[Senate Document 107-2]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Doc. 107-2
Memorial Tributes and Addresses
HELD IN THE SENATE AND
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES
TOGETHER WITH MEMORIAL SERVICES
IN EULOGY OF ALAN CRANSTON
Late a Senator from California
One Hundred Seventh Congress
First Session
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2001
Compiled under the direction
of the
Joint Committee on Printing
CONTENTS
Biography.............................................
v
Proceedings in the Senate:
Tributes by Senators:
Biden, Joseph R., Jr., of Delaware.............
18
Bingaman, Jeff, of New Mexico..................
11
Boxer, Barbara, of California..................
7
Byrd, Robert C., of West Virginia..............
5
Cleland, Max, of Georgia.......................
15, 32
Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota..................
23
Daschle, Thomas A., of South Dakota............
34
Dorgan, Byron L., of North Dakota..............
14
Durbin, Richard J., of Illinois................
35
Feinstein, Dianne, of California...............
3
Harkin, Tom, of Iowa...........................
23
Hollings, Ernest F., of South Carolina.........
16
Hutchison, Kay Bailey, of Texas................
10
Kennedy, Edward M., of Massachusetts...........
27
Kerry, John F., of Massachusetts...............
29
Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
17
Murkowski, Frank H., of Alaska.................
15
Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
7, 11
Rockefeller, John D., IV, of West Virginia.....
19
Sarbanes, Paul S., of Maryland.................
13
Proceedings in the House of Representatives:
Tributes by Representatives:
Baca, Joe, of California.......................
39
Dreier, David, of California...................
45
Farr, Sam, of California.......................
41
Filner, Bob, of California.....................
43
Harman, Jane, of California....................
37
Honda, Mike, of California.....................
42
Kucinich, Dennis J., of Ohio...................
47
Lantos, Tom, of California.....................
38
Napolitano, Grace F., of California............
37
Schiff, Adam, of California....................
40
Waxman, Henry A., of California................
46
Woolsey, Lynn C., of California................
44
Memorial Services:
Memorial Service, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco:..
51
Biden, Joseph, U.S. Senator from Delaware......
61
Cranston, Colette Penne........................
54
Cranston, Kim..................................
56
Davis, Gray, Governor of California............
59
Goodall, Jane, Primatologist...................
69
Granoff, Jonathan, CEO, Global Security
Institute.....................................
71
Hormel, James, former U.S. Ambassador to
Luxembourg....................................
66
Jones, Rev. Alan, Dean, Grace Cathedral........
53, 73
Lilienthal, Sally, president, Ploughshares Fund
64
Reynoso, Cruz, former Justice, California
Supreme Court.................................
70
Turnage, William, former president, Wilderness
Society.......................................
65
Turner, Ted, Founder, CNN......................
63
Wofford, Harris, former U.S. Senator from
Pennsylvania..................................
67
Memorial Tribute, Hart Office Building:............
75
Anderson, John B., former U.S. Representative
from Illinois.................................
96
Boxer, Barbara, U.S. Senator from California...
92
Cantwell, Maria, U.S. Senator from Washington..
106
Cleland, Max, , U.S. Senator from Georgia......
80
Cranston, Kim..................................
108
Feinstein, Dianne, U.S. Senator from California
87
Kennedy, Edward M., U.S. Senator from
Massachusetts.................................
90
Kerry, John F., U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
102
Miller, George, U.S. Representative from
California....................................
99
Montgomery, G.V. (Sonny), former U.S.
Representative from Mississippi...............
95
Simpson, Alan K., former U.S. Senator from
Wyoming.......................................
83
Steinberg, Judge
Jonathan ....
79, 82, 86, 89, 92, 94, 96, 99, 102, 106,
108, 110
BIOGRAPHY
Alan MacGregor Cranston was born on June 19, 1914, in
Palo Alto, California, to William MacGregor Cranston and
Carol (Dixon) Cranston, both of Scottish descent. Alan
Cranston and his sister Eleanor grew up in Los Altos,
where their father was in the real estate business.
At Mountain View Union High School in Los Altos, Mr.
Cranston was on the football and track teams, edited the
yearbook, and wrote articles for the school newspaper.
After graduating in 1932 he studied at Pomona College in
Claremont, California, for a year. He then spent a summer
term at the University of Mexico before enrolling the
following year at Stanford University, where he majored in
English. Discussions with campus friends about the
Depression, the New Deal, and the rise of nazism in
Germany had an important influence in shaping his ideas.
His keen interest in journalism led him to work as a
reporter for small-town newspapers during college
vacations.
After obtaining his B.A. degree from Stanford in 1936,
Mr. Cranston joined the staff of the International News
Service. From 1936 to 1938 he served in England, Germany,
Italy, and Ethiopia as a foreign correspondent. He
returned to the United States in 1939 and settled in New
York City, where he contributed articles to the American
Mercury and the New York Times Book Review and lectured on
such topics as the dangers of American isolationism, the
looming war, and the threat of fascism.
Having read the original of Adolf Hitler's ``Mein
Kampf'' in Germany, Mr. Cranston discovered that the
version then being distributed in the United States had
been edited to delete passages that might alert Americans
and the world to the threat of nazism. He prepared a
brochure, an abridged version with anti-Nazi explanatory
notes, and sold it for 10 cents a copy. The brochure,
published by the Noram Publishing Company in 1939, sold
500,000 copies before Hitler's agents got it banned by
American courts for copyright infringement.
In 1939 Mr. Cranston moved to Washington, D.C., where he
worked until 1941 as a representative of the Common
Council for American Unity, an organization whose
objective was to exercise a liberalizing influence on
legislation. After the United States entered World War II,
he joined the staff of the Office of War Information. He
served there for 2 years, from 1942 to 1944, as Chief of
the Foreign Language Division. It was partly as a result
of Mr. Cranston's efforts that Italian citizens in the
United States were removed from classification as enemy
aliens. A post-war Italian premier later suggested that it
was that act of friendship toward Italians that helped to
expedite Italy's decision to make peace with the Allies.
Mr. Cranston is also credited with the idea of having an
American town renamed Lidice in memory of the
Czechoslovakian town wiped out by the Germans in 1942. In
response, the Czech-American townspeople of Stern Park
Gardens, Illinois, renamed their town Lidice.
In 1944 Mr. Cranston enlisted in the U.S. Army as a
private and was assigned to an infantry unit in the United
States. Later he served as editor of Army Talk and co-
authored a pamphlet entitled ``Fascism.'' Discharged as a
sergeant in 1945, Mr. Cranston returned to Washington with
the determination to devote his efforts to world peace and
international organization. His book, ``The Killing of the
Peace'' (Viking Press, 1945), is an account of events from
1916 to 1923 that led to the defeat of the League of
Nations, with emphasis on the role of the United States.
The New York Times selected it as one of the 10 best books
of 1945.
Mr. Cranston had a pioneering role in the world
federalist movement that evolved after World War II with
the advocacy of the formation of a Federal union of
nations. He directed the executive committee of Americans
United for World Government and in 1945 took part in the
Conference on World Government in Dublin, New Hampshire,
which was attended by 30 writers, editors, lawyers,
educators, and others dedicated to the quest for peace. At
that conference he was assigned the task of presenting to
U.N. delegates, who met in London in February 1946, the
``Dublin Declaration,'' which proposed the transformation
of the U.N. General Assembly into a world legislature with
``limited but definite and adequate power for the
prevention of war.'' During that period Mr. Cranston
served as chairman of a world government conference at
Princeton, New Jersey, and in 1945-46 he was executive
secretary of the Council for American-Italian Affairs,
Inc.
In early 1947 he returned to California, where he
embarked on a successful career in real estate. He became
the head of Ames-Cranston Co., a Palo Alto firm founded by
his father. He later became president of Homes for a
Better America, a Los Angeles building company, and vice
president of the Carlsberg Financial Corporation, a Los
Angeles land investment firm.
Meanwhile, Americans United for World Government and
five other organizations merged in February 1947 to form
the United World Federalists, Inc., and Mr. Cranston was
elected head of the new organization's San Francisco
chapter. He later became chairman of its Northern
California branch. In 1949 the national executive council
of the United World Federalists unanimously elected Mr.
Cranston its national president. He served until 1952 and
continued to serve for years as 1 of 12 honorary vice
presidents of the United World Federalists.
An active Democrat, Mr. Cranston was a founder of the
California Democratic Council, a federation of local
Democratic clubs formed to revitalize the party after its
defeat in the 1952 presidential election. He became the
first president of the council in 1953 and served until
1958. In his first bid for public office, Mr. Cranston
successfully ran for Controller of the State of California
in 1958, becoming the first Democrat to hold that office
in 72 years. He was elected to a second 4-year term in
1962.
Mr. Cranston entered the U.S. Senate race in 1964 in
view of the ill health of incumbent Democratic Senator
Clair Engle of California. He lost the Democratic
nomination to Pierre Salinger, former White House press
secretary. In the Republican landslide of 1966, Mr.
Cranston was defeated in his bid for a third term as
Controller, although he received 47 percent of the vote.
He again entered the race for a Senate seat in 1968 and
won. Identifying himself with minority groups and the
poor, Mr. Cranston called for ``justice through equal
opportunity for all regardless of race, religion, or
class.'' He asked for ``peace and security on the
streets,'' and for ``an immediate and unconditional halt
of the bombing'' of North Vietnam, but rejected demands
for unilateral withdrawal of American forces before an
``honorable peace'' was achieved. He advocated replacement
of the military draft by a volunteer army and called for a
sweeping reform of taxation on the Federal, State, and
local levels.
At the opening of the 91st Congress in January 1969,
Senator Cranston was assigned to the Committee on Labor
and Public Welfare (later Human Resources). He was
Chairman of its Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee and a
member of its Subcommittees on Employment, Manpower, and
Poverty; Health; Labor; and Migratory Labor. He later
served as Chairman of its Subcommittee on Child and Human
Development. He also served throughout his 24 years on the
Banking and Currency Committee (later Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs) and its Subcommittees on Housing and
Urban Affairs (later becoming its Chairman in 1987);
International Finance; Production and Stabilization; and
Securities. He served on the Veterans' Affairs Committee
from its inception in 1971 and became its Chairman in
1977. Beginning in 1981, he served on the Foreign
Relations Committee and chaired its Subcommittee on East
Asian and Pacific Affairs. He also served on the Budget
Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the
Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs.
He began his first term supporting legislation on such
subjects as agriculture, conservation, voting rights, the
environment, employment and training, poverty, children,
health care, women's rights, and improved veterans'
benefits. He opposed the controversial antiballistic
missile system, and gained a reputation for being a
liberal Democrat identified with the cause of world peace
and the struggle for human rights on many fronts. A
hallmark of his legislative approach was to work with a
Republican Senator in a bipartisan effort, for example, on
veterans' issues. As Democratic Whip for a record 12
years, he was a leader in seeking to improve relations
between the United States and the Soviet Union and
advocated establishing formal diplomatic relations with
the People's Republic of China while working to ensure the
security of Taiwan.
[Mr. Cranston's Senate record is summarized under ``A
Legislative Legacy'' and may be found on page 112.]
He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party
nomination for President in 1983, campaigning principally
on three issues: nuclear arms control, improved U.S.-
Soviet relations, and the economy.
Mr. Cranston served 24 years as Senator, ending in 1992
when he chose not to seek a fifth term after he was
diagnosed as having prostate cancer. During much of his
Senate career, he focused on civil rights, the
environment, and veterans' issues, but the centerpiece of
his agenda was nuclear arms control, a goal that in
retirement led him to join former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev as chairman of a San Francisco-based think tank
called the Gorbachev Foundation USA, which was dedicated
to nuclear disarmament. He later became president of the
Global Security Institute, which he founded. The
Institute's most important accomplishment was to put
together, as part of a new coalition of groups called
Project Abolition, the Appeal for Reasonable Security,
which calls for nuclear abolition and steps toward that
end, and was signed, at Mr. Cranston's urging, by
President Jimmy Carter, Paul Nitze, General Charles
Horner, and other dignitaries. The appeal will be
circulated by Project Abolition as the foundation of a
wider nuclear abolition campaign in the United States in
the future.
He married Geneva McMath in 1940. They had two sons,
Robin MacGregor and Kim Christopher. Mr. Cranston's first
marriage ended in divorce, and he married Norma Weintraub
in 1978. His eldest son Robin was killed in a traffic
accident in 1980. The second marriage also ended in
divorce.
To the end of his life, Mr. Cranston pursued his twin
passions of arms control and environmental protection. He
also kept active in California politics by running the
Committee for a Democratic Consensus, which raised funds
for candidates. Shortly before his death, Mr. Cranston
completed a book entitled ``The Sovereignty Resolution.''
Mr. Cranston is survived by his sister Eleanor, who
wrote a biography ``Cranston, the Senator from
California''; his son Kim and Kim's wife Colette; and a
granddaughter Evan--all residing in Los Altos Hills,
California.
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES AND
ADDRESSES
FOR
ALAN CRANSTON
Proceedings in the Senate
Thursday, January 4, 2001
TRIBUTE TO FORMER CALIFORNIA SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, this past weekend, our
Nation lost one of its finest public servants with the
passing of former California Senator Alan Cranston.
Senator Cranston served California well, and our hearts
and thoughts go to his son Kim and the rest of his family
at this difficult time.
Senator Cranston holds the distinction of being the only
Democrat in our State's history to win four terms to the
U.S. Senate, serving 24 years.
Born in Palo Alto, California, in 1914, Alan Cranston
was a tireless champion for peace, justice and human
rights. He was also a steadfast advocate for the poor and
oppressed.
Senator Cranston was educated at Stanford University
where he excelled as both a student and athlete. After
graduating, Senator Cranston worked as a correspondent for
the International News Service and then served his Nation
well in the U.S. Army in World War II.
In 1939, Alan Cranston edited the first unexpurgated
English translation of Adolf Hitler's ``Mein Kampf''
published in the United States in an effort to alert
Americans to the dangers of the Third Reich.
In fact, Senator Cranston had the very unique experience
of being sued by Hitler for copyright violation for his
work on this editing project and--in true Alan Cranston
form--he wore this as a badge of honor and demonstrated
that he would stand up to anyone in pursuit of Democratic
principles and ideals.
His first service in elected office was when he won his
race for California State Controller in 1962. He then ran
successfully for the Senate in 1968 and was elected seven
times as Party Whip.
He was called by many as one of the best ``nose
counters'' in the Senate. My esteemed colleague and former
Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd said of Senator
Cranston, ``He is absolutely superb when it comes to
knowing how the votes will fall in place on a given
issue.''
Senator Cranston also was a strong leader in an effort
to protect our environment. I am proud to say that he was
the original author of the Desert Protection Act, and he
called me shortly after I won election to the Senate in
1992 to ask me if I would take over the effort to get the
bill approved. In 1994, we amended the bill a number of
times but were able to get it passed and make the
legislation a reality.
This landmark measure created two new national parks--
Death Valley and Joshua Tree--and one national preserve--
the Mojave. In total, the measure has permanently saved
and protected over 7 million acres of pristine California
desert wilderness for all time.
As Thomas Jefferson said in 1809 that ``the care of
human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is
the first and only legitimate object of good government,''
it appears to me that Senator Cranston demonstrated this
view with strong and forceful advocacy of arms control.
In the Senate, Alan Cranston played a leading role in
moving the SALT and START Arms Control Treaties through
this body, and he drafted the first bill to eliminate
funding for the Vietnam War.
In 1983, Alan Cranston said that ending the arms race
would be the paramount goal of his run for the Presidency.
That effort was not successful, but his effort to promote
an honest dialog on this issue grew, and he continued to
work toward a more peaceful planet right up until the time
of his death.
In 1996, he became chairman of the Gorbachev Foundation
USA based in San Francisco, founded by former Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev and devoted to nuclear
disarmament.
More recently, he served as president of the Global
Security Institute, a think tank devoted to the same end.
The Institute recently persuaded more than 100
international civilian leaders, including 44 former
Presidents and Prime Ministers, to sign onto its nuclear
weapon elimination initiative.
Signators included former President Jimmy Carter, former
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, Nobel Laureates Kenneth
Arrow and Elie Weisel, Coretta Scott King, astronaut Sally
Ride and retired Supreme Allied Commander General Andrew
Goodpaster.
Former Representative Lionel Van Deerlin described
Senator Cranston's devotion to nuclear disarmament well
when he said, ``He's got to be remembered for pioneering,
when the Cold War was still on, limiting the worst weapons
ever conceived.''
In summing up the career of Senator Alan Cranston, I
believe a recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times aptly
sums up his life and his service to our Nation:
[Senator Cranston] toiled in the trenches during a long
political career in behalf of California and world peace.
The value of his efforts and dedication was not fully
appreciated at the time and was overshadowed by his
departure from the Senate. It's that body of work that
should be remembered and celebrated now.
Madam President, our Nation is no doubt a better place
because of Senator Alan Cranston's service, and we will
miss him deeply.
Friday, January 5, 2001
ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, on December 31st the Nation
lost a remarkable man.
At his home in Los Altos, California, lands-end of the
Nation and State he served, Alan Cranston did not witness
the beginning of the new millennium.
It has been said that death is the great leveler. But
Alan Cranston's accomplishments in life have clearly set
him apart.
Nearly seven decades ago, a young American journalist
from California published an unexpurgated version of Adolf
Hitler's ``Mein Kampf,'' ``My Struggle''--revealing, as
few had previously done, the true depth of the danger and
the evil that Hitler embodied. Hitler successfully sued
for copyright violation, and Alan Cranston wore that loss
as a proud badge throughout his life.
After a career in journalism, service in the U.S. Army
during World War II, business, and local politics, Alan
Cranston joined the Members of this U.S. Senate in 1969 by
virtue of his election in the previous November.
Here, Senator Cranston's vision and rich composition of
experiences, talents, and wisdom enriched our Senate
deliberations.
In 1977, when I was elected Senate Democratic Leader,
Senator Cranston won election as Assistant Democratic
Leader, or ``Whip.'' In all his years of working, first as
my proverbial ``right hand'' and, subsequently, as a close
colleague in the Senate leadership when I became President
Pro Tempore, Senator Cranston was a conscientious adjutant
and a congenial friend and partner in numerous legislative
efforts. Unfortunately, words alone cannot adequately
convey the respect in which I held Senator Cranston, nor
the solid appreciation that I felt for Senator Cranston
and for his loyalty, his supreme dedication, his high
purpose, his contributions to the Senate's work through
many years.
He was a fine lieutenant, if I may use that term. He was
always there when I needed him. And many times I said that
he was absolutely the best nose counter that I had ever
seen in the Senate.
But friendship and respect are not always easily forged.
