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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 9, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E974-E975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                       A TRIBUTE TO MAX McCARTHY

                                 ______

                          HON. JOHN J. LaFALCE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 9, 1995
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, it was with deep regret and sadness that we 
learned over the weekend of the passing of Richard ``Max'' 
[[Page E975]] McCarthy, who served here in the House, representing the 
Buffalo, NY area from 1965 to 1970.
  In addition to his congressional service where he was a leader on 
environmental issues and the effort to ban germ and gas warfare, Mr. 
McCarthy had a distinguished career as a journalist with the Buffalo 
News, serving as its Washington Bureau chief from 1978 until 1989 and 
continuing as a weekly columnist. He was press attache at the U.S. 
Embassy in Iran in 1975 and 1976, authored two books and served in the 
Navy at the end of World War II and in the Army during the Korean War.
  Mr. McCarthy was an affable, congenial, and gregarious man, who will 
be missed by his many friends and colleagues. Murray Light, the editor 
and senior vice president of the Buffalo News, captured the spirit of 
the Max McCarthy so many of us knew so well, in his comments in the 
following obituary from the News:

       Max was an outstanding citizen of Buffalo, outstanding 
     patriot and a fine newspaperman. All of us associated with 
     him will greatly miss his insight, his unending optimism and 
     his enormous loyalty to his community, his friends, his 
     country and his newspaper.
             Max McCarthy Dies; News Writer, Ex-Congressman

                            (By Karen Brady)

