April 24, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE S5567 

societies. To be sure, Armenians themselves are committed to the proposition that their experience has meaning for all of us—it must not remain 

the special province of the survivors. In 

other words, to ignore or forget the 

past is to remain its captive, and coming to terms with the past is an indispensable part of building for the future. 

Elie Wiesel, speaking at a Holocaust 

memorial service here in the Congress 

during the early 1980’s, expressed eloquently the importance of recognizing 

the Armenian genocide when he said: 

Before the planning of the final solution, 

Hitler asked, ‘‘Who remembers the Armenians?’’ He was right. No one remembered 

them, as no one remembered the Jews. Rejected by everyone, they felt expelled from 

history. 

From the darkness of this experience, 

Armenians have risen to demonstrate 

great courage and strength in their 

pursuit of human dignity and freedom. 

After enduring years of struggle under 

Soviet rule the Armenians gained independence at last. They now face the effects of a devastating earthquake in 

1988, an inhumane economic blockade 

which continues to hamper the delivery of needed humanitarian assistance, 

and the hostile forces arrayed against 

them in their volatile area of the 

world. 

Perhaps the Armenian-American 

community is one of the best examples 

of this indomitable human spirit of the 

Armenian people. The contribution of 

the Armenian community to the cultural, social, economic, and political 

life of America is a source of great 

strength and vitality in our Nation. 

Americans of Armenian origin have 

kept alive, and not let tragedy shatter, 

the rich faith and traditions of Armenian civilization. 

Mr. President, in keeping with our 

country’s highest principles and ideals, 

we pause and pay tribute today to the 

survivors and the victims who perished 

in the midst of a deliberate attempt to 

rid the world of the entire nation. As 

we recall the events that began on the 

night of April 24, 1915, we are reminded 

yet again of the fundamental importance of freedom and respect for human 

rights, and of the terrible consequences 

of their abuse. 

I ask unanimous consent that a recent column appearing in the New 

York Times entitled ‘‘For Old Armenians, April is the Cruelest Memory’’

be printed in the RECORD at this point. 

There being no objection, the article 

was ordered to be printed in the 

RECORD, as follows: 

[From the New York Times, Apr. 19, 1995] 

FOR OLD ARMENIANS, APRIL IS THE CRUELEST

MEMORY

(By Michael T. Kaufman) 

The forsythia at the Armenian Home in 

Flushing are blooming cheerily and the dandelions wink from the lawn, but for the old 

people who live there, April remains a time 

of heavy sorrows. They sit silently in sunny 

rooms, keeping to themselves what they saw 

and heard and smelled 80 years ago when 

their people were scattered and killed in the 

first of the century’s many genocides. 

‘‘We don’t talk to each other about it because everybody has their own terrible stories,’’ said Alice Dosdourian, who is 89 years 

old. They also no longer go to the commemorative gatherings, such as the one to be held 

this Sunday in Times Square, where younger 

people mark the years of Armenian agony 

that began when the Turks killed 235 intellectuals on April 24, 1915. The home’s administrators say the memorials were too upsetting for the residents. 

‘‘But I never forget,’’ Mrs. Dosdourian said. 

‘‘I think about what happened all the time. 

Sometimes I dream about it and I wake up 

and I hold myself and tell myself, ‘No, you 

do not have to worry, now you are in America.’’’ Mrs. Dosdourian has been in America 

since 1924. 

But if the old Armenians discreetly avoided making each other cry, they eagerly took 

advantage of a stranger’s visit to tell what 

they had seen and endured as children. They 

are, after all, among the last ones alive who 

had seen the horrors with their own eyes. 

They need to reveal their recollections to 

those who were not there, not to seek redress 

or make politics, but simply to have the 

facts acknowledged. And so, one after another, the Armenians clasped a stranger’s 

arm and testified. 