Tragedy makes a bond. In 1980, Senator Cranston was dealt
Fate's glancing blow with the death of a child, a loss of
a promise to the future, when his son Robin Cranston died
in a traffic accident in 1980, at the age of 33. Two years
later, my wife Erma and I were dealt a similar blow with
the death of our grandson, John Michael Moore, in a
traffic accident.
Mr. President, a valedictory is not always sad and it is
fitting that Senator Cranston's final words on this floor
regarding his career be repeated here. On October 8, 1992,
he made these short and poignant remarks:
Mr. President, a Senator from California gets involved
in myriad issues. Just about every issue that exists has
an impact, somehow, in the remarkable State of 30 million
people that I represent. So I have been involved in
countless issues over my time in the Senate.
Most of all, I have dedicated myself to the cause of
peace, and to the environment. In many a sense I believe
that my work on the environment is probably the longest-
lasting work I have accomplished here.
When you deal with a social issue, or a war and peace
issue, or an economic issue, or whatever the results, the
consequences are fleeting. Whatever you accomplish is soon
changed, and often what you have done leads to new
problems that then have to be dealt with.
But when you preserve a wild river, or a wilderness, or
help create a national park, that is forever. That part of
your State, our Nation, is then destined to be there
forever after, as God created it.
I worked with particular dedication over these years,
too, on issues of justice, equal rights, human rights,
civil rights, voting rights, equal opportunity. I worked
for democracy and freedom in my country and in all
countries. I focused particularly on housing, and
transportation, and veterans.
I thank the people of California for the remarkable
opportunity I have had to serve them in the Senate for
almost a quarter of a century.
Today, I along with millions of Americans, thank my
friend, Alan Cranston, for his work, his life, and his
vision.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a
piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be
washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if
a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or
of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because
I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know
for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
I yield the floor.
AUTHORITY FOR PRINTING OF TRIBUTES
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that
the tributes to Alan Cranston, late Senator of the State
of California, be printed as a Senate document and that
Senators have until Friday, February 9, 2001, to submit
said tributes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Monday, January 22, 2001
SUBMISSION OF CONCURRENT AND SENATE RESOLUTIONS
The following concurrent resolutions and Senate
resolutions were read, and referred (or acted upon), as
indicated:
By Mr. INOUYE:
S. Res. 11. A resolution expressing the sense of the
Senate reaffirming the cargo preference policy of the
United States; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation.
By Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mrs. Feinstein):
S. Res. 12. A resolution relative to the death of Alan
Cranston, former United States Senator for the State of
California; considered and agreed to.
By Mr. DASCHLE (for himself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Leahy,
Mr. Johnson, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Kohl, Mr.
Sarbanes, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Durbin, Mr.
Conrad, Mr. Kerry, Mrs. Carnahan, Mr. Dayton, Mr.
Kennedy, Ms. Stabenow, and Mr. Schumer):
S. Res. 13. A resolution expressing the sense of the
Senate regarding the need for Congress to enact a new farm
bill during the 1st session of the 107th Congress; to the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
SENATE RESOLUTION 12--RELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF ALAN
CRANSTON, FORMER UNITED STATES SENATOR FOR THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA
Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mrs. Feinstein) submitted
the following resolution; which was considered and agreed
to:
S. Res. 12
Whereas Alan MacGregor Cranston had a long and
distinguished career, beginning with service as a foreign
correspondent and continuing with service in the United
States Office of War Information and in the United States
Army;
Whereas Alan Cranston was a leader in his State before
coming to the Congress, serving as State Controller of
California for eight years;
Whereas Alan Cranston served the people of California
with distinction for 24 years in the United States Senate;
Whereas Senator Cranston was a lifelong advocate for
world peace and the defense of democratic institutions;
Whereas Senator Cranston was an unwavering friend of the
environment and California's remarkable natural resources;
Whereas Senator Cranston was a leader in the United
States Senate in many areas, including the fields of
affordable housing, mass transit, veterans affairs, civil
rights and education; and
Whereas Senator Cranston left a lasting legacy in his
post-Senate career through his efforts to curb the spread
of nuclear weapons and to eliminate the scourge of nuclear
weapons from the planet, efforts which continued until the
day he died: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow
and deep regret the announcement of the death of the
Honorable Alan Cranston, former member of the United
States Senate.
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate communicate
these resolutions to the House of Representatives and
transmit an enrolled copy thereof to the family of the
deceased.
Resolved, That when the Senate adjourns or recesses
today, it stand adjourned or recessed as a further mark of
respect to the memory of the Honorable Alan Cranston.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I would like to take this
opportunity to share with the Senate my thoughts on the
life of a friend and former Member of this body, Senator
Alan Cranston.
Alan passed away on December 31, 2000, at 86 at home in
California. It was a quiet end for a man who throughout
his career raised his voice for so many. Alan enjoyed a
long life and was blessed with a keen mind, a strong
spirit and simple common sense. In return for these gifts
he worked to his last days to make this world a more
peaceful and humane place. I will miss him and his example
very much.
Alan was first elected to the Senate in 1968. He served
the people of California in this Chamber for four terms,
eventually retiring in 1993. It was my honor to have been
elected to the seat he vacated.
Prior to his Senate service he was Controller for the
State of California. He served his country in World War
II, first in the Office of War Information and then in the
U.S. Army. After graduating from Stanford University and
before the onset of the war, Alan was an overseas
correspondent for the International News Service, covering
such places as England, Germany, Italy and Ethiopia.
While a correspondent he saw an English language version
of ``Mein Kampf,'' sanitized to hide the truth from
Americans. He published his own version highlighting the
``worst of Hitler'' and was sued by Hitler's publisher.
While he lost the suit, a half a million copies had
already been distributed, helping to educate many about
the true nature of nazism and Hitler.
As U.S. Senator he stood out as a tireless and effective
advocate for his constituents. No matter how he grew in
stature and influence within this institution, he never
forgot those who sent him to Washington and why. Alan
cared deeply for people. He pursued policies that
reflected his unwavering belief in the fundamental dignity
and worth of others.
As Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Alan
played an invaluable role in America's efforts to assist
our servicemen and women and their families. In addition,
he was a national leader on the environment, civil rights,
workers' rights, education and so much more. A consensus
builder, he achieved success through a firm understanding
of the issues and a finely developed sense of not only
what was needed, but what was possible.
Alan left his mark on many issues, but his true passion
was world peace. As a witness to the horror and
devastation of World War II, he committed himself to
creating a world where conflicts between nations could be
resolved without bloodshed. He was an outspoken opponent
of the war in Vietnam and made the abolition of nuclear
weapons a central part of his agenda in the Senate. Upon
his retirement, he devoted himself to the latter cause
almost exclusively.
Encouraged by the end of the Cold War, after leaving the
Senate he became chairman of the Gorbachev Foundation,
which later changed its name to the State of the World
Forum. Based in San Francisco, the Forum has developed
into a widely respected organization for the discussion of
global issues. In recent years, the Forum has hosted
multi-day gatherings attended by world leaders. This
year's gathering occurred in New York and coincided with
the U.N.'s Millennial Summit. As an authority on non-
proliferation, Alan Cranston prepared the program on the
subject for participants who included former Heads of
State and some of the most influential minds in foreign
affairs, business, the arts and the media.
Alan also formed the Global Security Institute. There he
and others conceived of Project Abolition, the Responsible
Security Appeal. The purpose of this coalition is to rally
people, politicians and governments to support policies
that lead to a world safe from the nuclear threat. I am
sure Alan would be pleased that this effort will continue
even without him.
Recently, CNN founder Ted Turner and former Senator Sam
Nunn announced that they were forming a foundation with an
annual budget of $50 million dedicated to the elimination
of weapons of mass destruction. This is great news, and
further evidence that Alan's message of peace continues to
resonate. In many ways, this foundation is a tribute to
him and his legacy.
Senator Alan Cranston was a leader and citizen that
California, the United States and the world could be proud
of. Although we are all a little poorer today at his
passing, in the final tally we are all much richer for
having known him and benefited from his time among us.
I yield the floor.
RELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF ALAN CRANSTON
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of
S. Res. 12 introduced earlier today by Senators Boxer and
Feinstein.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the
resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 12) relative to the death of Alan
Cranston, former United States Senator from the State of
California.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to
consider the resolution.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent
that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc, the
motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any
statements relating to the resolution be printed in the
Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 12) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
TRIBUTE TO FORMER SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, Alan Cranston was here in
the Senate when I first arrived in 1983. He was a staunch
advocate not only for California but also for a host of
progressive policies at the national level. He was
dedicated to protecting the environment, to expanding
voter opportunities for all Americans, to closing the gap
in our society between the rich and the poor. He was a
champion of equal rights for all. He was a foe of bigotry
in all its forms.
Perhaps his greatest passion during the years he served
in the Senate was reducing the threat of nuclear war. He
led the fight for arms control. Even after he left the
Senate, he continued his work and spoke out for arms
control and for the de-alerting of nuclear weapons.
I remember meeting with Alan last year at Ricky's Hyatt
House in Mountain View, California. I was in the Bay area,
and I called ahead to see if he was available for
breakfast. He said it was near his home and that he would
meet me there.
He was a little less vigorous during that breakfast than
he had been in earlier visits, but his commitment to arms
reduction was undiminished. I remember thinking at the
time how impressive it was to see someone who felt
strongly enough about his views to find a way to continue
advocacy of those views after leaving public office. It
was clear that although he had left public office, he had
not left public service.
Alan Cranston lived a remarkable life, and we are all
fortunate that he devoted so much of that life to public
service. I, for one, will miss Alan's wise counsel and his
passionate commitment to making the world a better place.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about a
subject that brings me great sorrow--the passing of my old
friend and colleague, former California Senator Alan
Cranston.
Senator Cranston passed away suddenly last New Year's
Eve, at the age of 86. His sudden death came as a shock to
all of us who remember him for his abundant energy and
enthusiasm.
Alan was elected to this body for the first of four
terms in 1968. He was already a legend in the Senate when
I arrived here for the first time almost 18 years after
him, and I consider myself very fortunate to have had the
opportunity to serve alongside him. I will always remember
him fondly, both for the kind of person he was, and the
kind of Senator he was.
Alan was elected Democratic Whip an unprecedented seven
straight times, and served in that role in both the
majority and minority. Having now served as my Party's
Whip for 2 years, I can say that nobody who holds that
office can possibly ignore the long shadow that he still
casts over it.
Recently the Senate approved a historic power-sharing
agreement under which both parties would have an equal
number of seats in each committee. It remains to be seen
how this arrangement will work in practice, and whether
the split will create more cooperation, or more gridlock.
But I think that if we in the Senate are to make it
work, we would do well to follow the model set by Senator
Cranston. Those of my colleagues who did not know him
personally would do well to study the lessons of his life
and his career.
The press called him ``Colorless Cranston,'' a nickname
he wore with pride, because it reflected his fundamental
belief that legislative accomplishment was far more
important than crafting sound bites or scoring political
points. When you needed to find Alan, you didn't look in
the press gallery or the recording studio--you looked for
him in the cloakroom, where he was always busy negotiating
a compromise or finding ways to move legislation over
obstacles.
Although he was known as one of the last true liberals,
he never let his ideology get in the way of getting things
done. He regularly reached out across the aisle and his
close friends included some of his most vigorous and
outspoken political opponents. He was a workhorse who
lived by the maxim that a leader can accomplish great
things if he doesn't mind who gets the credit.
Some of his greatest accomplishments found him in
alliances that left outsiders scratching their heads--for
example, teaming with Strom Thurmond to improve veterans
programs, with Alfonse D'Amato on public housing measures,
with Barry Goldwater to protect First Amendment press
freedoms. Outsiders wondered whether he had sold out his
old liberal beliefs, but the truth was that he was just
finding ways to get things done with as little fuss as
possible.
During his 24 years in the Senate, no legislation that
touched on his passions--veterans benefits, disarmament,
environmental protection, human rights, or civil rights--
passed this body without his fingerprints on it, although
more often than not, only those closest to him realized
the extent of his contribution.
During his long and colorful career, he crossed paths
with some of the most famous men in history and was
present many times while history was being made. He was a
track star at Stanford and member of a record-setting
relay sprint team. As a young journalist, he reported on
the rise of nazism in Germany, and was sued by Adolf
Hitler for publishing an unsanitized version of ``Mein
Kampf'' and revealing Hitler's true ambitions to the
world. His lifelong commitment to halting the use of
nuclear weapons began after he was introduced to Albert
Einstein in 1946. After retiring from the Senate, he
established a think tank with Mikhail Gorbachev to promote
world peace, where he worked until his death. He counted
Groucho Marx among his supporters.
Yet despite these brushes with fame and the long list of
bills that bear his name, he will always be best
remembered in this body for the things that newspapers
don't report--for his grace, his humility, his leadership,
and his devotion to his son Kim and his granddaughter. He
will be missed.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I rise today to join my
colleagues in honoring our friend and former colleague,
Senator Alan Cranston, who died on December 31, 2000, at
the age of 86 in his native California.
While Alan Cranston was elected to the U.S. Senate in
1968, his public service began years before when he served
in the Executive Offices of the President in 1942 as Chief
of the Foreign Language Division of the Office of War
Information. Declining a deferment, he enlisted as a
private in the U.S. Army in 1944. First assigned to an
infantry unit, he became editor of Army Talk and was a
Sergeant by V-J Day. He went on to serve two terms as
State Controller of California before being elected to the
U.S. Senate.
Alan Cranston served the people of California with
distinction in the U.S. Senate for 24 years. He chaired
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, providing invaluable
assistance to our Nation's servicemen and women. He was in
the forefront in the U.S. Senate on numerous issues of
national importance, including mass transit, civil rights,
the environment, women's rights, housing and education.
I was privileged to serve with Senator Cranston on the
Foreign Relations Committee where he played an important
role during Senate consideration of the SALT II and START
Treaties, helped pave the way for ratification of the
Panama Canal Treaty, and was active in efforts to promote
peace in the Middle East. Senator Cranston was a tireless
advocate for world peace and the defense of Democratic
institutions.
Throughout his Senate service, Alan Cranston worked
diligently to promote the reduction and, ultimately, the
elimination of nuclear weapons. After retiring in 1993, he
continued his extraordinary commitment and devotion to
these critical efforts. He chaired the State of the World
Forum, a widely respected organization for the discussion
of global problems, based in San Francisco. He was also
founder and president of the Global Security Institute,
concentrating on a worldwide effort to reduce, marginalize
and eliminate nuclear weapons.
Mr. President, Alan Cranston was a leader in the U.S.
Senate, a well-respected Member of this body. He had a
unique ability to achieve consensus under difficult
circumstances, and his wise counsel will be missed by
every Member with whom he served. I would like to take
this opportunity to pay tribute to him and to extend my
deepest sympathies to his family.
Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to
speak for as much time as I may consume.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, Alan Cranston was a Senator
in this Chamber for a long while. In fact, in recent
months he visited this Chamber, and I had an opportunity
to say a few words to him. He was someone who left a
significant mark, especially in the area of fighting for a
policy in this country that would put this country in a
leadership position to reduce the threat of nuclear war.
Mr. Cranston worked diligently on that issue here in
Congress, but after he left his service in the Senate, he
especially was interested, and active all around this
country, in trying to mobilize the energy and interest for
this country to lead in a range of areas dealing with
stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. I recall, perhaps
6 months ago, driving down a rural highway in North Dakota
and receiving a call on my cell phone. The call was from
former Senator Alan Cranston, and he was calling from
California. What he was calling about was what he always
talked about in recent years. He was trying to find ways
to continue our country's obligation to reduce the threat
of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear war.
He felt passionately about the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty and was disappointed when the treaty was
voted down in the Senate last year or a year and a half
ago. But he never stopped working. He always believed that
our country, as strong and as big as it is, had a
leadership responsibility in the world to mobilize its
energy and commitment to find ways to stop the spread of
nuclear weapons.
So today we pay honor to his memory. We should be
thankful that there was an Alan Cranston involved in
public service. I say to his family that our sympathies go
to them. We will all miss his commitment in dealing with
this issue of nuclear arms reduction.
Monday, January 29, 2001
ORDER FOR RECORD TO REMAIN OPEN UNTIL FEBRUARY 20 TO
SUBMIT CRANSTON TRIBUTES
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent
the order of January 5th with respect to the Cranston
tributes be changed to reflect that Senators have until
Tuesday, February 20, to submit tributes, and that the
tributes then be printed as a Senate document.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Tuesday, January 30, 2001
TRIBUTE TO ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, for the information of all
Senators, I am being joined by former Senator Alan Simpson
and my distinguished colleagues, Senators Boxer,
Feinstein, Kennedy and Rockefeller, in sponsoring a
memorial tribute to our former colleague and my dear
friend, Alan Cranston, who passed away on New Year's Eve
2000. The tribute will be held on Tuesday, February 6,
2001, at 2 p.m. in Room 902 of the Hart Building. I invite
and encourage all Senators to join us for this celebration
of Alan's life of service to the people of our country.
Tuesday, February 6, 2001
IN MEMORY OF ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, it is an honor for me to
pay tribute to my former Senate colleague Alan Cranston.
With Senator Cranston's passing, we lost a gifted leader,
a shrewd politician and a dedicated reformer. It seemed
significant that Senator Cranston passed away on New
Year's Eve 2000 because his life encompassed, literally,
the 20th century. He was born the year World War I began,
grew up during the Depression, covered the rise of fascism
in Europe as a foreign correspondent and led the fight for
a nuclear arms freeze during the Cold War. He called
luminaries of the age among his friends, most notably
Albert Einstein. Alan Cranston arrived in the Senate
shortly after I did and we served together for 24 years
until his retirement in 1993. We even hit the Presidential
campaign trail together, both running for the White House
on the Democratic ticket in 1984.
Those of us who served with Senator Cranston will
remember the tally sheets he carried around to count
votes. We will also remember the talent he had for
carefully preserving his own liberal ideologies while
working effectively with those on the opposite end of the
political spectrum. He may have offended some with his
push for disarmament, but more often than not he disarmed
them with his own friendly manner. Senator Cranston left
an indelible mark on environmental, civil rights and
global security policy. His legacies are the Global
Security Institute, his accomplishments as a U.S. Senator
and his dedication to the people of California. He will be
missed, but a political giant like Alan Cranston will not
be forgotten.
Thursday, February 8, 2001
A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it is with great sadness that
I rise today to pay tribute to our friend and colleague
Alan Cranston. His death on December 31 last year was a
shock. Alan was such a life force that it is hard for me
to imagine his silence and his not being there for great
arms control debates.
Senator Cranston was a man of conviction, a true
humanitarian in every sense of those words. He began his
career in public policy in the 1930s as a journalist
warning his readers of the dangerous rise of fascism. He
knew even then that the United States was locked in an
intricate web of relations with the rest of the world and
that our attempts to ignore that web could only lead to
calamity for ourselves and those around us. Alan
understood the concept of globalization at least 50 years
before it gained such notoriety to earn a name.
