Forty two years and counting
our classmate Senator Edward M. Kennedy
thank you very much, and George
George Abrams
I don't think we could have had a class of nineteen fifty four if we didn't have George Abrams
I will tell you
he has been so devoted to this the class over so many years and I think
those that have been closely associated with it
the know it and he's been a dear and valued friend
he's been such a dear and valued friend that he's put me on the last, I'm the last speaker that
you have
and I'm the last speaker before happy hour
and I don't know what it was
put me on at five minutes to five here but in any event
I thank you George I know I did something to you back there in those times
years ago but
I have
he's been a dear and valued friend he and Mada
have been such dear friends to me
and I thank him for all he has done
for when he came to the United States senate was the chairman of our refugee committee that
did so
impressive work down there and has been so devoted to
this great celebration, really a pleasure to be with George
let me
say a
word about my colleagues I've
added up and it's been a pleasure to have served and continue to serve with
all of them. I did my math among us we've clocked a total of a hundred and eight years
in the senate and house of representatives and
Connecticut good neighbor Nancy Johnson is a republican power in the house
these days, it's always a pleasure to be with her
and Tony Beilenson and I were both elected at the age of thirty
he was the pioneer of the environmental issues
on family planning
national
health service
his son
he is a leader on these that issues in a
the leading a great city, has been selected as the outstanding public servant
so he's not only had a great career myself
but he's inspired another generation so
it's a pleasure to be with Tony.
David Boehm was a voice of reason on civil rights but it wasn't easy
a pleasure to be with him.
But it is a special place to be with the an old friend a very dear friend
and
but John Culver and I have been vast friends for
of some fifty years he helped me get started in the united states
senate
after that went back
to Iowa, elected the
to the congress of the united states then to the united states the senate
and in many ways the most enjoyable years I spent in congress were the sixteen
great years that we served together and I wish he was still there.
John
as
George mentioned, wrote a brilliant book
on Henry Wallace
I thought it deserved a Pulitzer prize
it is just the a very very special historical
document that is a great addition and help in understanding
an extraordinary period of time in American history
John I
as you remember particularly with regard to John
had been a good football friends on campus and
we made a good team in the senate, John was the fullback carrying the
ball grinding out the yardage on the field later on the issues
shaking off republican tacklers
I was the left end
which everyone thought was where I learned my political philosophy
so, but thank you John
it's good to be here with the class of fifty four and an article
in yesterday's Boston globe mentioned that
a pretty good case could be made for the class
as the Harvard’s greatest class, sounds good to me,
the globe
the globe article also referred to a
certain class poll that
asked extraordinary personal and interesting questions about
the reading habits
and shall we say lifestyle
of the members of the class.
I was interested to know that we read an average
of seventeen books a year
and that
four percent
of the class
has a more interesting personal life
than ever before
well done class! well done!
fifty years so much has
changed in government and politics but so much as the stayed the same
especially the power of the nation's ideals
to attract talented men and women
to public life.
I find the senate is every bit as inspiring to me today as it was
in nineteen sixty two
the key to enacting
progressive legislation is very simple
ninety percent of it is hard work
and the other fifty percent
is Irish luck
I learned early from my brothers and from my grandfather, the Boston mayor,
that the best way to meet a challenge
is to see an opportunity
and the miracle in Philadelphia in seventeen eighty seven
makes it possible to treat every challenge that way
we may not always live up to those ideals but it's endlessly gratifying that so
many in each new generation are so eager to try
and it's also gratifying that Harvard and the school of government named for my brother
and it's institute of politics
are at the heart but that effort
you learn very quickly that young men and women
are ready to sign on
for community and public service
if only somebody asked them
Harvard asked
and the response has been truly extraordinary
I've been in the united states senate for nearly forty two years that
is not quite the fifty-year milestone that we celebrate today for the class
of fifty four but it’s a lot longer than I ever would have contemplated
when I first entered public life
and during those forty two years I've served under nine
presidents four democrats five republicans
one of those presidents, my brother Jack, was also a Harvard man and
his administration was filled with Harvard men
and women including my brother Bob as an attorney general
and from where I sit those were extraordinary days in our nation's history and I'm so proud
and honored
to have been a part of them.
Throughout its history
throughout its history the senate has and by and large been
an extraordinary collegial place
and with fierce opponents debating an issue on the senate floor and then working together
to pass the legislation the next day
even in the fiercely partisan time during the Clinton administration you could still find
that
kind of
collegiality.
