Tributes

Remarks by Senator McNary

Of Oregon

Mr. McNARY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have inserted in the Congressional Record appropriate remarks on the passing of WILLIAM EDGAR BORAH made by three eminent members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Senator from Nevada [Mr. Pittman], the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Vandenberg], and the Senator from Minnesota [Mr. Shipstead] over the National Broadcasting Co. network on Saturday night, January 20.

There being no objection, the addresses were ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

ADDRESS BY HON. KEY PITTMAN, OF NEVADA

Ladies and gentlemen of the radio audience of America, Senator WILLIAM E. BORAH, the Lion of Idaho, the dean of the United States Senate, the statesman, lawyer, humanitarian, and patriot of patriots, has reached the end of the long and tortuous trail of official service. He has packed his burden with vigor and patience, and even during the latter end, as physical strength waned, he did not utter one word of complaint.

Senator BORAH was my intimate friend throughout the 27 years that we served in the Senate together. In serving with and under him upon the Foreign Relations Committee, I was granted a great privilege, an opportunity to obtain an insight into his lovable character, the breadth of his learning, and the sincerity of his purposes.

Senator BORAH was a serious, intense, and lonely statesman. His mind and soul were occupied by his devotion to his State, his country, and the peace and welfare of their citizens. Although he was always cordial and considerate, yet he made no apparent effort toward good fellowship. Intense, eloquent, sharp, and uncompromising in debate, he was ever tolerant, courteous, and considerate. Many of his colleagues differed from him with regard to vital public policies, and accepted his challenges to intense debate. And

yet, in these debates there was rarely a division as to the high ultimate ends to be accomplished but rather as to the methods and processes to be adopted to consummate such ends.

Senator BORAH could be included in the definition of a progressive. He favored humanitarian laws, yet he was a strict constructionist of the Constitution and would not yield such principle to any momentary expediency. He recognized the natural growth of Federal jurisdiction, and yet his strong attachment to States' rights caused him to fear, and frequently to oppose, bureaucracy. His deep dread of war and his strong suspicion of all foreign governments made of him an absolute isolationist. And yet even those who differed with him never doubted his sincerity nor treated lightly his opinions. He brought intelligence, learning, reason, and light to every subject he debated. He bore no malice and he earned no enemies. This lonely, secluded statesman is missed and mourned in the Senate of the United States to as great a degree as any Senator whom death has taken away during my service.

A great and good man has passed into earthly silence, yet his words and deeds will live through all history.

ADDRESS BY HON. ARTHUR H. VANDENBERG, OF MICHIGAN

My fellow countrymen, the darkness of a deep sorrow rests upon the Capitol tonight. It reaches out to millions of American family hearthstones, where the name and the honor and the rugged patriotism of United States Senator WILLIAM E. BORAH have become part of the American inheritance. Idaho mourns the loss of a brilliant son. The Nation mourns the loss of one who was literally one of its greatest institutions.

One of the Republic's pillars has fallen.

The Constitution's most stalwart and effective friend since Daniel Webster has been gathered to his fathers.

A great heart is stilled.

We shall not soon look upon the like of him again.

Thirty-three years ago last Monday he came out of the West with his first senatorial commission. He gave it back last nightwithout a spot or blemish on it.

He grew in stature each succeeding year. He grew in influence which leaped the boundaries of his native land and spanned the earth. He grew in the talents which made him the greatest advocate and orator of his time. He became the Senate's dean-not alone in years of service but equally in the personal prestige of a unique and mighty character which was worthy of the Senate in its richest tradition since this Government was born. He loved America, and America loved him.

He believed in America and in her destiny with a passion that was the touchstone of his life. America-whether it always agreed with him or not-believed in him. It knew his courage. It knew his shining probity. It knew his soul-deep sympathy with human needs. It knew his deathless dedication to representative democracy. It knew his devotion to the common weal.

America will miss him. There is none to take his place. We shall bring the wreaths of our affection to his tomb. They will stay green as long as memory survives. God grant us some measure of his strength and vision.