It was primarily that impulse to engage the world that
brought Alan into elective office and eventually to the
U.S. Senate. As State of California Controller from 1958
to 1967, he worked to rationalize the booming State's
finances and ensure that all Californians could benefit
from that phenomenal rise.
But it was in the Senate where Alan could most
effectively work toward his vision of a peaceable world.
Before the people of California sent him here in 1968, he
learned about the Senate's moderating influence and the
consequences of its shirking that role. In his post-World
War II book, ``The Killing of the Peace,'' Alan explained
how the U.S. Senate's defeat of the League of Nations
contributed to the outbreak of that war and the horrible
events that followed.
Most of his activities during his impressive 24 years
here were an expression of his deep desire for the Senate
to avoid similar mistakes. He brought a special
seriousness of purpose and attentiveness to arms control
issues as diverse as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
and ongoing production of the B-2 stealth bomber. On
several occasions, I joined him in opposing the production
of new, destabilizing types of nuclear weapons, and I was
always struck by Alan's sense of nuance and willful
resolve.
Alan was not one to ignore his own personal
responsibilities to the Senate. As Democratic Whip, Alan
made this body run efficiently. If there is anyone who was
never afraid to count the votes, it was Alan. He knew how
to smoke us out on our intentions. What made him so
effective was his persuasive argumentation and downright
persistence. Sometimes he could change my mind faster than
he could run a 100-yard dash, which was pretty fast
considering he was a lifelong record-setting sprinter.
It was not surprising that after his Senate career he
led the non-profit Global Security Institute where he
continued to press for arms control initiatives. The
Institute provided a perfect platform from which he could
promote his expanded notion of security. After the Cold
War, Alan realized before everyone else that security no
longer meant merely protection from weapons of mass
destruction. He saw that security in the new millennium
was also about avoiding environmental degradation,
securing our food supply, and educating our children.
Alan was a forward thinker and an alternative voice at a
time when conventional wisdom demanded examination. He
worked to make our world safer, and he was a good friend.
I will miss him greatly.
THE ALAN CRANSTON I KNEW: INTENSITY, INTEGRITY, AND
COMMITMENT
Mr. BIDEN. A couple of weeks ago I had the sad duty to
travel to California to represent the Senate and the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a memorial service
for Senator Alan MacGregor Cranston. It was a moving
ceremony, a chance for all those in attendance to re-
dedicate themselves to the noble goals which shaped Alan
Cranston's life.
Alan Cranston will be remembered by those of us who knew
and loved him as a man of peace who devoted much of his
adult life--four terms in the Senate and a decade as
director of the Global Security Institute--to the tasks of
promoting nuclear arms control and encouraging world
peace. These are not small objectives, but of course Alan
Cranston's interests extended beyond them, literally,
``from the Redwood Forests to the Gulf Stream waters.''
Never content to sit on the sidelines, Alan Cranston
fought tirelessly for the causes in which he believed:
nuclear disarmament, the environment, civil rights, and
decent housing. He brought the intensity of a sprinter and
the endurance of a marathoner to each of these causes.
During his tenure as a member of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee from 1981 to 1993, Alan Cranston was a
devoted supporter of strong U.S. leadership in the world,
whether it meant promoting the development of democracy in
the Philippines and Cambodia or working to halt the spread
of nuclear weapons.
Alan Cranston knew that the United States could not go
it alone in the world. In an age when American
unilateralism, if not isolationism, has gained a certain
currency in Washington, Alan Cranston's life reminds us
that the highest aspirations of the American people are
those which lead us to care about others and work with
others to address common problems.
The intensity, integrity, and commitment Alan Cranston
brought to public service stand as an example we all might
follow as we begin work in this 107th Congress.
Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that a
transcript of the remarks made at Senator Cranston's
memorial service be printed in the Record.
[The memorial service may be found on page 51.]
Wednesday, February 14, 2001
TRIBUTE TO FORMER SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I join many of my
colleagues in paying tribute to former Senator Alan
Cranston, who died on New Year's Eve, 2000. Since I came
to the Senate in 1985, I have had the honor of serving on
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and my first 8 years
on the committee were under the superb chairmanship of
Senator Cranston. During our years, I came to know and
appreciate his unbounded dedication to the veterans of
this country, and his extraordinary record of leadership
and commitment to our Nation throughout his 24 years of
public service in the U.S. Senate.
Senator Cranston played an integral role in veterans
affairs from his first days in the Senate, serving
initially as Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs
Subcommittee of the then-Committee on Labor and Public
Welfare. When that subcommittee became the full Committee
on Veterans' Affairs in 1971, he was a charter member of
it. He became Chairman of the full Committee in 1977, was
Ranking Member from 1981 to 1986, and then Chairman again
in 1987, until he left the Senate in 1993.
Throughout his tenure, Senator Cranston demonstrated a
devoted commitment to the men and women who risk their
lives for the safety and welfare of our Nation. Although
he opposed the war in Vietnam, he was a strong champion
for the rights and benefits of those who served in it.
Senator Cranston's vision--to ensure that our country
upholds its obligation to meet the post-service needs of
veterans and their families--was the inspiration for the
many pieces of legislation passed during his tenure. He
showed his concern for disabled veterans and their
families in many ways, including authoring support
programs that provided for grants, cost-of-living
increases in benefits, adaptive equipment, rehabilitation,
and other services.
Senator Cranston's record on issues related to the
employment and education of veterans is unequaled. As
early as 1970, he authored the Veterans' Education and
Training Amendments Act, which displayed his heartfelt
concern for Vietnam-era veterans, and served as the
foundation for other key initiatives over the years.
As a strong advocate for health care reform myself, I
appreciated Senator Cranston's efforts over the years to
improve veterans health care through affirmative
legislation. He brought national attention to the many
needs of VA health care facilities, which resulted in the
improvement of the quality of their staffs, facilities and
services.
Senator Cranston's patience in pursuit of his goals is
legendary. For example, he introduced legislation in 1971
to establish a VA readjustment counseling program for
Vietnam veterans. When it failed that year, he
reintroduced it in the next Congress, and the next, and
the next, never losing sight of his vision. Four
Congresses later, in 1979, it was finally accepted by the
House of Representatives. The VA's Vet Center Program was
established that year and, in the ensuing years, this
program helped many Vietnam veterans deal with their
adjustment problems after service, including post-
traumatic stress disorder.
After the program was established, Senator Cranston
fought successfully to make it permanent, thereby enabling
Vet Centers to survive proposed cuts by the Reagan
administration. He also pushed for enactment of
legislation which extended the eligibility period for
readjustment counseling. In 1991, Senator Cranston
authored legislation which allowed veterans of later
conflicts, including the Persian Gulf War, Panama,
Grenada, and Lebanon, to receive assistance at Vet Centers
as well.
Another example of Senator Cranston's persistence was
his effort to provide an opportunity for veterans to seek
outside review of VA decisions on claims for benefits. He
began working on this issue in the mid-1970s and stayed
with it through final enactment in 1988 of legislation
which established a court to review veterans claims. That
court, now known as the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans
Claims, stands as a legacy to Senator Cranston's
commitment to making sure that veterans are treated fairly
by the government that they served.
The list of Senator Cranston's achievements is long--for
veterans, his home State of California, our country, and
the world. Senator Cranston's leadership had a broad
sweep, way beyond the concerns of veterans. From nuclear
disarmament to housing policy to education to civil
rights, Senator Cranston fought to do the right thing,
with energy and passion. For nearly a quarter of a
century, he was a true champion for the less fortunate
among our society.
His legacy is immense, and I know that his leadership,
which continued after he left this Chamber, will be
missed. I consider myself fortunate to have had the
opportunity to work side by side with him over the years.
By continuing his fight for the people we represent and
the ideals we were elected to uphold, I seek to carry on
his mission.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an article
about Senator Cranston by Thomas Tighe, a former staff
member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, be
printed in the Record. His thoughts on Senator Cranston,
which appeared in the January 7, 2001, edition of the
Santa Barbara News-Press, are quite compelling.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
Alan Cranston: He Separated the War From the Warrior
(By Thomas Tighe, President and CEO of Direct Relief
International)
Alan Cranston stood for and accomplished many important
things during the course of his life and Senate career,
which, as might be expected given his low-key approach,
received little comment upon his death. But having worked
for Alan--as he insisted all his staff call him--during
his last several years in office, I was saddened by both
his passing and the absence of public recognition for much
of what his life's work accomplished.
Elected in 1968, strongly opposing the war in Vietnam,
Senator Cranston was assigned the chair of the
subcommittee responsible for overseeing the veterans
health care system. He was among the very first in our
country to separate the war from the warrior, as he sought
to have the system do right by the returning soldiers
whose wartime experiences, severity of injury, and
readjustment seemed somehow different from those of
earlier wars.
While retaining his aversion to war, Alan Cranston
devoted much of his career in the Senate to ensuring that
the country's obligation to those who fought in war--
however unpopular--was recognized as fundamentally
important and honored accordingly. He pushed hard to
expand spinal-cord injury, blindness, and traumatic brain
injury care, which were lacking and desperately needed. He
championed mental health services, authoring legislation
to create ``Vet Centers'' where veterans themselves
counseled each other and to fund research that ultimately
obtained formal recognition and treatment for post-
traumatic stress disorder as a ``real'' condition that
affected soldiers. Drug and alcohol services, vocational
rehabilitation, and comprehensive assistance for homeless
veterans all resulted from his insight, his perseverance,
and his commitment to those who served our country.
The terms ``paramedic'' and ``medevac'' did not exist in
civilian society in the late 1960s--they do today because
Alan saw how effective the combination of medical
personnel, telecommunications, and helicopters had been in
treating battlefield injuries in Vietnam, and he authored
the first pilot program to apply this model to the
civilian sector.
Senator Cranston also was the most vigorous, insightful,
tough, and effective supporter that the Peace Corps has
ever had in the Congress--stemming from his early
involvement with Sargent Shriver in the early 1960's
before he was elected. I know about these issues, and his
remarkable legacy, because I worked on them for Alan as a
committee lawyer in the Senate and, after he left office,
as the Chief Operating Officer of the Peace Corps.
But there were many, many other issues that Senator
Cranston not only cared about but worked to effectuate in
a painfully thorough, respectful, and principled way. He
was an early and stalwart advocate for preservation and
judicious stewardship of the environment, an unyielding
voice for a woman's right to make reproductive health
choices, and of course, a relentless pursuer of world
peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons--upon which he
continued to work passionately until the day he died.
Those efforts have made a tremendous positive difference
in the lives of millions of people in this country and
around the world.
For me, Alan Cranston's standard of adhering to
principle while achieving practical success remains a
constant source of inspiration and motivation, as I am
sure is true for the hundreds of others who worked on his
staff over the course of 24 years. His was an example that
one's strongly held ideological and policy beliefs,
whether labeled ``liberal'' or ``conservative,'' should
not be confused with or overwhelmed by partisanship if it
prevented meaningful progress. And he insisted upon honest
and vigorous oversight of publicly funded programs he
supported--to avoid defending on principle something
indefensible in practice, thereby eroding support for the
principle itself.
Once, while trying to describe an obstacle on a Peace
Corps matter, I made a flip reference to the ``America
Right or Wrong'' crowd. He asked if I knew where that
expression came from, which I did not. He said it was
usually misunderstood and, as in my case, misused, and
told me that it was a wonderfully patriotic statement. He
stared at me calmly, with a slight smile and with the
presence of nearly 80 years of unimaginably rich
experiences in life and politics, and said, ``America,
right or wrong. When it's right, keep it right. When it's
wrong, make it right.''
It was a privilege to work for Alan Cranston, and to
know that is what he tried to do.
Monday, February 26, 2001
TRIBUTES TO ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise today to join my
colleagues in mourning the death of our former colleague
from California, Senator Alan Cranston. The Nation lost a
truly remarkable man last December.
Senator Alan Cranston had a long and effective career of
public service spanning six decades, including 24 years as
a U.S. Senator. He first entered public service in 1942 as
Chief of the Foreign Language Division of the Office of
War Information in the Executive Offices of the President.
This began his very productive life of public service.
I served side by side with Senator Cranston for 6 years.
In those 6 years alone he had his hand in many fundamental
pieces of legislation. For example, he produced the
Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable Housing Act of 1990,
the first major piece of housing legislation in a decade.
He was also the original author of the California Desert
Protection Act, which was enacted in 1993. Throughout his
long career, Senator Cranston was a true advocate for the
environment, civil rights, and world peace.
Whether one agreed or disagreed with Alan Cranston's
views, we here in the Senate will always remember him for
his integrity and dedication. Alan Cranston fought
tirelessly for his beliefs, no matter what the
consequence. Yet he was also kind, energetic and
thoughtful.
Put simply, I admired and respected Senator Alan
Cranston. I would now like to take this opportunity to
extend my thoughts and prayers to his sister Eleanor
Cranston, his son Kim, his daughter-in-law Collette Penne
Cranston, his granddaughter Evan Cranston, and to his
remaining friends, family and staff. We will all miss him.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, when I heard that my friend,
Alan Cranston, passed away this New Year's Eve, I couldn't
quite believe it. I remember Alan as a man in a constant
state of motion, always pressing on for the causes he
cared for, plotting the next steps, pondering how he could
do more. It is hard to reconcile the finality of death
with the endless, focused energy that defined his life.
Alan's record of service spans the better part of the
20th century. He was a journalist who covered World War
II, an author who warned Americans about the threat of
Hitler, a leader of an organization that opposed
discrimination against immigrants, long before that was
fashionable.
He revived the California Democratic Party in the 1950s,
was the California State Controller in the 1960s, and
served his first term in the U.S. Senate in the 1970s. He
was a Senator for 24 years, including seven consecutive
terms as Democratic Whip, and he even made a run for the
Presidency in 1984. And since his retirement from the
Senate in 1993, Alan had dedicated himself to the cause he
cared about most: eliminating nuclear weapons.
If you didn't know Alan, his impressive list of
accomplishments might lead you to think that he must have
been a man of great showmanship and obvious charisma. But
that wasn't Alan.
Alan believed in the philosophy of Lao-Tzu: ``A leader
is best when people barely know that he exists. . . . But
of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim
fulfilled, they will all say, `We did this ourselves.' ''
Accordingly, Alan did a lot of his work behind the scenes.
He had neither the time nor the patience for back slapping
and schmoozing; he liked to cut to the chase, let you know
what was what, and move on to the next thing.
Alan was never loud or arrogant or flashy. He didn't
have to be. His authority came from a force deeper than
personality. It came from his conscience.
The anti-war activist, Father Daniel Berrigan, once
talked about the danger of ``verbalizing . . . moral
impulses out of existence.'' That was never within the
realm of possibility for Alan. Whether he was standing up
for veterans, working to save millions of acres of desert
and wilderness, or speaking out for nuclear disarmament,
Alan steadfastly followed his conscience, even when it led
him to the uncharted paths or difficult places where no
one else would go.
I don't know whether it was the result of this active
conscience or his fierce intellect or some combination of
the two, but Alan had this extraordinary prescience, this
ability to predict with startling accuracy what the future
would bring. He understood the threat of Adolf Hitler long
before many others, and he worked to warn us before it was
too late. He fought discrimination against immigrants,
long before most of us realized that was the right thing
to do. He spoke out about nuclear weapons long before the
disarmament movement took root in the popular imagination.
And he believed in the notion of uniform world law
decades before the rise of the global age. In fact, many
decades ago, he was the leader of the World Federalist
Association, a group dedicated to the idea of establishing
a uniform world law. Back then, the WFA must have seemed
like a somewhat eccentric organization, oddly out of sync
with the times.
But it was vintage Alan, just another manifestation of
his profound idealism. Alan really believed that people of
all different nationalities and races and ethnicities
could rise to meet the standard of a just rule of law.
Alan once said of nuclear deterrence: ``This may have
been necessary during the Cold War; it is not necessary
forever. It is not acceptable forever. I say it is
unworthy of our Nation, unworthy of any Nation; it is
unworthy of civilization.''
Alan had the highest hopes for our world. We owe it to
him to try to live up to them and to carry out his legacy
of peace in the new millennium he did not live to see.
In conclusion, I ask that a recent article from Roll
Call on Alan Cranston by Daniel Perry appear in the Record
at the end of my remarks.
Dan Perry, a former staffer for Alan Cranston, is a
leader in his own right. For years he has been on the
forefront of aging and health policy as head of the
Alliance for Aging Research. His remarks reflect his deep
admiration for Senator Cranston and his commitment to the
Senator's lofty ideals.
The article is as follows:
[From Roll Call, Jan. 4, 2001]
Cranston Legacy Serves as Model for Members of the 107th
Congress
(By Daniel Perry)
The sharply divided 107th Congress would do well to
ponder the quiet but enduringly effective political skills
of the late Sen. Alan Cranston (D) of California. His 24-
year Senate career, during tumultuous and partisan times,
showed that strong beliefs make good politics, but success
begins with respecting the motives and sincerity of
others, including your opponents.
Cranston's sudden death, just hours before the first day
of 2001, ended a life devoted to issues about which he was
passionate: International peace and arms control, human
rights and protection of the environment. For this
Californian the quest for high public office--even the
United States Senate--was never a simple pursuit of power
nor an end in itself.
Politics and policy were the means by which he could
help make the human passage on earth fairer, safer and
more serene. His commitment to halting future use of
nuclear weapons began when he was introduced to Albert
Einstein in 1946. He was still working tirelessly toward
that goal when he died, at age 86, eight years after he
left the Senate.
In the shorthand of the obituary writer, Cranston is
remembered for winning four Senate elections, serving
seven consecutive terms as Democratic Whip, for having run
for president as the champion of a nuclear freeze and for
being tarred by the so-called Keating Five scandal. While
all true, that doesn't begin to describe a political
career of amazing productivity and accomplishment, showing
just how much one person quietly can do to shape his or
her times.
By one count, there were 2,500 tallies in the Senate
between 1969 and 1989 that were decided by fewer than five
votes, and often by a single vote. Cranston was often a
crucial player, not only for his vote alone but as a
behind-the-scene strategist, head counter, marshaler of
forces and shrewd compromiser who always lived to fight
another day.
He was frequently one-half of various Senate odd-couple
pairings, meshing his principles with pragmatism. He
teamed with conservative Senators such as Strom Thurmond
(R-S.C.) to improve veterans programs, Alfonse D'Amato (R-
N.Y.) on public housing measures and the legendary Barry
Goldwater (R-Ariz.) to protect press freedoms guaranteed
under the First Amendment.
Cranston was liberal and an idealist to the core, but
never an ideologue or blindly partisan. That balance
enabled him to become one of the most durable and
successful California politicians of the 20th century. He
was elected six times to statewide office from California.