I remember
one time when I was going to offer the minimum wage
legislation, increase in the minimum wage
it's a legislation that was sponsored by
Senator Murkowski that was going to
increase the national parks
in communities around the country
and I went up to our leaders and to Daschle and
I said you know
Senator Murkowski said that if I didn't
offer the amendment on the increase in the minimum wage
he would put
my
parks, new national park which was new Bedford
which is the home of the Melville in the great whaling tradition deserve on its
merits to be included in it
but if I offered the minimum wage he would not include it
I told them
I said I'm still going to offer the minimum wage
so I offered it we were defeated
and they call the roll
and the bill
carried and Senator Murkowski came up to me and said
well Senator Kennedy don't feel too bad about that
because I left yours
but left out one of Bob Dole's who's the majority leader
so it really wasn't partisan
because I left out his and left out yours
so I said well that helps out a lot and I thank you very much
so they finish with the a roll call and the senate wound up and I was
cleaning up my desk and I saw
Bob dole sitting over there
and that I said to Bob dole I said
oh what a about
another parks bill, national parks bill
he said what have you got mind
I say yours and mine
he was the majority leader at that time
he said
will Daschle clear that?
absolutely.
because Daschle knew
that I could have gotten mine in but as a matter of
principle that I hadn't offered that thing
he said
draft it up
it passed in the next fifteen minutes his bill
his park and mine
the most interesting
it went to the conference
and when it got to the conference
there were those
with all deference to
my colleague here, republicans
that said okay we'll take Dole's
but we won't take yours
and dole said no
we went in together and we're coming back together
now that was collegiality
even though we differed with Bob dole on ninety percent
that would no more happen today
that kind of working together that kind of understanding
that kind of
opportunity just doesn't exist.
it's become a cliché to suggest that collegiality is gone
and partisanship rules the day
but I don't think that tells the entire story
there's still time, for it's possible to reach across the aisle to accomplish something good
for the American people, I had great hopes
for the no child left behind legislation but those opportunities are harder to find
in any election season.
there is also a more personal tone in disagreements these days
Until a few years ago no Senator would ever dream of going to the floor
to mention another Senator by name
without first notifying that Senator in advance
thus the notified senator had the opportunity to sit on the floor
the hear the other Senator take him to task
and usually in the quite
polite terms, the gentleman from Massachusetts,
and the like
without question the tone of the speeches was much milder
when you had to look the opposing Senator
in the eye.
I recall that just a few years ago a republican Senator went to the floor to challenge and
contradict
one of Senator Bob Byrd’s statements
and he mentioned
Senator Byrd by name without first notifying
and as the informal historian and keeper of the senate tradition
Bob Byrd was livid at the breach of senate procedure
he ran to the floor to excoriate the offending Senator
for failing to notify in advance and by the end of the episode the republican Senator was
publicly apologizing to Senator Byrd
and the substantive issue of disagreement faded in the background
well the issue a protocol breached took
the center stage
unfortunately for the senate however
that sense of protocol is today honored more often in the breach
perhaps not as it relates to Senator Byrd but certainly as it relates to the ninety
nine
other members of the senate
this aggressive and personal partisanship was not as evident
even ten years ago.
for example when Mitt Romney challenged me in nineteen ninety four he asked Orrin Hatch
certainly a fierce republican partisan, to come to Massachusetts to campaign for him
but Orrin was on the ranking member of the health committee and I was the chairman and Orrin
refused to come in to Massachusetts
to campaign against me
collegiality particularly on our committee
trumped partisanship
contrast that with what we see today
in just this last month the senate majority leader Bill Friske went to south Dakota
to actively campaign against the minority leader
Tom Daschle
that is a dramatic and unprecedented move that certainly does nothing
to advance the collegiality.
