[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 50 (Monday, May 2, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: May 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
HONORING THE LATE RICHARD M. NIXON
Mr. DURENBERGER. Madam President, attending the funeral of President
Richard M. Nixon last week was an extremely moving experience for me,
as I'm sure it was for many of my colleagues. It would not be an
exaggeration to say that Richard Nixon shaped the politics and the
attitudes of a whole generation of Americans.
Indeed, I think all Americans--regardless of party or political
ideology--have lost a great resource with the passing of America's 37th
President.
Richard Nixon brought to the analysis of America's global and
domestic problems an intellect rarely matched in the history of
statecraft. In the final judgment of history, he will be remembered
primarily for his geopolitical audacity in the opening to Communist
China--and bringing America's influence to bear on the future of the 1
billion people who live in that country.
By opening the window of U.S. diplomacy and trade, Nixon laid the
groundwork for the integration of the world's most populous nation into
full membership in the world community. That process continues today--
and, as a result of Nixon's opening, sober analysts have high hopes for
mainland China in the 21st century.
In his domestic policy, Nixon combined a belief in free market
economics with a recognition of the need for decisive government action
to mitigate the defects of the market. It is ironic that shortly before
Nixon's death, a Vice President of the opposite party would joke that
his Democratic administration would be very happy to enact the Nixon
health reform plan--a reference to one of Nixon's major domestic
initiatives that failed to carry in Congress.
That, Madam President, was Richard Nixon the statesman. Let me
recount an event that gives us some understanding of Richard Nixon the
human being. When my predecessor in this office--the Honorable Hubert
H. Humphrey--was dying of cancer in Lake Waverly, MN, he called former
President Nixon and asked him to attend his--Humphrey's--funeral.
Humphrey knew that the funeral was not going to be long in coming--and
he arranged that Richard Nixon be received at that ceremony with the
full honor due to a former President. Young people who watched the TV
coverage of President Nixon's death and funeral--coverage that I
understand was generally positive in tone--might find nothing
remarkable in this. But back in 1977, the scars of the Watergate
scandal were far from healed. Many of Senator Humphrey's liberal
colleagues--and even a substantial number of moderates and
conservatives--viewed Nixon as deserving a state of permanent disgrace.
Hubert Humphrey demonstrated true nobility of character by making his
historic gesture to President Nixon. He realized that whether you share
Nixon's views or not, you have to recognize his value to public life.
Humphrey had known Nixon for decades--and knew that ostracizing Nixon
would hurt America's future more than it would help.
Today, let us continue in the tradition of my distinguished
predecessor. Let us join Hubert Humphrey in recognizing that all
public-spirited Americans, whatever their ideology, have a constructive
role to play in building our country's future.
Few Americans have ever played a more constructive role than Richard
Nixon did in his final years. People who read his books--and I'm sure
this group will include the future leaders of America--will be reaping
the benefits of his intelligence and wisdom for many generations to
come.
At this time of mourning, I wish Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia
Nixon Cox, the late President's daughters, all possible consolation in
what must be a very difficult time.
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that a Washington Post op-ed
by Paul Rexford Thatcher, Sr., describing the final days of the
relationship between President Nixon and Senator Humphrey be included
in the Record. I further ask that two articles from the Minneapolis
Star Tribune be included, one recounting the visits of President Nixon
to Minnesota and the other recounting Minnesotans' reaction to his
passing.
There being no objection, the articles were ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Reconciliation Heals People and Nations
(By Paul Rexford Thatcher, Sr.)
It was the Christmas holiday of 1977, and an especially
bitter December in Minnesota. Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey had
returned home to his refuge, his house on the new frozen Lake
Waverly, about 35 miles west of Minnespolis.
He had just made a short but triumphant last journey to the
nation's capital to deliver in person his farewells to the
men and women with whom he had served for almost 30 years as
U.S. senator, then vice president of the United States and
since 1971, again, as a member of the Senate and its
president pro tempore.
Now it was almost over, this remarkable political life, and
emaciated by cancer, Humphrey lay in bed dying at Lake
Waverly. The grounds of his house on the lake were stewed
uncustomarily with twigs and fallen branches from the
leafless trees on the expansive lawn. Humphrey had been
notorious for taking visitors, be they prime ministers,
fellow senators or political associates, for long walks on
his grounds, making them pick up scattered twigs or leaves.
There had been no such recent visitors.
In the lane at the back of the house, the small road that
led to the highway to Minneapolis, a cluster of reporters was
already forming a death watch over Minnesota's most famous
political son.
