Date: 1999-10-25
Speaker: JOHN CHAFEE (republican)
Chamber: S

whom we lost today. Let me begin by expressing my deep sympathies to the CHAFEE family. to Ginny and the children and the grandchildren. I have come to know them over the years. being the neighboring Senator of the wonderful State of Rhode Island. I express to his family. the people of Rhode Island. and to his staff and friends and acquaintances over the years. what a terrible loss the death of JOHN CHAFEE is. to all who care about public service and care about this country. The words of "scholar." "soldier." "athlete." and "statesman" I use quite frequently to describe people. But in the case of JOHN CHAFEE. each one of those words has special meaning. He was truly a great scholar as we know from his academic work at Yale and Harvard Law School. He was truly a wonderful soldier. as JOHN WARNER has recounted. If one did not take the time to discover the service JOHN CHAFEE gave to this country in both World War II and Korea. one would not know it if one solely depended upon JOHN CHAFEE to describe it. JOHN CHAFEE saw service in uniform to his country as not an extraordinary action but one that any good citizen would engage in during a time of serious conflict. Certainly his service in the Marine Corps and the Pacific. and again in Korea. were remarkable periods of our Nations history. He served our Nation so wonderfully well in that capacity. He was also a great athlete. Captain of the Yale wrestling team in 1941. he went undefeated. He was also quite a squash player. My brotherinlaw. Bernie Buonanno. is from Rhode Island. Bernie and JOHN CHAFEE were regular squash competitors in Providence. I heard great tales about the battles between my brotherinlaw and JOHN CHAFEE on the squash courts. I know CARL LEVIN and JOHN WARNER and others play not very far from this Chamber. They have wonderful times there. He was always in great shape. always had a tremendous amount of energy he brought to his work in the Senate. Last. he was a statesman. That is hardly last. I first got to know JOHN CHAFEE almost 40 years ago. I was a freshman in college in Providence. RI. when JOHN CHAFEE became Governor of the State of Rhode Island. He was elected with an overwhelming margin of 398 votes in that year. He went on in 1964 and 1966 to huge margins. At that time in Rhode Island. Governors only had a. 2year term. During my entire career as a college student. JOHN CHAFEE was the Governor of the small State of Rhode Island. What a wonderful reputation he had as a Governor of that State. During the latter part of that term. the Vietnam war issue. which JOHN WARNER talked about. began to boil over on campuses. JOHN CHAFEE handled that leadership role as a Governor of his State with great style and with great leadership in terms of understanding the diverse constituency. even of a small State such as Rhode Island. In 1976. as we know. he came to the Sdnate. I arrived in 1981 and had the privilege of serving with him for the past 20 years. We didnt serve on committees together. I never had the privilege of being a member of one of the committees of which JOHN CHAFEE was a member. However. he certainly led in so many areas. particularly in environment. There were few who were JOHN CHAFEES peers when it came to their longstanding concern about being good custodians and guardians of this planet Earth. Certainly throughout his career on numerous pieces of legislation JOHN CHAFEE was the leader. the voice. that we all looked to when it came to deciding what path to follow as we tried to determine the best course of action. balancing the economic and environmental interests of our Nation. The Presiding Officer knows this year. as someone who has been deeply interested in child care legislation. I lobbied hard to the Presiding Officer if she would be a cosponsor with me of my child care bill. I will never forget Senator COLLINS saying to me: I will go along with you on your bill on one condition. I am thinking. here it comes. what is the condition. some new provision has to be written in. some new amendment added. And she said: The condition is. if you can get JOHN CHAFEE to support your child care amendment. then I will join in your child care bill. I talked to JOHN CHAFEE. I said: JOHN. if I can have your support. I can think of at least one or two. maybe four or five other Members of this body who will work with us on this issue. He gave his support to that issue. This calendar year we have had four votes on child care amendments. and each has carried because JOHN CHAFEE decided to be a working partner on this issue. That is another example of the kind of quiet leadership JOHN CHAFEE could give to an issue that was important to not only his constituents but to many across the globe and across this country. particularly. The Presiding Officer. coming from New England. will appreciate this as well. We oftentimes find in antiques stores or flea markets the New England samplers. They are oftentimes framed. Home Sweet Home is the one with which most are familiar. There is another sampler we can find from time to time throughout New England. The sampler says: Leave the Land in Better Shape Than When You Found It. It is an old New England tradition. Our land was not particularly well suited to agricultural interests when that expression was coined. the rocky soil. the difficult winters make it hard to eke out a living. Each generation of New Englanders over the years has tried to clear another field. build another barn or shed. in some way make the land they pass on to the next generation healthier and better suited to serve the next generation. JOHN "CHAFEE was the quintessential New England statesman. in my view. He was not tight when it came to a dollar. but I called him a fiscal conservative when it came to budgetary matters. He was also a person who believed one ought to carefully invest capital in areas that would be critically important to the wellbeing of any enterprise. And in public life. investing in the environment of our country. investing in the educational needs. the transportation needs. seeing to it that all Americans havq a chance to enjoy the wonderful opportunities ofour Nation. and the Tax Code. are all wonderful examples of JOHN CHAFEE making wise investments. the wise -New England approach to the wellbeing of our Nation. So in many ways. JOHN CHAFEE epitomized. I supposefor me. anywaywhat a good Senator from New England ought to be. In many ways. as I think about that old sampler you can find in these bazaars in New England from Maine to Connecticut. "Leave the Land in Better Shape Than when You Found it." JOHN CRAFEE epitomized that simple expression. Wherever he is at this momentand I know he is with our good Lord and Saviorhe will be looking down knowingand he should knowthat even for that brief amount of time. the few short years. 77 years. he had as a scholar. as a soldier. as an athlete. and as a statesman. JOHN CHAFEE truly left his State and his country and the world in which we live far better than when he found it. For the immense difference he has made. we thank him. I yield the floor.