Representing the West Coast mega-State in the Senate
meant skillfully balancing myriad insistent and often
conflicting home-State interests. Even as California
changed politically and demographically, Cranston managed
to steer a delicate course between the State's giant
agribusiness interests and those of consumers, family
farmers and farm workers; he weighed the claims of home
builders and growing communities against the need to
preserve open spaces and wildlife habitats.
Amazingly, he helped end the Vietnam War and was a major
figure in the nation's arms control and peace movements,
even as he effectively represented the epicenter of the
nation's defense and aerospace industries.
It is a measure of the man that he was able to separate
the warriors of Vietnam from the war itself. From 1969 to
1992 all legislation concerning America's veterans bore
his stamp, especially measures improving health care and
mental health services for those who fought in the
nation's most unpopular war.
Teaming up with the late Representative Phillip Burton
(D) of San Francisco on environmental issues, the two
Californians managed to place under Federal protection as
much acreage as all the national park lands created
earlier in the 20th century combined.
Today there is a catalog of thousands of bills and
amendments he personally authored affecting virtually
every aspect of national life: civil rights, adoption and
foster care reform, wild rivers, research to improve aging
and longevity, workplace safety, emergency medical
services and much more.
He lived by the maxim that a leader can accomplish great
things if he doesn't mind who gets the credit.
The Cranston style has not been much in evidence in
Washington during recent years. However, Members in the
107th Congress--where many a cause will be determined by
one or very few votes--would do well to consider the
lessons of his enobling career. If they study the Cranston
legacy and seek to emulate it, the Nation and the world
will be better for it.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, Kim, Colette, Evan, R.E.--
let me begin by saying I loved Alan too. I will never
forget the 24 years of friendship and leadership and
achievement with which he graced the Senate and the
Nation. So it's a special privilege and honor for me to be
part of this tribute today. Alan is profoundly missed by
his family and friends, his colleagues in the Congress,
and by all those around the world who pursue the great
goals of hope and progress and peace.
I must say, I grew up thinking Cranston was a city in
Rhode Island. But Alan taught each of us that Cranston
stands for something else as well, the very best in public
service.
Alan loved to lead behind the scenes; for 14 of those 24
Senate years with us, he was our Democratic Whip, and he
wrote the book about the job. In those great years, we
used to tease Alan about the position, because so few
people outside Congress knew what it involved. Since Alan
was from California, a lot of people thought the Minority
Whip was the name of a leather bar in Malibu.
But seriously, Alan was a giant of his day on many
issues, and his concern for social justice made him a
leader on them all. We served together for many years on
the Labor Committee and especially the Health
Subcommittee, and his insights were indispensable. I
always felt that if we'd had another Alan Cranston or two
in those years, we'd have actually passed our Health
Security Act, and made health care the basic right for all
that it ought to be, instead of just an expensive
privilege for the few.
Perhaps the greatest legacy that Alan left us was his
able and tireless work for democracy and world peace.
Every village in the world is closer to that goal today
because of Alan. No one in the Senate fought harder or
more effectively for our nuclear weapons freeze in the
1980s, or for nuclear arms control. His hope for a
nuclear-free future still represents the highest
aspiration of millions, even billions, throughout the
world.
I also recall Alan's pioneering efforts to press for
Senate action to end the war in Vietnam, and his equally
able leadership for civil rights at home and human rights
around the world. We know how deeply he felt about
injustice to anyone anywhere. His leadership in the battle
against apartheid in South Africa was indispensable.
Throughout his brilliant career, the causes of civil
rights and human rights were central to Alan's being and
his mission--and America and the world are better off
today because Alan Cranston passed this way.
A key part of all his achievements was his unique
ability to translate his ideals into practical
legislation. Few if any Senators have been as skilled as
Alan in the art of constructive legislative compromise
that fairly leads to progress for the Nation.
He was a vigorous supporter of the Peace Corps, a strong
overseer of its performance, and a brilliant advocate for
all the Peace Corps volunteers. He was a champion for
health coverage of returning volunteers, and one of the
first to understand that good health coverage had to
include mental health services too.
In many ways, his first love was the Peace Corps, and I
know that President Kennedy would have been very proud of
him. Even before he came to the Senate, he had his first
contact with the Corps, as a consultant for Sargent
Shriver. As Alan often said, he became involved because he
was so inspired by my brother's vision of a world where
Americans of all ages could work side by side with peoples
throughout the world to put an end to poverty.
Because of Alan, the Peace Corps today is thriving as
never before--free of the partisan tensions that divide us
on other issues, spreading international understanding of
Alan's and America's best ideals, educating new
generations of young Americans about our common heritage
as travelers on Spaceship Earth, teaching us about the
beauty, the richness, and the diversity of other peoples,
other languages, and other cultures and about the enduring
importance of the greatest pursuit of all, the pursuit of
peace.
Near the end of John Bunyan's ``Pilgrim's Progress,''
there is a passage that tells of the death of Valiant:
Then, he said, I am going to my Father's. And though
with great difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not
regret me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive
where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me
in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can
get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a
witness for me, that I have fought his battle who now will
be my rewarder.
When the day that he must go hence was come, many
accompanied him to the riverside, into which as he went,
he said, `Death, where is thy sting?' and as he went down
deeper, he said, `Grave, where is thy victory?' So he
passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the
other side.
We loved you, Alan. We miss you. And we always will.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, it is a special privilege to
join all of you today to honor the life and extraordinary
accomplishments of Alan Cranston.
As we all know, Alan was a sprinter and--always with an
incredible mischievous twinkle in his eye he sprinted
through life. I think one of the most enduring images of
him is of Alan on the eve of the Iowa caucuses in 1984 at
the Holiday Inn in Keokuk, Iowa, sprinting barefooted down
the 40-meter hallway, walking back and repeating the
exercise for about 40 minutes. It was no coincidence that
Alan's favorite hotel in the country, Chicago's O'Hare
Hilton, boasts 250-meter hallways.
Three weeks ago in California we shared a goodbye to our
friend, this sprinter, at a memorial service--calling to
mind the many ways he enriched public lives and personal
relationships.
There in the Grace Cathedral, we heard Colette Cranston
say that in death Alan Cranston ``has become my Jiminy
Cricket--that little voice in her conscience that says,
`Colette, think before you leap.' '' It would not be an
exaggeration to say that warning was characteristic of
Alan when he served here in the U.S. Senate. He wanted us
to look, and he wanted us to leap. He implored us to put a
human face on public policy--to think not in statistics
and numbers and programs alone, but in terms of people;
and the people he spoke of most often were senior
citizens, children, those without decent housing,
immigrants, and those in need of a helping hand regardless
of race or religion. He was a moral voice, a voice of
conscience, someone who understood that even as he
remained vigilant defending the needs of the homefront in
California, he was also a global citizen who knew this
institution had global responsibilities.
Through four terms as a U.S. Senator, he remained a man
of enormous humility; on his answering machine he was
simply ``Alan''--as he was to so many who knew him. This
personal sense of place and restraint made it easy to
underestimate the contributions he made to the Senate, and
to our country. Certainly he never paused long enough to
personally remind us of the impact of his service, of the
history he was a part of and the lives he touched.
I first met Alan in 1971 when I had returned from
Vietnam and many of our veterans were part of an effort to
end a failed American policy in Vietnam. In Alan Cranston
we found one of the few Senators willing not just to join
in the public opposition to the war in Vietnam, but to
become a voice of healing for the veterans of the war, a
statesman whose leadership enabled others, over time, to
separate their feelings for the war from their feelings
for the veterans of the war. At a time when too many
wanted to disown its veterans, Alan offered Vietnam
veterans a warm embrace. He was eager to do something all
too rare in Washington: listen--and he listened to
veterans who had much to say, much of it ignored for too
long. He honored their pride and their pain with
sensitivity and understanding.
That's when I first saw the great energy and commitment
Alan brought to the issues affecting veterans, especially
those of the Vietnam era. He was deeply involved in
veterans health care issues, among the first to fight for
recognition of post-Vietnam stress syndrome, and a leader
in insisting on coverage under the VA for its treatment.
When the agent orange issue came to the fore, Alan
insisted on getting answers from an unresponsive
government about the consequences of exposure to dioxin,
making sure that veterans and their families got the
health care they needed. Under his leadership Congress
grudgingly increased GI bill benefits for Vietnam
veterans--veterans who too often had to fight for benefits
they should have been guaranteed without question--indeed,
for veterans who had to fight if only to have a memorial
and if only to have the government recognize that they
fought in a war and not a police conflict. Alan's
leadership made all the difference. It is a sad truth in
our country's history that a weary Nation seemed eager to
turn its back on so many Vietnam veterans who simply
sought their due; it should forever be a source of pride
to the Cranston family that Alan was chief among those who
insisted that America honor that service and keep faith
with sons who left pieces of themselves and years of their
lives on the battlefield in that far-away nation.
This was a man who fought with the greatest of passion
for those who had fought in a difficult war--even as he
was also the Senator who fought against all that war
represents--remembering that war, brutality, and killing
are the ultimate failure of diplomacy.
Alan Cranston was above all a man of peace. With him it
was not just a policy but a passion. Remember: This was a
man who, in 1934, found himself in the same room as Adolf
Hitler. Five years later, he wrote a critical English
translation of Adolf Hitler's ``Mein Kampf'' in an effort
to reveal the German leader's true plans. He wore Hitler's
ensuing lawsuit as a badge of honor, proud that he had
stood up to try and warn the English-speaking world about
the evils of nazism.
Throughout the rest of his service he used public office
to force Americans to listen to other prescient warnings--
about nuclear arms, about a dangerous arms race spiraling
beyond our control, and about hopes for peace that he
refused to give up even as others chose to beat the drums
for war.
Senator Cranston came to his famous commitment to arms
control after meeting with Albert Einstein in 1946. He
left that meeting convinced that the threat of atomic
weapons had to be stemmed--and he spent the balance of his
life arguing that conviction before the Nation.
As a member of the Senate leadership and a senior voice
on the Democratic side of the Foreign Relations Committee
he worked to reduce the nuclear threat. One of his most
important efforts was one of the least publicized.
Throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, Alan convened a unique
arms control study group, the ``SALT Study Group.'' This
Senators-only gathering met monthly in his office, off the
record, and face to face to define common ground. He knew
the impact quiet diplomacy could have on the issues he
cared about most of all.
He loved what the Peace Corps does, and he fought for
it. He fought to attach human rights conditions on aid to
El Salvador and to halt contra aid. He was a leading
national advocate for a mutual verifiable nuclear freeze.
He was always an idealist whose increase in political
power was always met by progress for the issues he cared
about so deeply. It was not just the work of a career, but
of a lifetime--after he left the Senate he chaired the
State of the World Forum and joined with former Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev as chairman of the Gorbachev
Foundation USA, and in 1999 he founded the Global Security
Institute.
He did that because he sensed that the end of the Cold
War, with all the opportunity it afforded, created a more
dangerous world, with aging nuclear weapons in
increasingly disparate and unreliable hands. He was
haunted by the threat of nuclear terrorism. He was
passionate about the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and was angry
when it went down to a shallow and partisan defeat in the
Senate. We missed his voice in that debate; we miss him
still more today.
When he left the Senate, Alan reflected upon his service
and his accomplishments. Of his lasting legacy, he said
simply: ``Most of all, I have dedicated myself to the
cause of peace.''
That dedication was real and lasting--a legacy of peace
for a good and peaceful man who gave living embodiment to
Culbertson's simple, stubborn faith that ``God and the
politicians willing, the United States can declare peace
upon the world, and win it.'' That belief was Alan
Cranston and it is a belief worth fighting for.
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
TRIBUTE TO ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, one of the first times I
ever came to the Dirksen Senate Office Building, a
location where I now have my Senate office, was on
December 12, 1969, some 20 months after my injury in
Vietnam, when I was summoned to appear before the Senate
Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs about how the Veterans'
Administration was handling returning Vietnam War
veterans. That meeting was chaired by a tall, lean Senator
from California named Alan Cranston, and it was the start
of a three-decade friendship. Thus, in 1974 after
experiencing what hopefully will prove to be my only
electoral defeat, in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant
Governor of Georgia, one of the first people I turned to
was Senator Cranston, who generously accepted my offer to
come out to California to campaign for his successful re-
election. Then, after the general election, he came to my
aid by serving as guest of honor at a fundraising dinner
to pay off my campaign debt. And to top it off, Senator
Cranston helped me get a job as a special investigator for
the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, which is where I
was serving when President Carter selected me to head the
VA, in no small part because of the strong recommendation
of Alan Cranston.
I hope this short discourse makes it clear the debt of
gratitude that I personally owed to Senator Cranston, but
more importantly, it is indicative of the kind of man Alan
was: dynamic, thoughtful, compassionate. He touched many
lives, including veterans who benefited from his tireless
commitment, especially on behalf of Vietnam era veterans,
future generations of Americans who today and for all time
to come will benefit from his farsighted commitment to the
protection of our land, air and water and for citizens of
the world who benefit from his long-time commitment to
world peace, a cause he continued to pursue till the end
of his life through the Global Security Institute.
Another part of the Cranston legacy is perhaps somewhat
less known to the general public: his efforts on behalf of
the disabled. When Alan Cranston came to the Senate in
1969, those with disabilities had virtually no legal
protections against various forms of discrimination and
indeed faced many barriers, physical and otherwise, to
just getting in to the halls of government. To Alan
Cranston, that was unacceptable. He led the efforts to
enact the landmark Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973
which outlawed discrimination against the disabled in all
federally funded programs.
Among its many provisions, the 1973 law: Required
federally funded buildings to be made accessible; promoted
the hiring and advancement of qualified persons with
disabilities by the Federal Government; and established
the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance
Board, which has responsibility for setting standards for
accessibility and for assisting and enforcing compliance
with accessibility laws. I was honored to be named to that
board by President Carter in 1979.
Throughout the remainder of the 1970s Alan worked to
revamp federally assisted State vocational rehabilitation
programs by his sponsorship of laws that gave priority to
the most seriously disabled and, most importantly,
required a focus and follow through on employment. In
1980, he sponsored successful legislation to make these
same improvements in vocational rehabilitation programs
for veterans. And in 1990, Senator Cranston was a leading
co-sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which
in many ways was a culmination of two decades of
leadership by Senator Cranston on behalf of fairness and
opportunity for persons with disabilities.
It was a great honor to have known and worked with Alan
Cranston. Our country is a better place because of his
achievements, which we celebrate today.
Wednesday, February 28, 2001
TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, on the morning of the last
day of the 20th century, as he was preparing his
breakfast, Alan Cranston died at his home in Los Altos.
After 86 years, his great huge heart just stopped.
There can never be a good time to lose someone like Alan
Cranston. Such leaders are too rare. Still, there is
something fitting about Alan Cranston leaving us just as
the century came to a close. It was almost as if, having
spent his life working to protect us against the darker
possibilities of the 20th century, he held on until the
last day in order to see us safely to the new century.
I first came to know Senator Cranston from a distance.
He was 4 years into his second Senate term, and had just
been elected Democratic Whip when I was first elected to
the House. That was back in 1978.
Studying Senator Cranston from the other Chamber, I
realized early on that he possessed a rare balance. He was
a standard bearer for great public causes--and he was as
good a behind-the-scenes organizer and vote counter as I
have ever seen. He was a pragmatic idealist.
I also noticed something else about Alan Cranston back
then. I noticed that he listened respectfully to all kinds
of people and very often, just by listening, was able to
bring people together. In this practice, and in many
others, I have tried since then to follow his example.
Another thing I admired about Alan Cranston was his
tremendous running ability. From the time he was in high
school, he was a champion sprinter. In college, he was a
member of the Nation's fastest 1-mile sprint relay team in
America, and he remained a competitive runner most of his
life. At one point, I understand, he held the world record
for the 100-yard dash among 55-year-olds. As a 53-year-old
runner who is not likely to break any speed records soon,
I find that amazing. I also find it a little ironic--
because in politics, Alan Cranston was no sprinter. He was
a marathon runner.
When Alan Cranston signed on to a cause, it was for
life. As a reporter in Europe in 1936, he was among the
first to recognize the evil of fascism for what it was. He
chronicled the rise of Hitler and Mussolini. When he
discovered that Hitler had authorized the export of a
sanitized copy of ``Mein Kampf'' to America, he acquired a
copy of the German text and had it translated accurately,
with all its hideous lies restored. He sold copies for 10
cents--thus giving America some of its true glimpses into
the real Hitler.
A copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Hitler
himself eventually forced Alan Cranston to stop selling
copies of ``Mein Kampf'' in America. But nothing could
ever stop him from speaking out against oppressors of
freedom and human dignity.
In 1946, Alan Cranston met Albert Einstein, who
persuaded him that nuclear weapons must be banned or they
will destroy the human race. From that day until he died,
Alan Cranston was a tireless champion in the effort to
monitor nuclear arms and reduce their use.
During his years here in the Senate, he also championed
an array of other noble causes--from the environment, to
civil rights, to the men and women who serve in our
Nation's military.
Literally and figuratively, Alan Cranston was a towering
figure in this Senate for nearly a quarter of a century.
He was an example to many of us and to me personally. I am
proud to say he was also a friend.
With some sadness, and with gratitude for his lifetime
of service to our Nation, I join my colleagues in honoring
the memory of Alan Cranston and conveying our deep regrets
to his family--especially his sister Eleanor, his son Kim,
and his granddaughter--as well as his many friends across
this country and around the world. Alan Cranston was loved
in this Senate, and he will be deeply missed.
Tuesday, April 24, 2001
TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that
the following tributes by current and former Members of
the Senate and House of Representatives at the memorial
service for the late Senator Alan Cranston be printed in
the Record.
Memorial Tribute to Sen. Alan Cranston by Senator Max
Cleland
On February 6, over 200 admirers gathered in Hart SOB
902 to pay tribute to our dear friend Alan Cranston, who
left us on the last day of the year 2000. Joining with me
as sponsors of this event were the Senators from West
Virginia (Mr. ROCKEFELLER), California (Mrs. FEINSTEIN and
Mrs. BOXER), and Massachusetts (Mr. KENNEDY), and the
former Senator from Wyoming (Mr. SIMPSON). Ten Members and
former Members spoke, and a short film about Senator
Cranston's recent activities was shown. At the end of the
program, Alan's son, Kim, spoke. It was a memorable
afternoon for all in attendance.
The program cover pictured Alan and his beautiful, now
7-year-old granddaughter, Evan. On the second page
appeared the following words of the Chinese poet and
philosopher Lao-Tzu, which Alan carried with him every
day:
A leader is best
When people barely know
That he exists,
Less good when
They obey and acclaim him,
Worse when
They fear and despise him.
Fail to honor people
And they fail to honor you.
But of a good leader,
When his work is done,
His aim fulfilled,
They will all say,
``We did this ourselves.''
The program participants and sponsors were shown on the
third page.