Humphrey's son-in-law had leased a WATS line for him as a
surprise Christmas gift. After returning from Washington, his
life and legendary energy now ebbing from him like a tide,
Minnesota's Happy Warrior began to call old friends and
associates around the nation and the world. He ostensibly
called to give them season's greetings, but everyone knew he
was taking his leave of them.
He reached his old adversary, Richard Nixon, on Christmas
Eve, only to learn that the Nixons were both ill, depressed
and alone for the holiday in San Clemente. Something troubled
Humphrey deeply about this conversation with Nixon, and that
evening, surrounded by his immediate family, he brooded often
about Nixon's circumstances. He spoke of it later in the
evening, too, and it was only the next morning that his
concerned seems to diminish as he again called Nixon in San
Clemente. He called to tell the former president--the man who
in 1968 had given Humphrey his most bitter defeat--that he
had a farewell gift to give him.
Humphrey told Nixon that he knew he had only days to live,
and that he had made the arrangements for the events that
would follow his death: his lying-in-state in the Capitol in
Washington, his funeral and burial in Minnesota. Humphrey
told Nixon that he was inviting him to attend the ceremony
that would conclude the lying-in-state in Washington, and
that he wanted him to be present and to stand in the place of
honor of a former president.
Nixon, of course, had resigned from the presidency in
disgrace only three years before and had not returned to
Washington, where ever since he had been unwelcome. This
seemed especially so now in the first year of Jimmy Carter's
presidency, with Washington in the control of so many
unforgiving Democrats (and probably not a few unforgiving
Republicans as well).
Sensing Nixon's profound depression in exile in California,
Humphrey spontaneously fashioned a credible excuse enabling
his old rival to return to the capital. He told Nixon that if
anyone questioned his presence, he should say that he was
there at the personal request of Hubert Humphrey.
He further told Nixon that he would call me (I had been
placed in charge of the Washington ceremonies by the Humphrey
family) to relate their conversation and to tell me of his
wish that Nixon be treated respectfully and with dignity for
that occasion.
On Friday, Jan. 13, 1978, Hubert H. Humphrey died at Lake
Waverly. President Carter was immediately called and
notified. The president at once dispatched Air Force One to
Minnesota to bring Humphrey's body to the capital for the
weekend lying-in-state.
On Sunday forenoon, with President Carter, former President
Ford, Vice President Mondale and many of the nation's
political leaders in attendance, a concluding ceremony was
held in the Capitol Rotunda. To the surprise of most and the
gasps of many, I escorted former President Nixon to the place
of honor with the others, near the flag-draped casket. Hubert
Humphrey's gift in the winter to Richard Nixon had been
delivered.
Fifteen years later, it is not the chill Minnesota winds
that cause me to remember again that gift. I suspect that my
memory is triggered by echoes of the voice placing that
Christmas Eve telephone call to San Clemente.
I hear those echoes in the pledge of President Clinton to
bring us together. To reconcile rich and poor, black and
white, old and young, and to realize fully the intrinsic
value of every citizen. If he fulfills that pledge, the
Clinton years in Washington will bear the hallmarks of comity
and compassion that were the emblems of the life of the
lamentably late Hubert H. Humphrey.
____
[From the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Apr. 23, 1994]
A Memorable Whistle-Stop Tour in 1952
(By Bob von Sternberg)
On a golden, autumn day long ago, the candidate whistle-
stopped across Minnesota, lashing and slashing at his
Democratic opponents from the back of his campaign train,
wise-cracking with deliriously adoring Republican supporters.
In was Oct. 23, 1952, one of the first times Richard Nixon
ever visited Minnesota. ``America needs new leadership,'' he
said when the train stopped in Moorhead, telling his
listeners that they would cast a ``vote that may determine
the future of America''.
In a way, they did, helping launch Nixon on his
extraordinary political career, delivering the state to the
Eisenhower-Nixon ticket. Minnesota, where the shadow of
Hubert H. Humphrey still looms so large, may not seen like
Nixon territory. But in the five national elections where
Nixon was on the ballot in this state, he won a majority of
Minnesota's votes three times.
And elections were the usual prism through which
Minnesotans saw Nixon, about two dozen times between 1951 and
1970. Almost always he came in the fall, hustling votes,
beating up on everyone from Harry Truman to Humphrey. After
1970, at the apparent height of his electoral power
Minnesotans' glimpses of Nixon where confirmed to the news
media he so detested.
The first time, he was still a relatively obscure presence,
speaking as a U.S. senator from California on the topic of
law office management. By the next year, a youthful vice-
presidential candidate, he was in full rhetorical flower,
assailing the Democratic gang in Washington, failed farm
programs and the Communists who had enfiltrated U.S. society.