Farewell, great patriot, great friend.

ADDRESS BY HON. HENRIK SHIPSTEAD, OF MINNESOTA

Friends of the radio audience, tonight and for years to come, the people of the United States, as well as people throughout other lands, will mourn the loss of WILLIAM EDGAR BORAH.

As a master defender of our Constitution and our system of constitutional law, as an orator, statesman, great American, and patriot, his place in history is secure.

I therefore shall speak of him more intimately as a man.

I deeply regret that out of the millions throughout the world who knew of him as a statesman, there were, necessarily, comparatively few who knew him as a man.

I first met him when I came to the Senate 18 years ago. He had then, by industry, ability, and strength of character, become famous throughout the world as a statesman-of whom all America was justly proud.

What first impressed me was that he carried his fame with becoming modesty.

To millions he represented a man with the heart of a lion. They called him "the lion of Idaho." They did not know that his heart was also as tender as a child's.

The suffering of others under persecution and injustice would arouse his own indignation to the most eloquent flights of oratorybecause WILLIAM BORAH felt their sufferings to be his own.

It can truly be said of him "that the strong and the brave are the most tender."

Because he often traveled alone they called him the "lone wolf." But we must remember that only the strong can travel alone.

He could walk with crowds and keep his virtue and with "kings, nor lose the common touch."

In observing him, in his public career, I was often reminded of the story that is told of the Norsemen entering France centuries ago.

The French people noticed they did not wear a brass collar around their necks with the name of the owner stamped upon it. So they asked them, "Who is your master?" They answered, “We have no master; we are our own masters.”

That could be truthfully said of WILLIAM BORAH. He was his own master.

ence.

His incorruptible integrity was the foundation of his independSuch independence of character is conceded by many to have cost him the Presidency. He would not "stoop to conquer." Nevertheless, WILLIAM BORAH never spoke ill of, nor carried rancor in his heart for, anyone.

Who shall say he was not well rewarded?

He was rewarded by the love and respect of his fellow men. He was, therefore, paid in a wage that does not cloy-a coin that leaves no sting.

He continued to walk among men with the modest dignity of the great. I venture to say that his name and fame will live for centuries as future students of American history read his classic orations in the Nation's archives.

We, his colleagues, who outside of his family, possibly, knew him best, mourn his loss-not only because we have lost a friend we loved-but because of the great loss to the Nation.

We are thankful that he could pass without suffering. And I am sure that when WILLIAM BORAH crossed the bar he was still "captain of his soul"—with his head up-and unafraid.

Remarks by Senator Byrnes

Of South Carolina

Mr. BYRNES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an editorial entitled "Our Tallest Watchman," published in the State, of Columbia, S. C., in its issue of Monday, January 22, 1940. The editorial pays deserved tribute to our lamented colleague the late Senator BORAH.

There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

[From the State, Columbia, S. C., January 22, 1940]

OUR TALLEST WATCHMAN

The Senators of the United States will miss the Lion of Idaho, and so will the citizens of the United States. He was, perhaps, our most distinguished Senator; a statement that is not based on the accidental fact that he was dean of the Senate. Long service does not necessarily result in fame. But long service plus great intellectual ability, plus high character, plus devotion to country and to the job he held, plus remarkable oratorical ability, does necessarily and justly result in fame.

WILLIAM E. BORAH was a "natural" in the United States Senate, which sometimes is described as the finest deliberative and debating organization in all government. He liked deliberation; he loved debate. In his capacity for deliberation he had few equals in the United States Government; in his skill as a debater he had no superiors.

People often have wondered about BORAH. Why was he never nominated for higher office? In part, the answer is this: He never was and never could be a political regular. In this he and Senator Norris resemble one another. BORAH was too much the scholar, too much the philosopher to believe that right is to be found exclusively on one side. He called himself a Republican, but the organization Republicans never could claim him for their own. They knew that he would join the Democrats in any fight if he thought the Democrats nearer the right. They also knew that he had no sympathy for old guard Republicanism.