       Max McCarthy--the retired Buffalo News Washington Bureau 
     chief, former congressman, and foreign service diplomat--died 
     Friday (May 5, 1995) in his Arlington, Va., home at the age 
     of 67 after an extended illness.
       A journalist first and last during his long public career--
     which included U.S. military service in two wars--McCarthy 
     continued to write his weekly Washington column for The News, 
     including a column that will appear this Sunday.
       ``Max was an outstanding citizen of Buffalo, outstanding 
     patriot and a fine newspaperman. All of us who have been 
     associated with him will greatly miss his insight, his 
     unending optimism and his enormous loyalty to his community, 
     his friends, his country and his newspaper,'' said Murray 
     Light, editor and senior vice president of The News.
       McCarthy in the last few months had been living in a 
     McClean, Va., nursing home because of the debilitating 
     effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often referred to 
     as Lou Gehrig's disease.
       Nonetheless, McCarthy continued to write his weekly columns 
     for The News by dictating to a neighbor who typed the 
     material into his laptop computer, recalled David Breasted, 
     an independent television producer and long-time friend.
       McCarthy, a Democrat, represented Buffalo in the House of 
     Representatives from 1965 to 1970.
       He later became press attache for the U.S. Embassy in Iran, 
     and was working at the White House, as an adviser in 
     legislative affairs, when he joined The News' Washington 
     Bureau in 1978.
       He was also one of the original leaders of the campaign to 
     rid Lake Erie of pollution, and was a nationally recognized 
     pioneer in other environmental causes.
       He organized Buffalo's first Department of Human Resources, 
     under Mayor Stanley Makowski, and was the author of two 
     books--``The Ultimate Folly,'' an expose of the evils of 
     chemical-biological warfare, and ``Elections for Sale,'' a 
     book on political fundraising and spending.
       Born Richard Dean McCarthy in Buffalo but always called 
     ``Max,'' he came from a family active in Buffalo's political 
     life.
       His great-great-grandparents, on his mother's side, were 
     Irish immigrants whose son, Peter B. Walsh, was elected to 
     the old Buffalo Board of Aldermen in 1859.
       His son--McCarthy's grandfather, Richard W. Walsh--was an 
     attorney, and the official court stenographer at the trial of 
     Leon Czolgosz, the man convicted of assassinating President, 
     William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 
     1901.
       McCarthy's father, the late Ignatius D. McCarthy, also an 
     attorney, ran twice for Buffalo City Court judge.
       McCarthy's mother, the late Kathleen Walsh McCarthy, not 
     only assisted her husband in his City Court bids, but was 
     also office manager during her son's successful 1964 
     congressional campaign. She was a co-founder as well of 
     Housewives to End Pollution here.
       Max McCarthy attended St. Joseph's Catholic Elementary 
     School. He graduated from Canisius High School and Canisius 
     College, where he was a regular in the college's Little 
     Theatre productions. He did graduate work at the University 
     of Buffalo, Cornell and Harvard.
       He served in the Navy in the Pacific at the end of World 
     War II, and in the Army in the Far East during the Korean 
     War.
       In 1952--as a corporal with the 24th Infantry Division of 
     the Army, stationed in Sendei, Japan--he sent accounts of 
     military life to The Buffalo Evening News. The paper printed 
     his accounts and then hired McCarthy as a reporter following 
     his discharge.
       Three years later, he was named public relations director 
     of the National Gypsum Co., based in Buffalo, and remained in 
     that position until 1964 when he was first elected to 
     Congress, a Democrat representing Buffalo's heavily 
     Republican old 39th Congressional District.
       It was a startling victory. McCarthy, a political novice of 
     36, beat six-term incumbent Rep. John R. Pillion, a Hamburg 
     Republican.
       McCarthy's campaign theme was ``a young man looking into 
     the future.'' A chief aim, he said at the time, was to serve 
     on the House Public Works Committee--because he wanted to rid 
     Lake Erie of pollution.
       McCarthy's first book, ``The Ultimate Folly'' was published 
     by Knopf in 1969. It resulted in congressional hearings, a 
     national policy review and canceling a plan to dump outdated 
     nerve gases from three U.S. arsenals into the sea.
       In constant demand as a speaker, McCarthy appeared on 
     national television and was featured in major publications. 
     He was selected to give a prestigious Chubb series of 
     lectures at Yale University.
       In 1970, he was persuaded by New York State Democrats to 
     run
      for a U.S. Senate seat, it was a move that cost him his seat 
     in the House of Representatives--and sent his personal 
     political career on a downward spiral.
       McCarthy's former House seat went to the Republican 
     candidate--newcomer and former Buffalo Bill, Jack Kemp.
       ``As a three-term member of Congress, Max was a strong 
     progressive and had an unblemished reputation for integrity. 
     He did pioneering work on the environment and campaign 
     finance reform. It was fitting that the last column published 
     in his lifetime was an appeal for sanity on firearms. That 
     courageous stand cost him a great deal of support in the 
     1960s,'' said Douglas Turner, The News' Washington Bureau 
     chief.
       McCarthy took a position as vice president and director of 
     community development for A. Victor and Co. here.
       A year later--after considering a run for Erie County 
     executive--he was named a Harvard fellow, lecturing in the 
     university's Institute of Politics of the John Fitzgerald 
     Kennedy School of Government.
       He completed his second book, ``Elections for Sale,'' and 
     served for a time as a Grover Cleveland fellow at UB.
       In 1972, he sought election to the then-new 38th District 
     but lost.
       He subsequently became a visiting professor of political 
     science at Canisius College and Niagara University.
       In 1973, Buffalo Mayor Makowski made McCarthy a member of 
     his Cabinet, charging him with formation of the city 
     Department of Human Resources.
       In 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed McCarthy to the 
     U.S. Information Agency--and, for the next two years, he 
     served as press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Iran.
       In 1976, McCarthy was named to the Carter administration 
     White House staff--where he was involved with legislative 
     affairs until joining The News' Washington Bureau in June of 
     1978.
       Three months later, he was named Washington bureau chief 
     for The Buffalo News. McCarthy held the position until his 
     own retirement in 1989, but continued to write a weekly 
     Washington column for The News.
       In 1985, McCarthy became the sixth member of The News to be 
     elected to the prestigious Gridiron Club in Washington. He 
     also was a member of the National Press Club.
       He was a founder of the Greater Buffalo Development 
     Foundation which he served as vice president for eight years.
       McCarthy also was a lover of opera and collected fine 
     literature, especially books on Irish history.
       Survivors include his former wife, Gail; three sons, Dean 
     of Buffalo, and Barry and Brendan, both of Chicago, and two 
     daughters, Maura of New York City and Deidre of San Remo, 
     Italy.
       Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
       

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