Mrs. Dosdourian had been born in 

Mazhdvan, a village in that part of Turkey 

where the Armenians had lived for many 

centuries. She was 6 years old in 1915 when 

soldiers came and took away her father, a 

shoemaker. She never saw him again. ‘‘My 

mother took me and my brother, who was 12, 

and we walked. We went from village to village. We went to the mountains. I do not 

know how many months we walked. Once we 

were in a village where all the men were Armenian heroes, big men who fought until 

they died. But then the soldiers came and 

made us walk again.’’

There were more than a million who 

walked, mostly women, children and old men 

forced across Mesopotamian deserts into 

Syria. Many drowned and died of hunger. 

Some, like Mrs. Dosdourian’s brother, were 

shot to death during the exodus. In all, the 

estimates of the dead ranged between 600,000 

and 1.5 million. Until World War II and the 

destruction of the Jews, it was the sufferings 

of the Armenians, well documented by journalists and writers, that set standards of 

horror and contemporary barbarism. 

‘‘Every night,’’ Mrs. Dosdourian said, ‘‘I 

heard people shouting that they were robbed 

by the gendarmes. We were always hungry. 

People were dying and we had no shovels to 

bury them. People stayed up at night to protect bodies from dogs and wild animals. People sang out to God, ‘How could you let this 

happen to us?’’’ The woman spoke 

unhesitatingly, sitting erect and keeping her 

clear blue eyes on her listener. 

‘‘One day we came to a river. There were 

many dead around but in the water there was 

the body of a young woman floating. I could 

see her long black hair spread out like a 

beautiful fan.’’ She shuddered and her clear 

blue eyes filled with tears. 

Annahid Verdanian also remembers. She 

was 4 years old when she was forced from her 

home with her mother and her father. She 

and her nurse became separated from the 

others. At one river she watched as a ferry 

full of people was turned over. She thinks 

her family may have been on the boat and 

drowned. She was adopted by people, some 

good, some exploitative. She worked as a 

maid, as a seamstress. She went to Greece 

and then to Marseille, and then in 1934 she 

came to Massachusetts, where she worked in 

textile mills. 

Hagop Cividian, who is 86, did not come 

here until 1990. In French and German he explains his story. With difficulty he talks 

about a woman named Diana, saying it is important to remember her because she was a 

real hero. He has written her story but only 

in Armenian. ‘‘Americans should know,’’ he 

said with passion. ‘‘She was an American.’’

She was married to his cousin and they had 

a 7-year-old boy who was a prodigy on the 

piano. ‘‘The authorities told her that because she was American she could go but she 

would have to leave the boy,’’ Mr. Cividian 

said. ‘‘She stayed and died with her husband 

and son.’’

Mr. Cividian managed to live. ‘‘For four 

years I was hungry, and beaten,’’ said the 

stocky and still muscular man. Later he 

made his way to Romania, where he became 

a chemical engineer. ‘‘As a child I saw the 

Turks kill the Armenians, later I saw Hitler 

and then Ceaucescu,’’ Mr. Cividian said. 

‘‘The only time I knew freedom was when I 

came to America five years ago. Only here I 

can do what I want. I can think, speak and 

remember.’’

f 

IS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE? 

THE VOTERS HAVE SAID YES 

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the impression simply will not go away; the 

enormous Federal debt greatly resembles that well-known energizer bunny 

we see, and see, and see on television. 

The Federal debt keeps going and going 

and going—always at the expense, of 

course, of the American taxpayers. 

A lot of politicians talk a good 

game—when they go home to campaign 

about bringing Federal deficits and the 

Federal debt under control. But so 

many of these same politicians regularly voted for one bloated spending 

bill after another during the 103d Congress, which could have been a primary 

factor in the new configuration of U.S. 

Senators as a result of last November’s 

elections. 