The back page of the program set forth Senator
Cranston's committee assignments and the acknowledgments
for the tribute.
As I said at the tribute, I would not be in this body
were it not for Alan Cranston. My colleague, the Senator
from Washington (Ms. Cantwell), expressed that same
sentiment in her remarks. Alan Cranston will always be an
inspiration for us. He will live in our memories and the
memories of all those who served with him and were touched
by the causes he championed and in the hearts and minds of
those he so ably represented in his beloved State of
California.
[The memorial tribute may be found on page 75. ``A
Legislative Legacy'' distributed at the tribute, may be
found on page 112.]
Proceedings in the House of Representatives
Tuesday, February 6, 2001
REMEMBERING ALAN CRANSTON
Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, my first job offer on the Hill
came from the late California Senator, Alan Cranston, who
will be remembered at a memorial service this afternoon by
generations of colleagues and staffers.
Though I never worked on Alan's staff, I relied on him
for counsel and support for three decades. Alan was a
mentor to me when I served in senior staff positions for
Senator John Tunney. I always had the sense that Alan was
looking out for John and me, and for California's
interests.
We remained friends through the years and saw each other
last at Stanford University only a few months ago.
Alan's counsel and continued focus on issues he cared
passionately about, especially world peace, set the
marker. He was always working. No doubt he was working
until the moment he left us.
I was fortunate to know and learn from him. We were
fortunate to have him as a congressional leader for 24
years.
HONORING SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, today I remember an icon
in California public service and a true role model for
elected officials. Senator Alan Cranston embodied many
attributes that symbolize his dedication and commitment to
serving the constituents he represented.
Senator Cranston spent 32 years in public office,
including 24 as a U.S. Senator, and rose to become a
powerful force in the Democratic Party. After founding the
California Democratic Council and winning two terms as
State Controller, Alan Cranston was elected to the U.S.
Senate in 1968, where he served until his retirement in
1993. Always a defender of the less fortunate, Senator
Cranston fought for citizens of all races, ethnicities and
income brackets, firmly believing that part of the
American dream was equality and opportunity for everyone.
In recognition of his astute leadership and
perseverance, Senator Cranston was elected Majority Whip
by his colleagues from 1977 to 1981 and 1987 to 1991 and
served as Minority Whip from 1981 to 1987.
One of Senator Cranston's most admirable causes was his
passionate advocation of arms control. He was a profound
believer in the United Nations and joined with former
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to set up the Gorbachev
Foundation USA, dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons.
On a personal note, Senator Cranston was a frequent
visitor to my 34th Congressional District where he would
attend receptions at the Whittier home of our mutual
constituents Kauzo and Mary Miyashita in support of the
California Democratic Party. That is where my husband
Frank and I first met the Senator in the mid-1980s.
Alan Cranston will be remembered as a superb mechanic of
the political process and for being one of California's
and the Nation's most devout public servants. His
leadership should inspire us all, and I am proud to
celebrate his life and his causes.
TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join
me in paying tribute to former Senator Alan Cranston of
California who passed away over the holiday break. In a
career spanning most of the 20th century, both as a
private citizen and a Member of Congress, he developed a
reputation as a tireless advocate of worthy causes from
the environment to veterans health, and most notably arms
control. His passing gives us pause to reflect on the
legacy of one who fought hard his entire life for peace
and Democratic freedoms.
Mr. Speaker, Alan Cranston began his crusade for peace
early in his life as a journalist. Born in Palo Alto,
California, in 1914, Cranston graduated from Stanford
University in 1936, and he worked for the International
News Service where he edited the first unaltered version
of ``Mein Kampf,'' laying bare Hitler's racist beliefs,
and inviting a lawsuit from the Fuehrer over copyright
infringement. In 1939, Cranston continued his fight
against racism as an advocate for the Common Council for
American Unity, an organization opposing discrimination
against the foreign-born.
Cranston's service to his country began during World War
II, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a
private. Because of his verbal skills, he was assigned to
lecture to soldiers on war aims. After the war, Cranston
continued to advocate peace through his career in
journalism.
Mr. Speaker, in 1969, he became a U.S. Senator from
California. In the U.S. Senate, Alan Cranston's tireless
advocacy for protecting the California desert and
advocating the philosophy of arms control and arms
reduction earned him the reputation of a ``workhorse,''
and it is one he rightly deserves. And even after leaving
the Senate at the age of 78, Alan Cranston continued until
the time of his death to press for arms reduction by
chairing two San Francisco-based think tanks--the
Gorbachev Foundation USA and the Global Security
Institute.
Mr. Speaker, Senator Alan Cranston worked long and hard
for peace, and at his passing I join his many friends and
admirers in paying tribute to his distinguished service,
and it is my hope that we may carry on his work with equal
strength and conviction.
TRIBUTE TO THE LATE SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my
sympathies to the family of the late Senator Alan
Cranston. Senator Cranston passed away on New Year's Eve,
2000.
Born in California, Senator Cranston honored our Golden
State for many years with his service to community and
country, serving for 8 years as State Controller of
California, and in the U.S. Senate for 24 years.
Senator Cranston will be remembered for his fight for
human rights in the world. He will be remembered for his
mastery of the issues, his hard work, plain-spoken manner,
and humility.
He fought against fascism and nazism, alerting people to
the threat of Hitler, by exposing the virulent nature of
Hitler's writings. This act of courage helped to show the
world the importance of fighting this menace to freedom
and democracy. Many years later he fought with the same
level of conviction against apartheid in South Africa,
helping to end that unjust system through economic
sanctions by the United States.
He fought to protect Federal employees against job
discrimination, worked for opportunities for women in the
workforce, and strove to end discrimination against
pregnant employees.
He championed legislation to expand the Family Planning
Program, and he helped lead the fight for the proposed
Equal Rights Amendment.
Senator Cranston was always eloquent, honorable,
tenacious in his causes, respected even by those who did
not share his position on the issues. He was a gentleman
in the best sense of the word, a scholar, a thinker, a
doer, and a leader. He will be missed.
IN RECOGNITION OF SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of
the life of the late Senator Alan Cranston. Growing up in
California, I developed a strong admiration for the life
and work of this great leader. As a young man living in
Northern California and attending Stanford University, I
came to view Senator Cranston as a model for our time and
an inspiration to young people everywhere. He served a
legendary four terms in the U.S. Senate and made history
by being the only U.S. Senator ever to have been elected
his Party's Whip seven times. His vibrant intellect,
persuasive skill, and even-handed approach were recognized
by leaders here and abroad, and Senator Cranston came to
be seen as a guiding hand in shaping many of the important
legislative measures that came up for consideration during
his 24 years on Capitol Hill. His devotion to the causes
he cared about and his expertise on both domestic policy
and international relations made him one of the most
talented and well-respected public servants of this
century.
The people of California will be forever grateful for
the many accomplishments of Senator Alan Cranston. He was
a tireless advocate for his constituents, while always
being mindful of the needs of the entire Nation. His
efforts to provide affordable housing, protect our
environment, secure a woman's right to choose, and
advocate for the disabled paved the way for groundbreaking
legislation that transformed domestic policy in the United
States. But what Senator Cranston is best known for is his
lifelong commitment to world peace and his conscientious
objection to nuclear weapons. He played a pivotal role in
developing arms reduction and nuclear arms control
treaties and traveled the world, building relationships
with foreign leaders and promoting peace. Senator Cranston
will always be remembered for his many contributions to
the global community, and I am proud to rise today in
celebration of his life of service to the State of
California, this Nation, and our world.
TRIBUTE TO LATE SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to
pay tribute to one of California's finest and most
respected Senators, the late Alan Cranston.
Alan Cranston was born in Palo Alto, California, on June
19, 1914. He studied at the University of Mexico and then
continued at Stanford University. While he began his
professional career as a news correspondent, the
international events of that time led him to join the U.S.
Army. At the conclusion of the Second World War, he left
the Army to become president of the United World
Federalists. This, along with his founding of the
California Democratic Council, propelled him into the
political spotlight. Other positions he held include
Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs during his
tenure at the Senate, chairman of the Gorbachev
Foundation, president of the United States: Kyrgyz
Business Council, and senior international advisor for
Schooner Capitol Corporation.
Those who know him and worked with him remember his
modesty and true commitment toward making the world a
safer one. Senator Cranston was honored with numerous
awards for outstanding achievements in the field of world
security, and for his efforts toward global peace. During
his 24-year Senate career, Senator Cranston had a hand in
developing and promoting some of the most influential
legislative measures considered by Congress. His efforts
to end the Vietnam War and to improve relations with the
Soviet Union go unmatched. In addition, he helped shape
the Senate opinion of the SALT II and START Treaties.
After leaving public office, Alan Cranston continued his
fight to abolish nuclear weapons. He founded and acted as
president of the Global Security Institute, enabling
citizens to express their concerns about security issues.
His expertise was frequently sought in treaty negotiation
and nuclear arms control, and he published many works on
these issues.
Mr. Speaker, Alan Cranston did not seek attention for
himself nor demanded honor, but he deserved it. He honored
all living beings by serving to promote peace and prevent
destruction. Please join me in remembering the respectable
and truly remarkable man, Senator Alan Cranston. I end
with a quote that Senator Cranston carried in his wallet
for years:
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, less
good when they obey and acclaim him, worse when they fear
and despise him. Fail to honor people and they fail to
honor you.
But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim
fulfilled, they will all say, ``We did this ourselves.''
CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, today I honor the life of a
great American, Senator Alan Cranston. While Senator
Cranston left the Congress 8 years ago, after four terms
in the Senate, his legacy remains as strong as ever
because of the depth of his convictions and the
significance of his accomplishments.
Senator Cranston was one of only two California Senators
to be elected to the Senate four times and he served 14
years as the Democratic Whip. His accomplishments bear
great weight. During his service in the U.S. Senate, Alan
Cranston had a hand in many major pieces of legislation.
He was deeply involved with arms reduction and nuclear
arms control and led the debate on the SALT II and START
Treaties, worked on ratification of the Panama Canal
Treaty, helped to expand trade for California
technological and agricultural products, and reduced
military spending.
Senator Cranston also fought tirelessly to build
affordable, adequate housing for our families and to
protect our national environment for present and future
generations. The Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable
Housing Act of 1990 was a major housing bill he helped
pass. He also authored legislation that created 3 major
national parks and expanded 2 others, 7 park wilderness
areas and 51 forest areas, and he was the original author
of the California Desert Protection Act.
Senator Cranston's record of accomplishment in public
service spanned 10 Presidents and 6 decades, and his
thoughtful approach to making policy impacted the everyday
lives of many Americans. He helped formulate legislation
to get more highway money available for mass transit,
which reduced our dependence on oil and helped to reduce
air pollution and traffic congestion. A champion of civil
liberty and individual rights, Senator Cranston authored
the freedom of choice bill to enact Roe v. Wade into law
and created and fought for a ``Bill of Rights'' for the
disabled.
Senator Cranston's dedication to public service has
inspired generations of Californians and Americans to get
involved in public service. His integrity and dedication
influenced my commitment to fight for social justice and
my decision to run for public office. Senator Cranston's
life ended on the night of December 31, 2000--at the
conclusion of the 20th century. While tragic, this is
truly fitting, as it is due in no small part to the work
of Alan Cranston that the 20th century will always be
known as the American Century.
A TRIBUTE TO ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to Alan
Cranston, a man who walked among us as world leader,
candidate for President, Senator, public servant,
businessman, writer, reporter, public speaker, athlete,
and artist--a true Renaissance man. He had a passion for
civil rights, freedom of the press, nuclear disarmament
and environmental causes. He worked selflessly to try to
make the planet a better place for us all.
I was honored to know Senator Cranston personally and
fortunate to benefit from his advice when I was first
elected to Congress.
We celebrate today his noteworthy efforts on the
international level for world peace, especially helping to
end the Vietnam War and to improve our relations with the
Soviet Union. He was a leader in Senate consideration of
the SALT I and SALT II Treaties, Middle East peace, and
reduced military spending. In 1996, he entered private-
sector work on nuclear disarmament, as chairman of the
Gorbachev Foundation USA and later founding the Global
Security Institute, both San Francisco-based think tanks.
Senator Cranston authored bills to create 3 major
national parks and to expand 2 others, 7 park wilderness
areas and 51 forest areas. He was the original author of
the California Desert Protection Act, finally enacted in
1993.
He was the second-longest serving U.S. Senator from
California--and was Democratic Whip seven times and
Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
His work in the Senate included not only the
international peace and environmental efforts already
mentioned, but he was in the forefront in the fight for
affordable housing, mass transit to combat air pollution
and traffic congestion, reducing our dependence on foreign
oil, choice and women's rights, veterans rights and
medical care, education, civil rights and civil liberties,
immigration reform, and the prevention of drug abuse and
crime.
He was a Stanford University graduate, an early San
Francisco homebuilder, a foreign correspondent for the
International News Service (now part of the United Press
International), and an author of ``The Killing of the
Peace,'' which the New York Times rated one of the 10 best
books of 1945. This book was written about the Senate's
decision in 1919 to keep the United States out of the
League of Nations, in an effort to help the United Nations
avoid a similar fate.
He was also athletically gifted. He was a world-class
quarter-miler in the mid-1930s and resumed his sprinting
at the age of 55. In 1984, as one of eight Democrats
running for President, he could be found sprinting
barefoot through the hotel hallways.
He credited his participation in track with teaching him
the need to focus. He said he could have been in the
Olympic Games in 1936 and was good enough but didn't quite
make it because he did not concentrate enough. That taught
him a lesson that stayed with him throughout his life:
success requires discipline and focus.
His artistic bent was evident by three of his oils that
hung in his Senate office.
When praising someone of such wide and varied interests
and talents, the tributes often end up listing
accomplishment after accomplishment. And, as impressive as
that may be, such tributes often miss the soul of the man.
The life of Alan Cranston presents us with these goals: to
put the good of country and of the people of our Nation
first; to work tirelessly for the causes we believe are
important; to understand that, working together, we really
can change the world! We will miss him deeply, but we
pledge to remember his dedication and to carry on his
work.
IN MEMORY OF SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, earlier today several of my
colleagues gathered in the Senate to pay tribute and
celebrate the life of former Senator Alan Cranston. Like
my colleagues, I marvel at the passion and commitment
Senator Cranston brought to the issues he cared about
during his 86 years.
Senator Cranston's wide-ranging life experiences gave
him an incredible insight on some of the most important
events in the 20th century. We are fortunate that he
shared his experiences and perspective with us as a
journalist and an author, most notably with his 1945 book,
``The Killing of the Peace,'' which was an account of the
Senate's failure to join the League of Nations. The
Senator's distinguished career also included time as
president of the United World Federalists, Controller of
California, and as a leading figure in reforming the
California Democratic Party. His contributions will always
be remembered in these fields by those who worked with him
and benefited from his work.
However, I am most thankful for his commitment and
leadership on issues of peace and nuclear disarmament. As
many of my colleagues know, Senator Cranston and I share a
common perspective and commitment to these issues. His
leadership on disarmament and the abolition of nuclear
weapons is truly admirable. After leaving the Senate in
1993, Senator Cranston continued his push for nuclear arms
reductions. He launched a much-needed effort at the 1995
State of the World Forum to abolish nuclear weapons
worldwide through educating U.S. citizens and world
leaders. Senator Cranston took his message and crusade far
and wide, including to former Soviet Union President
Mikhail Gorbachev. Locally, my congressional district--
home to many caring and dedicated peace and environmental
groups--was fortunate enough 2 years ago to have Senator
Cranston join us for an event highlighting the need to
abolish nuclear weapons. Once again, he reminded us all
that while nuclear weapons will not be eliminated
overnight, the United States must be a leader and take the
first steps toward elimination of these weapons. As the
founder of the Global Security Institute, he was able to
forge ahead with this dream of abolishing nuclear weapons.
With his passing, the peace and nuclear disarmament
community certainly lost a true friend and leading voice.
On behalf of the thousands of citizen groups that will
continue to campaign for the elimination of nuclear
weapons, I thank him for his groundbreaking work in this
arena. And, everyone should know, we will continue in this
shared quest to make the world safe from the dangers of
nuclear weapons.
TRIBUTE TO LATE SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I wish today to join my
colleagues in paying my respects to one of California's
longtime, dedicated public servants, the late Senator Alan
Cranston, who passed away last New Year's Eve.
Alan Cranston's career of public service spanned almost
half of the 20th century. He was first elected State
Controller of California in 1958, and was sent to the
Senate by California voters in 1968. He served there
through 1993. Throughout his career, Cranston dedicated
himself to a range of important causes--seeking to
strengthen Federal environmental laws, to expand
assistance to the disadvantaged in society and to bolster
civil rights. His commitment to arms control led him to
work closely with President Reagan for the Intermediate
Range Nuclear Force Treaty, even though the two agreed on
little else. Senator Cranston was also respected for his
advocacy of the interests of his State--for farmers,
filmmakers, aerospace companies, financial institutions
and independent oil producers.
Throughout his career and throughout his life, Alan
Cranston distinguished himself with his hard work, his
tenacity and his self-discipline. He was an Olympic-class
runner who kept himself in shape through the end of his
life. He took the time to make himself an expert in
whatever issue he was working on. Whether it was arms
control, housing, or the views and concerns of his Senate
colleagues, Alan Cranston took the time to master the
subject. It was this discipline that made him an extremely
effective party builder, coalition builder, advocate and
legislator. That dedication and that commitment deserve
our respect.
Thursday, February 8, 2001
TRIBUTE TO ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, Alan Cranston, who died at the
age of 86 on December 31, 2000, represented California in
the U.S. Senate from 1969 until 1993. In addition to a
distinguished political career, Alan was an accomplished
writer and journalist, businessman, international advisor,
and leader in the movement to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Alan was effective in everything he pursued because he
had the intelligence to understand conceptual complexities
and the pragmatism to achieve what he wanted. He and Pat
Brown rejuvenated the California Democratic Party and led
it to power in 1958. My own experience with Alan goes back
to 1960 when I was a student at UCLA and he was a model
for young Democrats to follow. We were both active in the
California Democratic Council, a grassroots party
organization, and I was grateful for the personal support
he gave me a number of years later when I decided to run
for public office.
I learned from Alan that the enactment of good
legislation could not be accomplished without attracting
good people to our party. He was a visionary in knowing
how to help build a party to lead California, but he also
worked hard on the everyday nuts and bolts decisions that
would make it happen. He brought the same skills to the
U.S. Senate in 1968. He was a visionary in shaping the
debate on great issues--the Vietnam War, nuclear
proliferation, the rights of the disabled, medical care
for veterans--and he served as the Majority Whip for 14
years. He was a consummate vote counter and leadership
strategist, and he had a hand in crafting and moving some
of the most important legislation enacted while he served.
Lance Murrow once said, ``Leaders make things possible.
