 

Senator Cook graciously agreed to 

step aside a little bit early for Senator 

Ford. So Wendell’s tenure in this 

Chamber began on December 28, 1974. 

At this point, the Wendell Ford so 

many of my colleagues know and admire emerges, as he spent an incredibly 

successful and fruitful 24 years here. 

After my election in 1984, I served 

alongside him for 14 of those years. Obviously, Wendell Ford and I did not 

stand on the same side of the aisle. But 

we always stood together for the people 

of Kentucky. 

With Wendell, whether you agreed or 

disagreed, you always knew where you 

stood with him. Even if you disagreed— 

which we often did—Wendell knew how 

to disagree without being disagreeable. 

I remember one joke he liked to tell 

about how seriously we Kentuckians 

take our horseracing. He liked to say 

that one day on the running of the 

Kentucky Derby, a man walking in 

Churchill Downs noticed a box with an 

empty seat in it. He stopped and said 

to the little old lady sitting next to it: 

This is the first empty seat I have seen 

today. Bear in mind, this is at the 

Derby. 

She replied: Well, it belonged to my 

husband, but he died. 

The man said: It seems a shame to 

let such a good seat go to waste. Why 

didn’t you give it to one of your relatives? 

The lady said: I would have, but they 

are all at the funeral. 

That is how important the Derby and 

the horse industry are to the Bluegrass 

State. Wendell Ford enjoyed telling 

that story. 

With his sense of humor, a penchant 

for storytelling that rivaled his childhood hero Alben Barkley, and his ability to establish friendships and trust, 

Wendell quickly became a leader 


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amongst his Senate colleagues. He 

served a stint running the Democratic 

Senatorial Campaign Committee. 

By 1987, he had risen to become 

chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. That position put him in 

charge of the inaugural ceremonies at 

the Capitol for both Presidents George 

H.W. Bush in 1989 and Bill Clinton in 

1993. Kentuckians were proud to see 

one of their own on the inaugural platform just footsteps away from the new 

President. 

Wendell was chairman of the Joint 

Committee on Printing where he 

worked to trim the costs of Government printing and implemented the 

first ever program for the use of recycled printing paper. That may not be 

the type of issue that grabs the biggest 

headlines, but, obviously, official 

Washington uses a lot of paper. Wendell was ahead of his time in making 

these environmentally friendly efforts 

that are commonplace now, and he 

saved taxpayers millions of dollars. 

Wendell could see the absurdity of 

some of what goes on in Washington 

and knew just when to break the tension with a little humor. One former 

colleague has spoken of one of the 

many times the Senate has continued 

in session until 3:30 or 4 o’clock in the 

morning, with debate still going on on 

the Senate floor. At one of these times, 

Wendell nudged the Senator next to 

him and said: You know, the people 

back home think that we are the ones 

who won. 

Wendell even appeared once on the 

cable channel MTV on a program 

called ‘‘Rock the Vote’’ because of his 

sponsorship of the motor voter law. 

That MTV appearance made him very 

popular with his grandchildren. Surely 

the number of U.S. Senators who have 

appeared sandwiched in between videos 

for Whitney Houston and Billy Ray 

Cyrus is very small. 

In 1990, Wendell’s colleagues, as my 

friend the majority leader pointed out, 

elected him to be No. 2 in their party 

in the Senate, the Senate whip. He held 

that slot until his retirement in 1999. 

Wendell was elected by acclamation 

and without opposition. That is obviously a position of great responsibility 

and honor, and it speaks to the respect 

Wendell commanded from his fellow 

Senators. 

After his election as whip, he said: In 

Kentucky, we are known for our 

horses. I plan on being a workhorse and 

not a show horse. 

I think knowing Wendell’s work 

ethic, no one doubted he would give his 

all to the job. 

In March of 1998, Wendell became the 

longest serving Senator in Kentucky 

history, breaking the record of the man 

he had seen giving a speech more than 

50 years earlier, Alben Barkley. That is 

just another accomplishment in a long 

list that he has amassed over his extraordinarily successful tenure in both 

State and Federal Government. 

Wendell Ford served in this body for 

8,772 days, a record that stood for nearly 11 years until January 10, this past 

Saturday. He never lost an election for 

public office. Kentucky sent him to the 

U.S. Senate four times, and he was the 

first statewide candidate to carry all 

120 counties. 