In any event, Mr. President, as of 

yesterday, as of Friday, April 21, at the 

close of business, the total Federal 

debt stood—down to the penny—at exactly $4,837,382,183,299.27 or $18,362.79 

per person. 

f 

FATHER ROBERT J. FOX 

Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, I am 

pleased to pay tribute to an outstanding South Dakotan and good 

friend, Father Robert J. Fox of Alexandria, SD. Today, April 24, 1995, marks 

the 40th year of his dedicated service to 

the Catholic church and the people of 

South Dakota. 

It has been my personal pleasure to 

work with Father Robert over the past 

6 years in establishing National Children’s Day. As national chairman of 

National Children’s Day activities for 

the Catholic church, he has tirelessly 

promoted this special day for our children. As a result of his efforts, I expect 

to see National Children’s Day successfully celebrated on the second Sunday 

of October for many years to come. 

Father Robert Fox began his pastoral 

career at the age of 27 after graduating 

from St. Paul Seminary school. A little 

over a year later, on April 24, 1955, he 

was ordained into the priesthood, and 

gave his first sermon soon afterward at 

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S5568 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE April 24, 1995 

the Immaculate Conception Church in 

his hometown of Watertown, SD. 

Over the years Father Robert has 

faithfully served the Catholic church in 

many different parishes across eastern 

South Dakota. He has been ministering 

in Alexandria since 1985. During his career Father Robert has authored 20 

books and numerous articles in Catholic publications. He also has taken pilgrimages with 3,000 youth. Certainly, 

South Dakotans of all ages have benefited from his very active career of 

service. 

I am just one of many South Dakotans who have profited from Father 

Robert’s wisdom. His valuable advice 

will always be greatly appreciated. He 

is loved and respected by many. I am 

honored to join in observing this very 

special occasion for Father Robert. 

f 

THE DEATH OF JOHN F. BLAKE 

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the 

CIA, the Senate Intelligence Committee and our country lost a loyal 

servant on March 27 when Jack Blake 

passed away after a long illness. Jack 

was an OSS veteran who became one of 

the CIA’s premier managers, serving as 

its director of logistics, Deputy Director for Administration and acting Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. He 

also served as president of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. 

In 1981, when Senator Barry Goldwater became the first Republican to 

chair the Select Committee on Intelligence, he chose Jack Blake to be staff 

director of the committee. Together, 

Senator Goldwater and Jack Blake established the principle that the transfer from a Democratic to a Republican 

majority would not mean an end to the 

Senate’s bipartisan oversight of sensitive national security matters. They 

also made the point that the intelligence community’s best friends were 

capable of examining its activities 

with a critical eye, for the sake of improving this vital function and safeguarding the liberties of our citizens. 

Jack Blake went on to become a professor at the Defense Intelligence College and frequently brought his classes 

back to the Hill to meet with congressional overseers and see for themselves 

that we were not monsters, but people 

of good will. His tremendous good 

humor and perseverance served him 

and his country well. We will miss 

Jack Blake, but we will also continue 

to profit from his life of good works. 

The Senate was fortunate to have 

known him. 

f 

THE DEATH OF RICHARD E. CURL 

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, our 

Nation lost a valuable member of its 

national security team recently, when 

Richard E. Curl died at the age of 77. 

Dick Curl was Director of the Office of 

Intelligence Resources in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and 

Research. He was not the former Director, not the retiring Director, but very 

much the active Director of that office, 

even at the age of 77. 

Dick Curl devoted his life to intelligence. He served as a naval intelligence officer in both World War II 

and the Korean war, and with the State 

Department between those wars. And 

Dick began his work for INR in 1952. 

Overall, he gave his country over half a 

century of service. 

Mr. Curl’s obituary states that his 

work ‘‘involved contact with various 

foreign intelligence services as well as 

U.S. intelligence agencies.’’ Suffice it 

to say that his role was often that of a 

mediator between the two different 

cultures, explaining the uses of intelligence to policymakers and Foreign 

Service officers while also ensuring 

that the risks and benefits of intelligence operations were weighed in 

light of broader U.S. policy interests 

that might be affected if something 

went wrong. Much of Dick Curl’s career 

was spent teaching the policy and intelligence communities to listen to 

each other. 