Great leaders make them inevitable.'' By every estimation,
Alan Cranston was a great leader.
Tuesday, March 6, 2001
IN MEMORY OF SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON
Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of a
truly remarkable man, one who genuinely exemplified what
it means to be a public servant, Senator Alan Cranston.
Cranston served four terms in the U.S. Senate, and as
the Democratic Whip during seven consecutive congressional
sessions. But more than that he served the American
people. He fought to protect the environment, to promote
peace and human rights and to control nuclear arms,
fighting tirelessly to prevent future usage of such
weapons. Cranston did not compromise his personal views
nor the best interests of his constituents during his
service.
A masterful legislator, Senator Cranston often served as
an integral figure in the passage of legislation. This
deft political touch allowed him to build coalitions,
using the power of an idea to transcend ideological
barriers.
An advocate of peace, Senator Cranston was an
influential figure in the termination of the Vietnam War
and in leading U.S. arms control and peace movements.
Despite his opposition of war, he led support for the
soldiers who fought in the conflict, voting solidly for
veterans benefits legislation from 1969 to 1992.
As former aide Daniel Perry wrote in Roll Call January
4, 2001, Cranston embodied the maxim, ``a leader can
accomplish great things if he doesn't mind who gets the
credit.''
My fellow colleagues, Senator Alan Cranston is a man who
deserves the respect and admiration of every citizen. Let
us recognize him for his years of dedication to public
service.
MEMORIAL SERVICES
FOR
ALAN CRANSTON
Alan MacGregor Cranston
June 19, 1914-December 31, 2000
A Memorial Celebration
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
January 16, 2001
Reception to follow in the Pavilion room of the Fairmont
Hotel
It is too probable that no plan we propose will be
adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be
sustained.
But if, to please the people, we offer that which we
ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our
work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the
honest can repair.
The event is in the hand of God.
--George Washington
At the Constitutional Convention
Soon after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Alan
was invited by Grenville Clark to a meeting of statesmen,
to examine the state of man in the atomic age, and to
consider steps requisite to survival and enduring peace.
Alan quoted Washington, urging participants to take
bolder strides than some were prepared for. His courage
caught Clark's fancy, who soon became Alan's friend and
mentor, and who guided Alan on his path as a crusader for
peace--a path that led him into public service, the U.S.
Senate, and beyond.
A leader is best
When people barely know
That he exists,
Less good when
They obey and acclaim him,
Worse when
They fear and despise him.
Fail to honor people
And they fail to honor you.
But of a good leader,
When his work is done,
His aim fulfilled,
They will all say,
``We did this ourselves.''
--Lao-Tzu
Prelude Christopher Putnam, Organ
Welcome and Opening The Very Reverend Alan Jones
Prayer
Musical Celebration Glide Memorial Ensemble
Remembrances Colette Penne Cranston
Kim Cranston
Senator Joseph Biden
Governor Gray Davis
Ambassador James Hormel
Sally Lilienthal
Justice Cruz Reynoso
William Turnage
Senator Harris Wofford
Jonathan Granoff
Selection from ``A German Requiem'' by Grace Cathedral Choir
Johannes Brahms
Blessing The Very Reverend Alan Jones
Recessional Iain Sherwood, Bagpipe
Alan Jones. Good afternoon. I am Alan Jones, the Dean of
the Cathedral, and it is my privilege to welcome you to
Grace Cathedral for this celebration of the life of Alan
MacGregor Cranston.
It is fitting that such a large-hearted man be honored
and remembered in a soaring and splendid space.
There was a comment in the London Times about the public
reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. First,
it showed that our instinct for devotion is still deep
within us. Second, that huge emotions require huge spaces,
like cathedrals. And third, that the things we do in them
are always up for change.
And so I invite you first to allow the instinct for
devotion, the call of something and someone larger than
ourselves to well up in you this afternoon, and I think
the Senator would have applauded anything that called us
out of our cynicism and challenged us not to accept
futility as normal.
I invite you also to acknowledge that huge emotions
require huge spaces. We need great spaces and ways of
celebration in order to locate ourselves in a larger
vision of the human enterprise.
And finally I invite you to be open to that fact, the
fact that things we do in places like this are always up
for change. Life is never business as usual, and nothing
would have pleased Alan more than for us to leave this
place resolved to make a difference.
So, we welcome you to Grace Cathedral for this
celebration of the life of a man who held a large and
generous vision of what it is to be human.
Our best way to honor him is to share and maintain that
vision of a just and humane society on a planet fit for
all living beings.
So as you remain seated, I invite you to pray.
Dear God, we thank you for the life and the work of Alan
MacGregor Cranston. His generous spirit opened doors and
touched many lives for good. His faith in the human
enterprise inspired us to accept the great joy and
responsibility of being human. His political skills
ensured an enduring legacy.
He was friend to those who had no voice, and a lover of
the great spaces of the wilderness. His long life touched
and was touched by the great events of our time. He was a
man for all seasons.
In public life he fought for what he believed with
passion and hard work. His caring, open-heartedness and
his respect for people touched the lives of many. His
generous spirit wanted everybody to do well, and this
generosity was infectious.
And so we thank you for his capacity for friendship, his
probing intelligence, and his refusal to be enticed into
meanness and pettiness.
Finally, we thank you for his life and example, and we
commend him into your gracious care. May we honor him by
re-dedicating ourselves to peace on Earth, and good will
to all people, and to building a more just and inclusive
America. Amen.
Colette Penne Cranston. Hello! I am Alan's daughter-in-
law, Colette. I am the first speaker because I need to be.
Our daughter has commented that I seem to have an endless
supply of tears. Since I was honored to have such a close,
personal relationship with Alan, I wanted to give you some
insights into his gentle, unwavering spirit. He was much
more than my father-in-law, he was my friend, my advisor
and now, and I know he will love this, he has become my
Jiminy Cricket, that little voice in my conscience that
says, `think before you leap!'
Kim, Evan, our 7-year-old daughter, and I live right
next to Alan on the same property. Alan's big sister, who
we call R.E., lived up the hill from us until recently.
This arrangement was such a gift for everyone! Alan and
Evan had great sunset walks together, evenings of art work
and stories around the fire at his place, and dinner dates
out just the two of them. They would dress up and go to a
restaurant, often one with a piano player, and make an
evening of it. Evan called him ``Gran.'' One night when
the two of them were returning from a walk, Kim called me
out to the balcony and said, ``Listen!'' We could hear
their voices but couldn't see them yet. Alan was saying,
``Well, you know, Evan, I don't know why that's true, but
it is true dogs love to ride in cars and cats don't.''
Just then they rounded the corner to come up the driveway
and they were holding hands.
A couple of years ago, the four of us spent 3 weeks in
the United Kingdom. Our first week in London, Alan was
occupied with meetings and a quick turnaround to Geneva,
but the final 2 weeks we toured the countryside with no
particular itinerary except to visit some relatives in
Scotland and the grave of Rob Roy MacGregor, an ancestor
who Alan's middle name is from. We also visited the graves
of Alan and R.E.'s great-grandparents six generations
back, whose tombstones were leaning together and touching.
Each evening before dinner, Alan would tell Evan a story,
some lasting 45 minutes. In the parlor of one bed and
breakfast where we stayed for 3 nights, other guests would
join in to listen and ask if they could come the next
night to hear the stories, they were that good.
One of the most important, and I believe, reassuring
lessons that we can take from Alan's life is that we do
not have to be limited in our later years. When we tell
people that Alan never retired, he never stopped working,
they do not really hear that. The truth is that he was the
most disciplined, diligent, and determined person I have
ever met. He was also still making friends with and
inspiring young people. Two such friends, a man in his
thirties and a woman in her forties, touched us with their
expressions of personal grief following Alan's death. The
young men in their twenties who work with Alan's Global
Security Institute, Patrick Neal, Zack Allen, and Tyler
Stevenson, are bright and motivated and will do great
things in their own lives with memories of Alan staying
with them. Don't we all wish for a life of impact and
meaning and a quick, painless end surrounded by those we
love? He did most everything right!
I can, of course, remember a difficult time in Alan's
career. At the time I was in an elected position also, so
I was very interested in how he was handling it. As I
watched what was happening to him, I asked him, ``Alan,
how can you bear this?'' He answered, ``Colette, there are
politics in the locker room, the boardroom and the U.S.
Senate. Since you have to put up with them wherever you
are, I want to be in the Senate, where the politics are
intense, but I can get the most done.''
Over Thanksgiving, Alan and his sister took a week's
vacation together. He was working to finish his book on
sovereignty rather than just relaxing by the pool and she
said, ``you work too hard.'' He replied, ``I want to
stagger across the finish line knowing I've done all I
possibly can!'' He did not stagger, he was still
sprinting!
I want to close with a message from our 7-year-old
daughter, Evan. Her Brownie troop leader read a story
about loss that she said helped her. It was about a badger
who was the oldest and wisest member of a community of
animals. He knew that because of his age, he might die
soon. Dying meant only that he would leave his body
behind, and as his body didn't work as well as when he was
young, he wasn't too concerned about that. His only worry
was how his family and friends would feel. He died before
the start of a winter and the animals were very sad. But
as they thought about him they realized he had given them
each something to treasure: a parting gift of a skill or
piece of knowledge. Evan said, ``Didn't Gran help lots of
people and do lots of things to make the world better?'' I
said, ``Yes, he left behind countless parting gifts for
all of us to never forget!''
Kim Cranston. Thank you all for being here today to
celebrate Alan's life--yes, I too called him Alan.
In the program for this ceremony is the observation of
the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu that Alan carried in his
pocket most of his life as a guide to the style of
leadership he practiced. It begins by observing that
leaders are best when people barely know that they exist,
and concludes by observing that of the best leader, when
his work is done, and his aim fulfilled, the people will
all say, ``we did this ourselves.''
In the world of modern politics in which name
recognition is so important, this approach to leadership
presented an interesting paradox for Alan, which is also
present today as we celebrate the accomplishments of his
life.
I understand, however, that there is a little known
addendum to Lao-Tzu's observation that states that ``after
such a leader has passed on, people will join together to
mourn their loss, celebrate their accomplishments, and
recommit to the causes they shared.'' I welcome you here
today in that spirit.
Alan touched many people's lives in many different ways.
We all have stories we can tell about times we spent and
things we did with Alan to make the world a better place.
This afternoon we have time for just a few of Alan's
friends and collaborators to share some of their stories
with us. I want to invite each of you to join us after
this ceremony at the reception at the Fairmont Hotel
where, in addition to having the opportunity to catch up,
laugh, and cry, there will be video cameras so each of you
can take a moment if you'd like to tell your story.
My own story is simple. I was incredibly blessed to have
had Alan as a wonderful father, my dearest and oldest
friend, a treasured teacher and mentor, and an invaluable
collaborator and leader in addressing the great challenges
of our time.
It is almost unbearable for me to think we will never
again in this life share another meal, or football game,
or joke or prank, or afternoon discussing strategy.
I learned many, many things from Alan. Five stand out
today.
First, I learned about the subtle, profound power of the
style of leadership he practiced. In the past few days
it's been very enriching for me to reflect on Lao-Tzu's
observation of leadership and everything that Alan helped
us accomplish in his lifetime.
Second, I learned that the greatest meaning in life is
found in making the world a better place. As one of Alan's
heroes, Martin Luther King, Jr., observed ``Life's most
persistent and urgent question is: `What are you doing for
others?' ''
Third, I learned something Alan understood early on: We
live in one of the most extraordinary moments in human
history. In our lifetimes, for the first time since humans
have inhabited the Earth, we have developed the capacity
to destroy human and perhaps all known life in the
universe forever, either through a sudden nuclear
holocaust or the more gradual destruction of the
environment. Simultaneously, we are developing the
capacity to create sustainable and economically just
societies.
What those of us alive now do together may well
determine which of these two paths we take, and could help
decide the fate of the human race. There exists a small
window of opportunity for us to act. A window of
opportunity that may well not exist for the generations of
our children or their children. If humanity is to
continue, if we are to prosper rather than perish, we must
transform our society and develop effective approaches to
resolve those challenges that we share and can only
address at the global level. This is the task before our
generation and it was to that end that Alan devoted most
of his working life.
The fourth lesson is that in view of all this it is
important to keep a sense of humor. Colette told me she'd
recently spoken with Alan about something someone had done
that affected them both, which she found very disturbing.
Colette asked Alan why it didn't seem to bother him as
much and he replied: ``I find that in situations like this
I can choose to be either terrified or amused.''
And the fifth lesson is to be compassionate to our
fellow living beings.
Of course, I learned a great deal more from Alan, but
these are the lessons foremost in my mind today.
While to many people Alan seemed a whirlwind of
activity, he was also a voracious reader and a prolific
writer.
In 1945, he published ``The Killing of the Peace,''
which detailed how a small group of people defeated
Woodrow Wilson's campaign to create the League of Nations
to address the global challenges we face, and which the
New York Times called one of the 10 most important books
of the year.
And just a few days before he passed on, Alan completed
a book--``The Sovereignty Revolution'' that begins with
the following passage:
It is worshiped like a god, and as little understood.
It is the cause of untold strife and bloodshed. Genocide
is perpetrated in its sacred name.
It is at once a source of power and of power's abuse, of
order and of anarchy. It can be noble and it can be
shameful.
It is sovereignty.
I commend this book to you all and I'm happy to announce
today it will soon be available through, among other
places, the Web site for the Global Security Institute
(www.gsinstitute.org), the non-profit organization Alan
recently founded to advance his work to abolish nuclear
weapons and advance global security.
While we all miss Alan, we can take solace in knowing
that he fulfilled the purpose of making a difference with
his life and leaving the world a better place.
In closing, I want to thank you again for being here to
mourn the loss we all share, celebrate what we've
accomplished, and recommit to the causes that brought us
together. As Alan would say at the end of nearly all of
his speeches, I thank you for all you are doing and urge
you onward.
Thank you.
Gray Davis. First I want to express the deep condolences
of my wife Sharon and I to Eleanor Cameron, Alan's sister,
to Kim, Colette, and to the extended Cranston family.
My friends, we come here today not just to mourn Alan
Cranston, but to honor him. We're greatly saddened by his
passing, but we're grateful for his extraordinary life and
the rich legacy he left behind.
Alan was a native Californian who grew up to be an
extraordinary public servant. He had a sharp intellect, a
humility of spirit, and a quality of compassion that is
rare in life and rarer still in public life. He was an
extraordinary person. Yes, he was a pragmatist who
understood that progress was a long struggle for common
ground. But he was also an idealist who believed that
violence anywhere was a threat to freedom everywhere.
He reminded us that there is a moral force in this world
more powerful than the mightiest of nations or the force
of arms. And one by one, he tackled the great issues of
our time: World peace; arms control; veterans health;
environment. One by one, he made a difference.
For those of you fortunate enough to spend some time in
the Golden Gate National Recreational Area or the Santa
Monica Mountains or the desert lands that he protected,
you know what a difference he made. Future generations
will acknowledge their debt of gratitude to Alan Cranston,
and it is most appropriate that we thank him today.
Alan was also a very good politician. He ran every race
with the same focus and intensity that he learned running
the 100-yard dash back at Stanford. He was almost always
the underdog. Critics dismissed his chances, saying he
lacked the charisma to win. But Alan proved time and again
that in this State character, not charisma, is what people
want most.
He became only the second Californian to be elected four
times to the U.S. Senate--Hiram Johnson being the first.
He became the patron saint of every candidate for office
inflicted with a charisma deficit, myself included. He is
my personal hero.
Alan may have lacked charisma, but he was enormously
resourceful. Eleanor tells in her book the story of Alan's
first race for Controller in 1958. Alan knew someone who
had a television show in Los Angeles. But the host of the
show reminded Alan he was contractually obligated to talk
about contact lenses. He couldn't mention he was a
candidate for office and under no circumstances could he
say he was a Democrat. But as I said before, Alan was very
resourceful. So he went on the show just a few days before
his election and he said, ``My name is Alan Cranston. I'm
running up and down the State making contacts and jumping
in front of lenses. I am Alan Cranston.'' The viewing
audience didn't have a clue what he was talking about. But
he mentioned the name Alan Cranston eight times. And even
though he'd never been elected to public office before, he
was elected Controller of the State of California. So Alan
knew what he was talking about.
Finally my friends, Alan Cranston was part of the World
War II generation, a generation that Tom Brokaw has aptly
described as our ``Greatest Generation.'' A generation
from which much was asked and a great deal was given. A
generation that went to Europe and stood down Adolf
Hitler's Nazi regime, rescued the survivors of the
Holocaust, and literally saved democracy as we know it
today.
It was a generation that came home with no expectation
of recognition and went about rebuilding a new America. A
generation that built roads, hospitals and businesses, and
paved the way for the digital economy, although most did
not live to enjoy it. A generation that did their duty,
and then came home.
God has called Alan Cranston home. I know God has
blessed his soul. I know God will give Alan enduring peace
for which he struggled his entire life to try and obtain
for all the peoples of the world. I ask you to say a
prayer tonight for Alan, his family and his loved ones.
It was my honor to lower the flag today in recognition
of his remarkable career, and it's my honor now to present
it to Kim and Colette. Thank you.
Joseph Biden. My name is Joe Biden. I served with Alan
for 20 of his 24 years in the Senate, but I consider
myself more a student of Alan's. Kim, Colette, Evan, I
never fully understood your father's tenacity, by the way,
until I heard the repeated emphasis on the middle name
MacGregor. Now I understand it better. Eleanor, my sister
Valerie says it's very difficult raising a brother; you
obviously did well at your chore.
I'm very grateful, and indeed privileged, for having the
honor of being here today to represent the U.S. Senate and
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It's a task that's
well beyond my capabilities, because the life we
commemorate was so extraordinary. To you, his family, to
us, his colleagues and friends, and to the people of this
State and Nation, we're not likely to see anyone like Alan
anytime soon.
I can't help but think of American architect Daniel
Burnham's credo when I think of Alan. He said--
``Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's
blood. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work,
remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded
will never die, but long after we are gone will be a
living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing
intensity.''
Intensity, big plans, no little plans, that was the Alan
Cranston that I knew. Most of us would consider it a
successful career if we did nothing other than be sued by
Adolf Hitler. But here's a fellow, a young man who came
back from Europe as a correspondent, who felt obliged to
translate accurately ``Mein Kampf,'' who felt obliged to
begin a crusade to expose Adolf Hitler. This is a fellow
who didn't just decide to help a little bit. I remember
the lecture I got on redwood forests. I had not seen one
and did not know they had to be preserved. This is a
fellow who had no lesser aim than to eliminate nuclear
weapons in his time, to guarantee racial equality, to
provide durable, affordable housing. I know of no man that
I've served with in the Senate, and I've been there 28
years, who had as many intense interests and contributed
so much to so many different endeavors.