How does a country boy from Yellow 

Creek achieve such success at the highest levels of American politics? I think 

because no matter where he ended up, 

Wendell Ford never forgot from where 

he started from. Even in his final 

months in the Senate, he still got 

goose bumps every time he looked up 

at the Capitol dome on his way to 

work. He remained the same man, partial to a cigarette and a down-home 

tale. 

When his duties didn’t require him to 

be in Washington, he would return 

home to Kentucky, as he did most 

weekends throughout his Senate career. A 3-day weekend was a perfect 

chance to go to the house he and his 

family owned by Rough River Lake and 

do some reading and fishing. He once 

said his idea of a vacation was ‘‘not 

shaving and not wearing a suit.’’ 

Wendell Ford never forgot the truly 

important things in his life—his wife 

Jean, their children and grandchildren, 

and the simple pleasures of his native 

Kentucky. 

Many of my colleagues will remember his trademark greeting when he 

walked into a room. He would say: How 

are all you lucky people doing? Sometimes that would be shortened to simply: Hey, Lucky! 

But Wendell never lost sight that he 

was truly the lucky one for receiving 

the trust of the people of Kentucky 

many times over. He would be the first 

to tell you that, and Kentucky and our 

Nation are lucky as well for having had 

his many years of service. 

Over the next 6 years, as I work my 

hardest to better the lives of everyone 

in Kentucky and the country, I am 

going to remember the lessons learned 

from Wendell Ford’s long career. I will 

remember how his life is a testament 

to the success anybody in America can 

attain, even a country boy from Yellow 

Creek. I will remember what an honor 

it is to continue in the tradition of 

Wendell Ford and so many other fine 

public servants who have come from 

the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Their 

service will continue to remind me 

every day that with energy, determination, and principle, being the Senator 

from Kentucky is the best job I could 

ever hope to have. 

Mr. President, I yield the floor. 

f 

RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 

leadership time is reserved. 

f 

MORNING BUSINESS 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 

Senate will now proceed to a period for 

the transaction of morning business for 

1 hour. 

The Senator from Tennessee. 

f 

TRIBUTE TO MITCH MCCONNELL 

Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, 

those who have been listening and 

watching for the last few minutes got 

one good lesson on why Senator 

MCCONNELL has been here for over 24 

years. This is a day to honor him, but 

he spent virtually all of his time honoring someone else. 

It is a remarkable and rare event 

that Senator MCCONNELL could serve 

longer than Wendell Ford, the man he 

just honored, longer than Henry Clay, 

longer than John Sherman Cooper, and 

longer than Alben Barkley. But all of 

us know longevity by itself is not a 

transcending virtue, but it is an indication of one of the most transcending 

virtues; and that is, the people of Kentucky for the last 24 years have seen 

something special in MITCH MCCONNELL, something that is good for Kentucky, in the opinion of Kentuckians, 

and something that is good for our 

country. I have seen that, too, but for 

a longer period of time than 24 years; 

40 years, to be exact. 

I remember when MITCH MCCONNELL

came to Washington, not the time he 

was an intern but as the legislative director for Senator Marlow Cook. Legislative director is a little bit of a 

puffed-up title for the job at that time, 

because in the office of Senator Baker 

of Tennessee, where I had been the year 

before, there was only one legislative 

assistant. So we were legislative directors of usually one or two people at a 

time, which may seem pretty hard for 

staff members in this Senate to understand. 

I remember that by 1969, I moved 

over to work for Bryce Harlow in the 

Nixon White House. Howard Baker, 

who had been a good friend of Marlow 

Cook, the new Senator from Kentucky, 

came to me and said: Marlow Cook has 

a bright young man working for him; 

you ought to get to know him. 

So I did, 40 years ago. 

We both stayed in Washington for a 

while. We both went home after a few 

years, and in 1978, 30 years ago, we both 

were elected to an executive position 

in our home States—I as Governor of 

Tennessee, and MITCH MCCONNELL as 

the county executive of Jefferson 

County, which is Louisville, the big 

county there. 

Then, in 1984, as the record shows and 

we all know, he was elected to the U.S. 

Senate, the only Republican in the 

country that year, I believe, who was 

able to defeat an incumbent Democrat. 

When Senator MCCONNELL and I were 

young staff assistants in the Senate, 

the leaders of the Senate were Senators 

Dirksen and Mansfield. There have 

been many great leaders of the Senate 

since that period of time. All of those 

leaders who were good—and most of 

them were—knew this body, knew the 

Senate. They knew human nature instinctively, but they had one other 

quality, and this is another quality 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with SENATE