for nearly the entire history of the senate collegiality didn't stop at the party line
but after some seat change
you're beginning to see that collegiality is going to join the ranks
of hand written letters
soon to be considered a quaint old-fashioned custom
this decrease in collegiality is not in my judgment the result of having any particular
party
in control
I think it is partly the result of twenty four hour news cycles
in which talk radio and TV personalities keep ratings up
by engaging in strident and aggressively personal attacks
on politicians
and that tone then spreads to discourse
on capitol hill
I certainly know something
about throwing a little partisan red meat
but I'm talking about something different from that
it's more of a take-no-prisoners approach
to government
that I do not believe is in the best interest of the American people
another reason for the changed tone of the senate I believe is that today many more members
come to the senate
from the house of representatives
and the house has a very different set of rules and atmosphere then you have historically
found in the senate
my colleagues from the house can speak more directly to this but the party line voting
and the all-or-nothing philosophy
it permeates the house of representatives
has not been a part of the senate dynamic
until very recently
believe it or not this is also the first time in the entire fifty years
since the graduation of the class of fifty four
that the republican party has been in control of both the white house and the senate
and the house of representatives
and an overwhelming majority of the federal judiciary
has been appointed
by the republican administration
often in those fifty years democrats had control
but on those occasions it was never a significant strain on the system
of checks and balances because democratic unity is such an unusual phenomenon
as the saying goes
we tend to line up in a circle
when we try to form a firing squad
the checks and balances
are less effective when the party in control is more monolithic
the only real check on a bad idea today
it's a filibuster in the senate
the challenge is especially serious when the pressure from the right is so determined
to extend its control to the judicial branch of the government
as well
fortunately we have an election every two years they can restore
the balance when the strain is too severe
I think of Winston Churchill often these days
Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried
from time to time
if it could transform thirteen tiny quarreling colonies
into a free nation two hundred years ago
if it could transform Europe and Japan after world war two
and bring down the Berlin Wall as well
it can also produced good to the many challenges
that we face today at home and around the world.
I'm an optimist though,
I like to think that the times are auspicious,
that we can tap into the wave of new hope and commitments stirring in the country now
after the very moving dedication of the world war two memorial a week ago
the sixtieth anniversary of D-DAY
we are all in this together
the greed
the special interests
the petty partisan passions
the poison politics
can't endlessly stop an idea
who's time has come.
again Churchill said it best, America will do the right thing
after it's tried everything else
legislating is not exactly
instant gratification
in the sixties as a young Senator I was drawn to the issue of civil rights education and
health care
and I still am
and Harvard’s been an indispensable resource
you can assemble the best minds on any issue
and then try to form a coalition of the willing to fight for it.
usually you have to sustain some losses and then regroup
we you can come back to fight again
most of the real gains and policies happen that way
incrementally
nothing happens if you let the best
become the enemy of the good
we've been struggling for two hundred years to fulfill the promise of equal opportunity
for all
the year the class of fifty four graduated was the year of the modern revolution in
civil rights began
with the landmark school desegregation decision
by the supreme court
we've made progress since then
but we know that civil rights is still the unfinished business
of America
in education we began to argue in congress the sixties about aid
to low-income students and high poverty districts
and we still are
and today we continue those battles and higher education we still have glaring
inequalities
and qualified low-income students only a quarter is likely to attend college as the more
qualified but wealthy as equally qualified or no more
qualified than
but wealthier fellow students the GI bill for the world war two generation
wasn't early giant step
but we still have miles to go to close the gap
The president
has announced an enormously interesting innovative program
that any child that is basically in the bottom third
of the economic income but is able to meet the criteria are the standards here at
Harvard before the income from forty thousand dollars less
will not
have to pay
the tuition
leading
advance and in terms of colleges
that challenge other colleges across this country
health care policy is never easy either
in nineteen fifty four we were just a few years away from Harry Truman’s
unsuccessful effort to enact universal health care
still hasn't happened
even though every other industrial nation the world did it
years ago, made health care
a fundamental right for all
we shouldn't be going it alone
on foreign policy
and we shouldn't be pretending
on health care that everyone is out of step
but Uncle Same. let me
when my brother Jack was in congress and senate
in the nineteen forties and fifties the senate would recess
in June
for the rest of the year
some members spent more time on the links of the burning tree country club
than on the floor the united states senate
but with the seriousness of the issues on civil rights and the war in Vietnam the senate
changed
to a five-day week
twelve month calendar with some votes
being held between Christmas and new year's day
the challenges facing the country
were too important to ignore
the time in actual session is shorter now
we don't get out in June but votes usually only take place between Tuesdays and Thursdays
there are many more recesses than there used to be and they are longer
but the problems that we're facing in our country are as great
as or greater than at any time in our nation's history
and I believe that we will rise
to meet them
it took Lyndon Johnson’s landslide in nineteen sixty four
to make Medicare happen in nineteen sixty five
and a John Kerry landslide in two thousand four
might just be what the doctor ordered for two thousand five
thank you very much