The staff of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence knew Mr. Curl 

since at least the early 1980’s. They 

found him a valuable source of information and good counsel. Dick Curl 

will be missed by both the committee 

and his country. 

f 

RURAL SUMMIT 

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I come 

to the floor for a different purpose 

today, however. I want to describe 

something that is happening tomorrow 

in Ames, IA, and something that happened last Friday in Bismarck, ND. 

Some many months ago, I and Congressman DICK DURBIN, from Illinois, 

asked President Clinton to host a rural 

summit in our country prior to the 

writing of the new 5-year farm bill in 

Congress this year. The President took 

our suggestion and set December 1 of 

last year as a date for a rural summit. 

It would be the first ever of its kind 

held in this country prior to the writing of a new farm bill. 

On December 1, it turned out that the 

Senate was going to reconvene and 

vote on the GATT treaty, and the result was the rural summit had to be 

postponed. The President was required 

to remain in Washington, and others 

who were to participate were to remain 

here as well. A new date was set, and 

that new date is tomorrow. 

The President, the Vice President, 

the Secretary of Agriculture, and other 

Cabinet Members will go to Ames, IA, 

and they will convene a rural summit. 

The purpose of that is to discuss, before the new farm bill is written, what 

works and what does not in rural 

America, what kind of a farm program 

works to save family farmers, to try to 

provide an injection of economic life 

into rural economies; how can we improve on it, how can we change it, how 

can we offer more hope to rural America? 

I give great credit to President Clinton for his willingness to do this. It is 

long overdue that we take a fresh look 

at all of the programs and all of the 

initiatives and all of the efforts that 

are designed to try to help rural America. This is, after all, one country, not 

many countries, and the one country 

includes, yes, some of the biggest cities 

but also some of the smallest counties. 

In my home county in rural North 

Dakota, as an example, where fewer 

than several thousand people live in 

the entire county, they lost 20 percent 

of their population in that county in 

the 1980’s. In the first 5 years of the 

1990’s, from 1990 to 1995, the new census 

report shows they lost another 11 percent of their population. 

The flip side of economic stress, that 

we register in the cities by taking a 

look at poverty and unemployment, for 

rural America is out migration, people 

getting in their car and leaving because there is no opportunity, they 

feel, in rural counties. What is happening in rural America is that many 

rural counties and rural areas are 

shrinking like prunes. The lifeblood is 

leaving these rural counties. 

And so the question is what works 

and what does not, what kind of a farm 

plan, what kind of a rural economic development policy should we have in 

rural America to give everybody in this 

country a chance; yes, even those who 

live in sparsely populated areas. 

Prior to the summit that will be held 

in Ames, IA, tomorrow, the President 

asked the new Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman, to hold six regional forums around the country, and 

he has done that. I believe the last one 

is today in Illinois. He held one of 

those six forums in Bismarck, ND, last 

Friday. 

At that forum, the Secretary of Agriculture brought along most of the Assistant Secretaries, and they were all 

there as a team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to listen to family 

farmers. About 700 to 800 people crowded into this facility, the Farmers Livestock Exchange, to spend 3 hours at 

this forum. Another probably 200 people could not get into the facility, but 

because it was broadcast on a couple of 

radio stations, there were people sitting in the parking lot listening to 

their radios to hear the discussion during these 3 hours about rural America, 

about the farm bill, and about what 

works to try to rescue, revive, and 

breathe some life into rural America. 

I know this subject would not sound 

very interesting or important to a lot 

of Americans. Most Americans take a 

look at rural America or farmers and 

they do not think much about them. 

They go to the store and buy elbow 

macaroni, and it is in a carton. Well, 

elbow macaroni does not come in a carton. That is the way it is sold, but it 

comes from semolina flour. You get 

that by grinding durum wheat that 

comes from the wheat field of someone 

who, most often, is a family farmer 

who risks all of his economic strength 

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