The podium-pounding aside on that whistlestop tour in 1952,
Nixon's visit was accented by touches of outright weirdness,
considering how a few comments eerily foreshadowed his
downfall a generation later.
Some Litchfield residents presented Nixon with butter and
milk products that came from nearby farms. Earlier in the
day, he had been given onions, potatoes and even a bagged
pheasant. ``We're really getting the loot today,'' he told
them.
Later, the man who would be consumed by coverup charges in
the Watergate scandal sneered about the Democratic ticket,
``They're trying to cover up their record.''
The visits continued throughout the 1950s: An appearance at
Turkey Days in Worthington in 1954, grand marshal of the
Minneapolis Aquateunial in 1958, an address to the American
Legion convention the next year.
Minnesotans had again supported the GOP ticket in 1956. In
1960, when Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy by a hairbreadth
nationwide, his losing margin in Minnesota was a scant 22,000
votes out of more than 1.5 million cast. He paid two visits
to the state during that campaign.
During the early '60s, when Nixon was widely seen as a
spent political force, he included Minnesota on his itinerary
of almost perpetual public speaking nationwide: the
Svenskarnusdag celebration in 1961, Shakopee in 1965, a pair
of visits in 1966. Considering the anti-crime rhetoric of
1994, a 1967 speech has a peculiar resonance: ``Judges have
gone too far in weakening the peace forces against the
criminal forces.'' The crowd filling the old Minneapolis
Auditorium erupted in cheers.
On April 20, 1968, Nixon mocked Lyndon Johnson's
announcement three weeks earlier that he wouldn't run for re-
election. ``I shall not seek and I shall not accept the
nomination for vice president, he cracked.
In October, barely a month before his showdown with native
son Humphrey, Nixon was washed in the cheers of 10,000
Minnesota Republicans, again at the auditorium. ``Just think,
Dick Nixon getting this kind of reception in what is supposed
to be Hubert Humphrey's Minnesota,'' he crowed. His speech
took aim at big-spending Democrats: ``It's time for the
spenders in Washington to begin thinking about the savers in
the country.'' And at anti-war protesters: ``The American
flag is not going to be a doormat for anybody when we get
into office.''
As it turned out, Humphrey thumped Nixon handily in
Minnesota, 857,738 to 658,643, even as he lost the election.
The last visit came two years later, in 1970, as he
campaigned one more time against Humphrey, who was running
against Rep. Clark MacGregor for a Senate seat. Nixon had
been on a weeklong Midwest midterm election campaign swing,
and his reception in Rochester was the warmest of the trip.
On Oct. 30, the lifelong professional football fan charmed
the crowd at the Mayo Civic Auditorium, telling them he was
``glad to be in the land of the Vikings.'' He never mentioned
Humphrey's name, saying he came to Minnesota ``not to speak
against anybody.''
Protesters, though not many, dogged the appearance. One
displayed a sign that mocked his first inaugural. ``Bring us
together,'' it said, at a time when the nation was bitterly
divided. Another sign, one that would be seen with increasing
frequency during the next four years, said simply, ``Impeach
Nixon.''
Humphrey went on to win and return to the Senate, and
MacGregor went on to run the Committee to ReElect the
President (CREEP), the nest that hatched Watergate.
____
[From the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Apr. 23, 1994]
Minnesotans Who Knew Him Recall Man of Contradictions
(By Kevin Deckschere)
Minnesotans who knew Richard Nixon remembered him Friday
night as a man of contradictions, who excelled at the game of
statecraft even while he struggled--sometimes painfully--with
the demands of modern American politics.
Maurice Stans, 86, who was born in Shakopoee, was Nixon's
chief fundraiser in two of his three presidential campaigns.
He was Nixon's secretary of commerce from 1969 to 1972.
Nixon ``was a man of great ambition, and the only real
handicap in his way was that he was essentially an
introverted person. That was one of the hardest things he had
to overcome.''
Former Minnesota Gov. Elmer L. Anderson, who rode with
Nixon on a campaign train from Moorhead to Minneapolis in
1960 said Nixon was very able and smart ``but very cold. I
don't think people warmed up to him . . . I don't think his
life is one to be admired. . . . It was one that was
difficult and excruciating.''
But U.S. Court of Appeals Judge George MacKinnon, 88, a
longtime Minnesota Republican whom Nixon appointed to the
federal bench in 1969, said his old friend was very
personable--and terribly bright.
He remembered siting next to Nixon on the House Labor
Committee in 1947, when both were new members of Congress.