What accounted for that intensity that dominated Alan's
character? It used to baffle me until one day I figured it
out--it was Alan's integrity, his honesty, his inability
to rationalize to himself that he didn't have any
responsibility for this or that problem that he observed
in this country.
Alan had an inner compass that would have plagued most
of us. He could spot injustice a mile away. He smelled
hypocrisy almost before he walked in the room. He knew
what had to be done, and he unfailingly did it, or at
least attempted to do it, usually before anyone else, and
almost always at some risk to himself. I think integrity,
political integrity, personal integrity, is doing what you
know to be right even when you know it's likely not to
benefit you. Alan was one of the few people I served with
who never, never wondered whether he should act based on
whether what he was about to do was popular.
Alan MacGregor Cranston was born in 1914. He was almost
30 years my senior, yet he was one of the youngest people
I have ever known and have ever served with.
It was not just that his policy priorities would fit
under the heading of progressive, although they would, but
with Senator Cranston, the Senator from California, it was
more than that. There was what Robert Kennedy described
as--
``The qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state
of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a
predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for
adventure over the love of ease.''
We've all heard that quote a thousand times, but I can
think of none other that describes the Alan Cranston that
I worked with, although some of you knew him much more
intimately.
Alan's commitment to arms control, his passion for
environmental protection, his leadership in public housing
and transportation, women's rights, civil rights, civil
liberties, his concern for justice in immigration laws;
those efforts, those views had nothing to do with fashion,
and everything to do with conviction.
The Senator was not one for looking at a situation and
deciding what he believed, he knew exactly what he
believed. His public positions were not just what he said
and what he did, they were who Alan Cranston was.
The Senator was armed with conviction, but he always
knew that wasn't enough. He was an athlete, after all, and
understood that it's not enough to have talent; that if
you want it to matter, you have to do something with it,
and work like hell at it.
Alan Cranston did work, and he worked at leadership. He
understood power, not as a reflection of status, but a
tool for a purpose, and he used it as well as any man or
woman I've ever known.
In his 24 years in the Senate and the years since, Alan
Cranston pushed our consciousness and our conscience on
every issue of consequence, particularly nuclear weapons.
He was not just a powerful Senator from California, not
just an influential member of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, not just a Democratic Whip; he was truly a
world leader on nuclear policy. In China, in North Korea,
in the Middle East, they had to factor in Alan Cranston
when they made their decisions.
He was an internationalist in the great American
tradition, with an idealist's love of peace and a passion
for freedom, and he had a realist's understanding of the
global balance of power and simple human nature.
He had learned from history, he taught from history, but
kept his eye and his aim always on the future: the future
of the Philippines, the future of our relationship with
Russia, and what that would mean to the world, the future
of our natural resources, and the generation of Americans
that we'll never know.
Alan Cranston ran the 100-yard dash in under 10 seconds
when he was at Stanford, and I might add under 12\1/2\
seconds when he was almost 60 years old. He was
consistent, and he was fast, in a hurry, I would suggest,
not to reach the finish line, but to get to the next race,
the next test, the next opportunity, the next possibility,
always possibilities. The certainty of a redwood, the
spirit of a wild river, ``a predominance of courage over
timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of
ease.''
The playwright Sam Shepherd wrote, ``character is an
essential tendency. It can be covered up, it can be messed
with, it can be screwed around with, but it can't
ultimately be changed. It is the structure of our blood
that runs through our veins.'' Evan, you've got good
blood, kid. It runs through your veins.
Ted Turner (via video). I could not begin to say enough
about my dear friend Senator Cranston. I'm so sorry he's
passed away. He has been an inspiration to me for a number
of years, no more so than in the area of weapons of mass
destruction. And even though he did not live to get to see
the end and the abolition of nuclear weapons from this
world, there are a lot of us that are going to continue
his work, and I am one of them. We're going to miss you
very much, Senator. Thank you very much.
Sally Lilienthal. Jonathan Schell wrote recently that
Alan Cranston has quietly done more than any other
American to marshal public will to abolish nuclear
weapons. He brought the issue of nuclear arms reductions
and abolition to the attention of business leaders,
policymakers and cultural figures--and most difficult of
all, to retired generals and admirals. And never by e-
mail--he didn't have it.
Our last endeavor together was a national campaign to
mobilize places of worship, which is gathering steam today
in Christian churches, Jewish synagogues and Muslim
mosques, and which was originally housed and organized at
the Washington Cathedral in the Nation's Capital--the
other cathedral.
Early last summer, 2 years of work came to fruition at
an ecumenical service where religious figures together
with former generals and admirals called for the reduction
and abolition of nuclear weapons. That started the ongoing
campaign, the nub of which was the statement Alan wrote
and rewrote to get it finally signed by 18 retired
admirals and generals joining in with 21 religious figures
around the country. Alan was a marvelous writer and
consensus builder. It wasn't easy to sign up the top
military figures to reduce and finally abolish nuclear
weapons, for abolition is not part of Pentagon thinking.
And besides, less than 4 years before he had traveled
widely to recruit 63 different internationally based
generals and admirals to sign another affirmation on the
same subject. Let me read you two short sentences from the
statement signed by military and church which is at the
nub, one might say, of our ecumenical campaign.
``We say that a peace based on terror, a peace based
upon threats of inflicting annihilation and genocide upon
whole populations, is a peace that is corrupting--a peace
that is unworthy of civilization.''
And he went on to write: ``We say that it defies all
logic to believe that nuclear weapons could exist forever
and never be used. This nuclear predicament is untenable
in the face of a faith in the divine and unacceptable in
terms of sound military doctrine.''
Alan was always positive. I never saw him downhearted
during this laborious struggle to rid the world of nuclear
weapons. He was tireless in working toward our goal and he
never ever thought of failure. So he leaves us with an
active legacy--the most important legacy of all--that of
hope, good solid hope.
William Turnage. My name is Bill Turnage. I came to
know--and to love--Alan Cranston during my 7 years in
Washington as president of the Wilderness Society. Kim has
asked me to talk about Alan's great work as an
environmentalist.
California--our Golden State--has been twice-blessed by
the mountain gods.
We have been granted a land among Earth's most sublime
yet diverse.
And we've been granted a few splendid champions to
protect that heritage.
In early days, farsighted San Franciscans like Thomas
Starr King and Frederick Billings came forward to protect
the Yosemite.
The idea of a national park was born at the time--
perhaps the best new idea our American democracy has ever
had.
And these early champions enlisted a great Californian
photographer--Carleton Watkins--to make pictures that
would help persuade the Congress.
And their dream of a Yosemite Park was first given shape
and form by America's greatest landscape architect,
Frederick Law Olmsted.
And when the Yosemite Sierra was threatened by hooved
locusts--and loggers--and miners--John Muir came forward
and founded the Sierra Club--and he protected the heart of
the High Sierra, the range of light.
And great Muir bequeathed the protection of the Yosemite
to his inheritor, San Francisco's native son, Ansel Adams.
They were two of the greatest environmental philosophers
in our Nation's history.
And to turn their dreams into reality, California was
blessed with two of our Nation's greatest environmental
legislators, Phil Burton and Alan Cranston.
And Alan and Ansel formed a very special friendship--a
friendship dedicated to saving wild California. Ansel
wrote in his autobiography, ``I have known many great
people in California's history, spanning my 60 active
years. But I have never been in contact with a public
official of such integrity, imagination, concern and
effectiveness as Alan Cranston . . . I have found him to
be a great leader, one who transcends party politics for
causes of essential human importance.''
The honor roll of California's wild places Alan helped
save is too long to recite here; it encompassed our State
from the Oregon border redwoods to the Mojave Desert in
the south.
Perhaps Alan's most lasting contribution to our
country's future was his characteristically quiet,
determined and effective leadership of the long, arduous,
but ultimately successful campaign to save the best of
wild Alaska.
One hundred million acres--the size of the State of
California--preserved for all time. We simply could not
have done it without Alan's undaunted leadership.
And it could be said that Alan's most lasting
contribution to our Golden State was his
characteristically patient yet visionary leadership of the
long, arduous, but ultimately successful campaign to save
the best of the great Californian desert.
In 1994, when the Desert Protection Act was finally
coming to fruition in a Democratic Presidency--and Alan
had retired from the Senate--I proposed, with Alan's
consent, naming the vast wilderness areas of Death Valley
National Park--95 percent of the largest park in the lower
48--``the Alan Cranston Wilderness.''
Regrettably, the proposal was declined. Today--at this
time of remembrance and in this hallowed place--I would
like to again propose that we join together to ask the
Congress to name this wilderness--now known simply as
``The Death Valley Wilderness''--for our great friend and
Senator. The honor, like the wilderness he made possible,
will last for all time.
James Hormel. My admiration for Alan Cranston began over
a half century ago, although he was not aware of it at the
time. The United Nations was 4 years old. The Iron Curtain
had fallen. Isolationists were urging the United States to
avoid international commitments. And President Truman was
moving--against that tide--to facilitate the economic
revival of western Europe.
In that climate, at the age of 16, I became a member of
a student chapter of the United World Federalists, which
was hailed by some as a major movement toward peaceful co-
existence and was excoriated by others--a very vocal
opposition--as a gathering of Communist sympathizers. Alan
had just become president of the organization. It was
typical of the many challenges which he so willingly took
on during the course of his long and productive life.
Alan already had taken on Adolf Hitler by publishing an
unexpurgated version of ``Mein Kampf.'' He already had
served during the Second World War both in the Office of
War Information and in the Army. He would augment that
service during a long political career, including the
resuscitation of the Democratic Party in California and
the outstanding 24 years during which he was a U.S.
Senator.
It was during his Senate years that we met and developed
a friendship which meant so much to me. I admired Alan's
courageous stands on conservation and social justice, and
his unswerving dedication to the peaceful resolution of
conflicts around the world. I discovered coincidentally
that his grandfather had built the house next door to
mine, a fact which underscored his California roots and
his deep concerns for the well-being of his California
constituents. Independently I met and became a friend of
his son Kim, which gave me a window into another dimension
of Alan--Alan as father.
One of Alan's last acts as a Senator was to write the
letters which started the long and arduous process of my
Ambassadorial appointment. Alan was instrumental not only
in beginning the process, but also in guiding me through
many of the minefields which lay in my path.
My memory of Alan is as a gentle giant. His goodness
radiated to all around him. He was a great leader--the
very embodiment of the highest level of leadership as
described by Lao-Tzu, whose words he carried with him as
his life's philosophy, as he sought quietly and selflessly
to make this planet a better place for all of us.
May we have the wisdom and courage to follow his
example.
Harris Wofford. You may not know that in her last years,
while still painting, Georgia O'Keeffe wrote some still
not published short stories that she showed me. The one
that rises in my memory was about a man she met in her
first days in New Mexico. He invited her to see his ranch,
300 miles away, and one day she drove down (hiding her
suitcase in case she decided not to spend the night). She
stayed overnight and from time to time they would visit,
doing very prosaic things, sometimes just watching the
horses he trained, or walking over the land, or looking at
the hills.
Five decades later she drove down to his ranch, maybe
for the last time, she thought. They sat a long time
looking at the hills and she found herself saying to
herself with great satisfaction: ``Fifty years of
friendship with Richard.''
That's all the story said. Well, for me it's 55 years of
friendship with Alan. There was little--too little--time
just sitting and watching the hills. He was always on the
go, running sprints or long distance.
When we met just after World War II we were setting out
on no little prosaic mission--it was a crusade to make one
world a reality in a United Nations with the power to keep
the peace and prevent nuclear war. When we last met at his
home in Los Altos a year ago, his smile was still
infectious and he was still hard at work, in his
irrepressible way, on the same mission, persuading
generals and admirals and people of power to join in a new
declaration for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
When I reread Eleanor's wonderful, perceptive, loving
biography of her brother, I realized how much our lives
intersected over the years and how much his life
intersected with the great issues of our time.
In 1948, Alan gave my wife Clare her first job directing
United World Federalists of Northern California. He caused
one of the greatest tensions in our half century of
marriage when he ran for President on the great central
issue of nuclear peace and asked me to be one of the three
co-chairs of his campaign with Marjorie Benton and Willie
Brown. Clare did not want me to do that. She loved Alan
but did not think he could win, and thought it was the one
time in our life when I should stick to working as a
lawyer and make some money.
Like many who would rally to his quiet calls over the
years, I could not say ``no.'' In his 60 years of public
service Alan brought many people of different persuasions
to say ``yes'' and to work together for good things. One
of those times he played a key part in my appointment to
the U.S. Senate--which I like to think was a good thing.
Two days after Senator John Heinz died in an air crash,
Governor Casey asked me if I knew a particular major donor
to the Democratic Party and I said no. ``Then why did he
write me this extraordinary letter asking me to appoint
you to the Senate?,'' Casey asked. I had no idea. That was
the beginning of a flood of different, well-done letters
in the same vein, from a range of significant people
around the country. A few days later Alan telephoned to
tell me that as soon as he heard the news of John Heinz'
death he had gone to work on the phone, producing those
letters--which I'm sure influenced Casey in my selection.
But the intersection of our lives began way back. From
Eleanor's book I realized that Alan's first journalistic
break was covering Mussolini in 1938, and that the speech
he heard in the Piazza de Venezia when Mussolini took
Stalin out of the League of Nations was the same one I
heard in that same square as a 12-year-old boy. Alan's
greatest adventure in journalism was getting into Ethiopia
for some months after the Italian invasion. One of my
greatest adventures was going to Ethiopia with my family,
in the Peace Corps.
Before we met, each of us had written a book in 1945
calling for a world union to keep the peace. Alan's was
the powerful story of how isolationism in the Senate had
killed the peace after World War I. It was a sign of his
determination to go to the Senate to see that this did not
happen again.
Despite all the help that Alan gave me in my election
campaigns--and Joe Biden and John Kerry who are here--my
tenure in the Senate was very short. His was very long--
and great.
By my count only Ted Kennedy, in this century, rivals
Alan in legislative accomplishments. Alan's mark was on a
thousand bills and countless votes, large and small, where
his coalition building skill was the key to success.
Like Lincoln, Alan Cranston truly believed that the
better angels of our nature can be brought forth in this
land. He did not discount the demons and distractions in
the way, but he demonstrated that politics is not only the
art of the possible--it is the only way to make reason
rule.
It was our good luck--the good luck of so many of us
here and around the country--to have had these many years
of friendship with Alan Cranston.
Jane Goodall (via video). I'm tremendously honored to
have been asked to take part in the memorial to someone I
admired so much as Alan Cranston. My body is far away in
Africa but I want you to know that my thoughts are with
you now.
I never got a chance to know Alan really well in life
because our paths didn't cross that often. But what I saw
I loved, and like everyone, I admired Alan so much for his
integrity and his sincerity and his determination to try
and rid the world of the most evil weapons of mass
destruction that we ever created, and Alan did so much to
alert people to the hidden dangers of these weapons
stockpiled around the world.
We shall miss his leadership most terribly, but his
spirit is still around, still with us, guiding us,
encouraging us, and above all, joining us together so that
we can move confidently toward the goal that he was
setting, and make this world a safer place for his
grandchildren and ours and the children yet unborn. Thank
you, Alan, for being who you were. Thank you.
Cruz Reynoso. I once read that ``the most powerful
weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.''
Alan's soul was always on fire for the welfare of those
in need, for the strength of our democracy, for human
dignity, and for a world at peace.
It must have been 1959 or 1960 when my wife and I, with
others from the El Centro Democratic Club from Imperial
Valley (the center of the world), traveled to Fresno for
the annual convention of the CDC, Council of Democratic
Clubs. A featured speaker was Alan Cranston. To this day,
I remember being inspired--he spoke of the role of
government in helping the disadvantaged, of the need for
economic democracy, of the right we all have in equal
protection and fairness, and government's responsibility
in protecting those rights, and of our responsibility to
be active participants. That a person with his soul on
fire for those ideals I held dear could actually be
elected to statewide office was, to me, a marvel and
inspiration that I never forgot.
A decade later I found myself as director of California
Rural Legal Assistance. CRLA was the leading legal
services for the poor. Many entrenched interests,
including the State government, found themselves on the
losing side of many lawsuits CRLA brought on behalf of its
clients--farmworkers, MediCal recipients, working poor.
Those interests fought back. Alan worked closely with CRLA
to protect our professional independence and assure our
continued existence. As I saw it, there was little
political gain for Alan--it was his devotion to fairness
and to the concept of human dignity that brought us
together. Eventually, it was President Nixon who overrode
the State veto of CRLA, thereby saving legal services.
And years later Alan's son, Kim, I and countless others
joined Alan in our mutual efforts to register thousands of
new voters, an effort to include all in our Democratic
society.
Not all efforts were on a grand scale. My latest, and
still ongoing task, has been to represent a prisoner who
is in Soledad for a life term. Alan was convinced that the
prisoner was fully rehabilitated. He called to see if I
could help. My associate, Tom Gray, and I worked with
Alan. We will continue.
Not all was work. I remember those wonderful
conversations as we dined in the Senate restaurant. Once,
Alan invited me to a marvelous San Francisco eatery. At
the end of the evening Alan invited me to join his
Washington, D.C., office in a position of considerable
responsibility. Unfortunately, I could not accept the
offer, but the food had been great.
Alan's interest went beyond prison walls or the 50
United States. His efforts have sought peace for this
globe. John Amos Gomenius, the Czech religious and
educational leader, wrote about 350 years ago:
``We are all citizens of one world, we are all of one
blood. To hate a man because he was born in another
country, he speaks a different language, or because he
takes a different view on this subject or that, is a great
folly . . . Let us have one end in view, the welfare of
humanity.''
Alan's soul was always on fire--for the welfare of an
individual human being--or the welfare of all humanity.
Jonathan Granoff. My name is Jonathan Granoff. I've had
the privilege of working with Senator Cranston on the
abolition of nuclear weapons with Lawyer's Alliance for
World Security, with the State of the World Forum, with
the Middle Powers Initiative, and, most recently, with the
Global Security Institute.
Recently, some journalists from Japan were here in the
beginning of December interviewing Senator Cranston, and I
was there, and they asked me what I did as the CEO of the
Global Security Institute. So I said, and I meant this,
when a tree is ripe with fruit, an intelligent person will
sit beneath the tree and gather the sweet fruit. Alan is
still giving us fruit. And Alan's example of being a true
human being is the sweetest fruit that we could be given,
because Alan taught by seamlessly integrating the highest
human values with his daily life.
He exemplified decency and elegance in action. He lived
without prejudice. People say they live without prejudice;
Alan didn't say it, he just lived it. He didn't harbor any
doubts or suspicions about others, he never engaged in
backbiting or any pettiness, and he was tranquil in the
midst of an extraordinary dynamism, like a smooth,
powerful river.