Every time Nixon quizzed a witness, MacKinnon said, ``he
had something different and important to inquire about. He
had a tremendous intellect and foresight into problems. He
impressed everybody.''
MacKinnon was less taken with another freshman member of
the committee, John Kennedy: ``He wasn't there very often. He
was down in Palm Beach.''
Nixon's greatest achievement in the White House was the
opening to China, most agreed. But former U.S. Sen. Eugene
McCarthy, a Democrat who opposed Nixon most of his career,
said Nixon's enemies list was a more serious offense than the
Watergate scandal.
``It was much closer to being an impeachable act. Watergate
was kind of a marginal, mixed-up thing.'' McCarthy said.
Asked how he would rank Nixon among recent presidents,
McCarthy chuckled. ``I don't know how you'd rank him. The
last half-century hasn't been a very high ranking crowd,
aside from Harry Truman, you know.''
Stans said that Watergate was the result of Nixon's desire
to defend his associates, rather than an effort to obstruct
justice. But he said the former president admitted that it
was a mistake ``It got past him on his blind side and, as he
said later he blew it. He recognized that,'' Stans said.
For Clark MacGregor, a former Minnesota member of Congress
who headed Nixon's reelection campaign in 1972, Watergate is
still an unsettling memory.
``When he asked me to succeed John Mitchell [as campaign
manager], he assured me that no senior person in his
administration had anything to do with Watergate. That was
some 10 days after he had already begun to orchestrate the
coverup,'' MacGregor said.
``He'll go down in history as perhaps one of the most
farsighted presidents in terms of foreign policy, but
tragically he had almost a paranoia about those he deemed to
be his enemies in politics.''
Stans called Nixon ``the most farseeing president we've had
in this century with the possible exception of Woodrow
Wilson,'' The last time he saw Nixon, he said, was at the
party Nixon threw Jan. 20 at his presidential library to
celebrate the 25th anniversary of his first inauguration.
``He appeared to be in good spirits and good health. He
looked much better than he had some months earlier when his
wife, Pat, was buried at the same place,'' he said.
Minnesota Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III, son of
Nixon's opponent in the 1968 presidential race, said that
there was a closing to the stormy relationship between Hubert
Humphrey and Nixon before his father died.
``My father had a WATS line and he was making calls all
over the country. One of the people he called was Mr. Nixon.
It was at that time that he invited him to his lying in state
in Washington,'' Humphrey said.
Watergate symbolized the end of closed government in the
United States, he said. But, he added, ``I've thought through
what this person has meant to me and meant to the political
life of this country and here was a man who went into the
fray, created some of the fray, but in his heart, he really
wanted what was best for the country.''
Staff writer Anne O'Connor contributed to this article.
[From the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Apr. 23, 1994]
The Mark He Made
``Today, the world mourns the loss of a great champion of
democratic ideals who dedicated his life to the cause of
world peace. For millions, Richard Nixon was truly one of the
finest statesmen this world has ever seen.''--Former
President Ronald Reagan.
``There were very few people who tried as much and were as
successful in as many initiatives as he was in a relatively
short period of time.''--Sen. Dave Durenberger, R-Minn.
``Past differences are now history. I wish him God's care
and peace.''--Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker, who as a
Republican member of the Senate Watergate Committee often
took sides against the GOP president.
He was ``the ablest man to hold the presidency since World
War II.''--Former Michigan Gov. George Romney, who campaigned
against Nixon for the 1965 GOP nomination.
``He will always be remembered for the disgrace that he
brought to the presidency. But I will say to his credit he
contributed much in his later years. His knowledge on foreign
policy, primarily, was invaluable to the last three
presidents. I think that in many respects he was trying to
make amends and did some worthwhile work in the last years of
his life.''--Rep. Tim Penny, D-Minn.
``His contribution to the ending years of the Cold War and
the pursuit of peace will be recognized and remarked on for
generations to come.''--Former Sen. Howard Baker, the
Tennessee Republican who was ranking minority member of the
Senate Watergate Committee.
``All in all, people are going to look back and say
Watergate, the resignation, a lot of these things were bad
and shouldn't have happened. I think history will, with a few
exceptions, say that this man made a difference. You add all
that up and he comes out ahead.''--Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan.
``I always thought that President Nixon would go down in
history as one of the best presidents. . . . He was saddled
with Watergate, but I think history will treat him better
than his contemporaries or peers did.''--Rep. Rod Grams, R-
Minn.
``Some of these days when Watergate becomes a footnote in
history . . . and when the Nixon-haters in the press are all
gone . . . Richard Nixon will go down as one of the great
presidents in history.''--Earl Butz, agriculture secretary
under Nixon and Gerald Ford.
____________________