He was full of grace. Alan Cranston remains for us a
statesman in a state of grace. His grace was exemplified
in the ease he had in the midst of conflict, because that
ease rested on a real faith in the intrinsic goodness of
humanity. Because he had found that goodness in himself,
and for those of us who had the privilege of working with
him, we know that's how he got us to do things, because we
knew that he never asked anybody to do anything he
wouldn't do; he's the guy who would be up at 2 in the
morning, and then up again at 6:30.
Adversaries were only so as to the issue at hand, but
never as to the person, because Alan honored everyone. His
inner clarity and strength was coupled with this unique
ability, and even desire, to hear everyone's point of
view, not as a political ruse, but because Alan honored
everyone.
Alan understood fully two icons his parents did not have
that we inherited from the 20th century. The first is the
awesome, horrific mushroom cloud arising from science and
the quest for unbridled power, unreined by morality, law
and reason, and the other icon is the picture of the
planet from outer space, borderless, majestic, alive and
sacred.
Alan honored all life by holding the second icon before
him, and that is why he focused most intensely on the
nuclear issue, because that and that alone can end all
life on the planet, and it becomes the moral standard of
our civilization. I had the privilege of traveling with
Alan and going all over the world working on this issue,
and one of the amazing things is I would forget how old he
was, because his body got old, but he didn't. He had found
that secret of the joyous heart, he had found that place
of tranquility in action.
George Crile is a CNN and ``60 Minutes'' producer,
beloved, very beloved of Alan, and he has put together
some footage to give us all a sense of what it's like to
be on the road with Alan Cranston.
[video insert]
Death is such a mystery, and the only comfort is the
love that we bring to our lives, and the faithfulness with
which we carry forth the mission that great men have given
us. Alan, we will follow in your loving memory. We will
stay the course. We will be vigilant until nuclear weapons
are abolished.
We are guided by the philosophy that you held with you
by Lao-Tzu:
A leader is best
When people barely know
That he exists,
Less good when
They obey and acclaim him,
Worse when
They fear and despise him.
Fail to honor people
And they fail to honor you.
But of a good leader,
When his work is done,
His aim fulfilled,
They will all say,
``We did this ourselves.''
Senator Cranston sought no honor for himself. He honored
life itself through his service. Together and with your
help, we will follow in his large footsteps, and on the
day when the work is done, the aim fulfilled, we will know
that we did not do it alone. Thank you, Alan. May God give
you infinite peace, infinite bliss, infinite love, Amen.
Alan Jones. We've come to the end of a deeply felt
tribute to a great soul. And any celebration of a great
soul confronts us with choices. And so I offer this final
blessing.
There are only two feelings, love and fear. There are
only two languages, love and fear. There are only two
activities, love and fear. There are only two motives, two
procedures, two frameworks, two results. Love and fear.
Let us choose love.
The eye of the great God be upon you, the eye of the God
of glory be upon you, the eye of the son of Mary be on
you, the eye of the spirit be on you to aid you and
shepherd you, and the kindly eye of the three be on you to
aid you and shepherd you and give you peace, now and
always, Amen.
Memorial Tribute to
Alan Cranston
U.S. Senator
1969-1993
February 6, 2001
2:00 pm
Hart Senate Office Building
Room 902
Washington, D.C.
A leader is best
When people barely know
That he exists,
Less good when
They obey and acclaim him,
Worse when
They fear and despise him.
Fail to honor people
And they fail to honor you.
But of a good leader,
When his work is done,
His aim fulfilled,
They will all say,
``We did this ourselves.''
--Lao-Tzu
(c. 604-c. 531 B.C.)
For a half-century,
Alan Cranston carried this poem,
reflecting his personal philosophy of leadership.
Program
Musical Prelude United States Army Strings
Introductions and Closing Judge Jonathan Steinberg
Speakers Senator Max Cleland
Senator Alan Simpson
Senator Edward Kennedy
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Barbara Boxer
Representative G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery
Representative John B. Anderson
Representative George Miller
Senator John Kerry
Senator Maria Cantwell
Kim Cranston
Family in attendance Kim Cranston
Colette Penne Cranston
Evan Cranston
Eleanor (R.E.) Cranston Cameron
Event Sponsors
Senators Cleland, Simpson, Rockefeller, Kennedy,
Feinstein, and Boxer
Event Planning and Arrangements
Bill Brew, Fran Butler, Kelly Cordes, Chad Griffin,
Bill Johnstone, Susanne Martinez, Dan Perry,
Ed Scott, Jon Steinberg, Lorraine Tong,
Elinor Tucker
Senator Cranston's 24 years of service in the U.S.
Senate exceeded that of any California Democratic Senator
and was the second longest tenure of any California
Senator. He was elected Democratic Whip seven times, and
his service of 14 years in that position is unequaled. His
Committee service was:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1969-1993 Committee on Banking and Currency (Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs)
1971-1973 Chairman, Subcommittee on Production and
1975-1979 Stabilization
1973-1975 Chairman, Subcommittee on Small Businesses
1979-1985 Chairman or Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee
on Financial Institutions
1985-1987 Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Securities
1987-1993 Chairman, Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1969-1981 Committee on Labor and Public Welfare (Human
Resources)
1969-1971 Chairman, Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs
1971-1973 Chairman, Subcommittee on Railroad Retirement
1971-1981 Chairman, Subcommittee on Child and Human Development
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1981-1993 Committee on Foreign Relations
1981-1985 Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Arms
Control, Oceans, International Operations, and
Environment
1985-1993 Chairman or Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee
on East Asian and Pacific Affairs
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1971-1992 Committee on Veterans' Affairs
1977-1992 Chairman or Ranking Minority Member
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, Senator Cranston served on the Committee on
the Budget (1975-1979), the Select Committee on Nutrition
and Human Needs (1975-1977), and the Select Committee on
Intelligence (1987-1993).
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. On behalf of the sponsors,
Senators Cleland, Simpson, Rockefeller, Kennedy,
Feinstein, and Boxer, welcome to this Memorial Tribute to
Senator Alan Cranston. At the outset, I want to express
our appreciation to the United States Army Strings for
their prelude musical offerings today. Also, thanks to C-
Span for covering this event. This turnout today is itself
a wonderful testimonial to the work of this man of the
Senate, Alan Cranston, and we are absolutely delighted
that his family has journeyed here from California to
share in this tribute--his son Kim and daughter-in-law
Colette, and their child and Alan's granddaughter, Evan,
who graces the program cover with Alan, and we are so
happy that Alan's wonderful, 91-year-old sister, R.E., who
wrote a biography about Alan, is with us as well.
During his 24 years as a Senator, Alan Cranston did much
to better the lives of the people of his State and the
people of this country and all countries. You will hear
much about those efforts and achievements today. In my
role, I am a proxy for the scores of staff who worked for
Alan Cranston over his Senate career. I began in March
1969, almost at the beginning, and stayed 21\1/2\ years.
I've always thought that one could tell a great deal about
the kind of person someone was by how those who worked
most closely with him felt about him. I think it speaks
volumes about Alan Cranston--and Alan is the way he asked
his staff always to refer to him--that so many worked with
him for so long. In fact, five worked for him for his full
24 years; two others worked more than 20 years; five
others for 15 years or more, and three or four for 10 or
more years. I doubt that any Senator has surpassed that
record for staff loyalty and staff satisfaction.
Alan was wonderful to work for and with. He was not a
saint, of course, but he was a gentleman through and
through. He gave respect to get respect. To me he was a
mentor, a teacher, an inspiration, and a friend. I loved
him. I will always remember him. And when I do, I will
think back to our last meeting--at dinner on November 13.
He was strong and vibrant and full of passionate
commitment to the cause of the elimination of nuclear
weapons. I remember our hugging goodbye. It was a great
hug, but I wish I had held on a little longer.
A few announcements before we get to our speakers: First
of all, I want to remind each of you to please sign one of
the guest books in the lobby before you leave. I hope
you've each gotten a program. If not, you can pick one up
on the way out. And also on the way out, there is a paper
on Senator Cranston's legislative legacy in the Senate.
Before I introduce our first speaker, I want to note the
presence here--now or expected--in addition to those who
will speak, of many distinguished Members of the Senate
and House: Senator Rockefeller, who is one of our
sponsors; Senator Lugar, Senator Leahy, Senator Dodd,
Senator Bingaman, Senator Sarbanes, Senator Dorgan, former
Senator DeConcini, and Representatives Waxman, Filner,
Roybal, Capps, Woolsey, and Harmon. Also with us is former
Senator Harris Wofford, who spoke so eloquently at the
Grace Cathedral in San Francisco on January 16, and Mark
Schneider, former director of the Peace Corps, which
Harris Wofford was instrumental in starting, in which
Senator Dodd served as a volunteer in Central America, and
in which Alan Cranston believed so deeply. We are also
honored to have the presence of three Cabinet Members, all
from California--Secretary of Transportation Norman
Mineta, Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, and
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tony Principi.
Our first speaker has timed it impeccably. Our first
speaker is, fittingly, the lead sponsor of today's
tribute. Simply put, Alan Cranston loved Max Cleland--as
do I. They first met in 1969, and I'm sure Senator Cleland
will talk about that. Alan was truly overjoyed at Max's
election to the Senate in 1996. I want to express my
gratitude to Max personally and to his staff, Bill
Johnstone, Farrar Johnston, and David VanLandingham, for
all of their help with the arrangements for this event.
And now our first speaker, Senator Max Cleland of
Georgia.
Senator Max Cleland. Thank you all very much and thank
you, Jon Steinberg, for being uncharacteristically brief.
I see so many of my colleagues here. Really my first
real exposure to the U.S. Senate came about because Alan
Cranston cared. He was an unusual individual. I visited
the Dirksen Building here for the first time in December
1969. I was still basically a patient in the VA hospital
system when I was asked to appear before something called
the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs about how the
VA was handling returning Vietnam War veterans. That
meeting was chaired by a tall, lean freshman California
Senator named Alan Cranston. I really didn't know him
then, but it became the start of a three-decade
friendship.
In 1974, I ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor in
Georgia, and, other than my own priority for my own race,
my second priority in the whole world in terms of politics
was to make sure Alan Cranston got re-elected in 1974.
Actually, Alan was very kind to me, and brought me out to
California, and I got a chance to campaign for him and
kind of clear out some of the cobwebs that I had in my own
mind about politics and about life. We campaigned together
and I found him just as inspiring and invigorating in that
campaign as when I had met him in 1969.
It's amazing how life works. Little did I know that, as
someone from Georgia, someone from California would be
critical in my continued service in public life. I did
lose my race for Lieutenant Governor in 1974 and,
therefore, was unemployed. Christmas Eve, 1974, I called
my friend Jonathan Steinberg, and said, ``I just wanted to
wish you the happiest of holidays'' and said, ``By the
way, if you're looking for anybody who wants to work, I'm
available.'' He said, ``Are you serious?'' And I said, ``I
am deadly serious.'' Well, it was Alan Cranston that made
it possible for me to get a $12,500-a-year job on the
staff of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee in the
spring of 1975. That was more money than I'd ever made in
my whole entire life.
I was there a couple of years and, in the summer of
1976, when a young man from Georgia named Jimmy Carter
seemed like he was destined to win the Democratic primary,
Alan Cranston talked to me and said, ``I think you ought
to be the new head of the Veterans' Administration.'' That
scared me to death. I said, ``Well, if you really think I
can do it, let's go for it.'' He talked to Senator Nunn
and talked to Senator Talmadge. By the August convention
of the American Legion, a convention in Seattle, Senator
Cranston pulled Jimmy Carter aside and said, ``I have two
requests.'' I don't know what the other one was, but he
said, ``The second one is to make Max Cleland head of the
VA.'' And Jimmy Carter replied, ``I love Max Cleland.''
So President Carter wound up in January 1977 as
President of the United States, and Alan Cranston wound up
as Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and I only
had two friends in Washington; one was President, and the
other was Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. So
I was nominated in March 1977, as the youngest head of the
Veterans' Administration, and, thanks to Alan Cranston, I
was confirmed in record time, and took over that agency,
with really the support of Jon Steinberg and Alan. They
were my constant guides, and sometimes spurs, and
encouraged me all the way.
One of the things I'm proudest of that we were able to
do is put together something called the Vet Center
Program. Alan Cranston, since 1971, had been introducing
in the Senate something called psychological readjustment
counseling for Vietnam veterans and their families. It
would usually pass the Senate, die in the House, and had
no Presidential support; but I was able to talk to
President Carter, we were able to put the administration
behind this legislation. It passed, and we were able to
sign it into law, and I put together one of the very first
Vet Centers in 1980 in Van Nuys, California. Now there are
some 200 scattered around the country. Some 3\1/2\ million
veterans and their families have received counseling
through this program, and Alan Cranston was basically
responsible.
Let me just say that, in 1973, he helped to pass
legislation that helped the disabled in this country, that
required that federally funded buildings be made
accessible, that promoted the hiring and advancement of
people with disabilities by the Federal Government. He
established something called the Architectural and
Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, which has the
responsibility for setting standards for accessibility and
for assisting and forcing compliance with accessibility
laws. I was named to that board by President Carter in
1979.
Throughout the remainder of the 1970s, Alan worked to
revamp federally assisted State vocational rehabilitation
programs, sponsoring laws that gave priority to the most
seriously disabled. In 1980, he sponsored legislation to
make some improvements in that program at the VA, and in
1990 he was a leading co-sponsor of the Americans with
Disabilities Act, which has been a pioneer piece of
legislation, as we all know.
I just want you to know that I wouldn't be in the U.S.
Senate, I wouldn't have ever been head of the Veterans'
Administration, without the mild-mannered distinguished
gentleman from the great State of California. I mourn his
passing, and we will miss him. God bless you.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. Thank you very much, Max.
Speaking of the ADA, I see Senator Harkin here. We welcome
you.
Alan referred to our next speaker as his best friend on
the Republican side. They served together as their
respective party leaders on the Veterans' Affairs
Committee and as Assistant Floor Leaders, or Whips, as
they were also called. Another tall, lanky Alan, former
Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming.
Senator Alan K. Simpson. Jonathan and former colleagues
and friends and family, Kim, Colette, Evan, and Eleanor,
and Cabinet Members, including one Norm Mineta, who I met
at the age of 12 in the war relocation center at Hart
Mountain. He was behind wire, I wasn't, and I should have
been and he shouldn't have. But, anyway, it's a long,
wonderful friendship, with a guy I love, and I'm so damn
proud of you, pal, even when you did that when you were in
Boy Scouts, I'll never forget.
Well, it's a great honor and privilege to honor my old
friend. To be asked is very, very moving to me, and I want
to share just a few memories and thoughts about a very
special friend. I came to the Senate in 1979. Al was
Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and that's
when I first met Max. I said, ``Max, you have a wonderful
job there, Administrator of Veterans Affairs; veterans
never pick on each other--ha, ha, ha.'' Well, anyway, it
was an interesting time, Max, wasn't it? Well, enough of
that. Butch is here and he would correct anything that I
said. But it fell to my pleasant luck to soon become the
Ranking Member in 1980, the Reagan administration. Well, I
knew who Al was, I knew of his journalistic prowess, of
his warning to his countrymen about Adolf Hitler, and the
two versions of ``Mein Kampf,'' one for domestic
consumption and one for the naive and the unwary, and Alan
was sending out the alert. I knew of his athletic
achievements and his stamina, and I very soon learned of
his powerful loyalty to America's veterans.
He was so cordial to me, and his staff, so very helpful
to this new, pea-green freshman. And what a staff it was:
Jon Steinberg, Ed Scott, Bill Brew, Babette Polzer. Well,
I sought their counsel, and plumbed their expertise. Al
would occasionally check up on me; he'd say, ``How are
you? Can we be of more help?'' I said, ``I need a lot more
help.'' But then I built my own staff. And, oh, to all of
you who will be deprived of staff one day. Staff
deprivation is a serious issue; it is the most shocking of
the transitions, and my wife, a beautiful woman of 46
years, she said, ``Alan, your staff is gone, you have no
staff, they are not here, and I am not one of your
staff.'' But there was Biblical precedent for this, you
look it up in the Good Book, it says, ``Jacob died leaning
on his staff.'' Now, so along came Ken Bergquist and one
Tony Principi, in those early years. Tony seems to have
moved along nicely in life, a wonderful human being with
rare gifts, who has been bestowed again on the veterans
and the people of this country. He will be serving very
wisely and very well as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and
I'm damn proud of you, too, pal.
Tom Harvey then came on. But Tony and Jon Steinberg
became a very dynamic duo, they worked with Tom Harvey in
those early years. And, as I say then, in 1980, I became
in the majority, and the first call I received after the
election was from Al Cranston. Of course, who else? In
that cheery voice, he said, ``Congratulations, Mr.
Chairman.'' Well, I thought, the power, I felt the surge .
. . and I thought how like him to do that. Well, we
cranked out some good legislation together. With Sonny
here, another dear friend on the other side of the aisle,
and John Paul Hammerschmidt, then Bob Stump, those were
men of my faith, my political faith. And Sonny used to sit
next to me and say: ``Don't do it pal. I know what you're
going to do. Just shut up, won't you?'' I know we're not
going to let that get away now, Sonny.
Anyway, the changing of the guard went well. The only
hitch was that all of the veterans organizations had
selected national commanders and officers from California.
Well, you know how that goes. And now their guy was gone,
and the cowboy from Wyoming was in the saddle. Well that
was very much fun to watch, I loved it. It was painful for
Jonathan, but I loved it. When I took over, we were able
to get Steinberg's statutory language down to 1 paragraph
in 1 page. We never let him go 2 pages with 1 paragraph.
And he had a tendency to do that.
Then, in 1984, I was honored to become the Assistant
Majority Leader, and who was the Assistant Minority
Leader? Al Cranston. We worked closely together. We
enjoyed each other, we trusted each other. We gave good
support and counsel to Bob Dole and George Mitchell, and
we thought it was a silly idea, but that we oughta make
things work. And even when Al was running for President,
imagine me, being the Ranking Member of a committee with
Kennedy and Hart and Cranston, all three of them running
for President. I went to them and I said, ``You cannot use
these chores of mine for your great cycle, and I won't
ever use the committee to embarrass you'' That's the kind
of friendship I had with Ted, with Al, with Gary, it was
very special, and it can be that way again. I urge it upon
you all. Anyway, he ran for President, he gave it his all,
as he did in every phase of his life, but the brass ring
eluded his grip, and he came back to his Senate home, his
pride intact. The only time I really, really flustered
him, I was flush with power. Now a member of the majority,
the fever of the majority burned in my bosom like a hot
gospel. I ambled over to his offices, his spacious
offices, great view, two fireplaces, couches, cozy chairs,
comfort, oh, and I said, ``Al, yes I think this will do
very nicely for my new Whip office.'' And the blood
drained from his face. And I said: ``No, no, just kidding,
Al. You represent millions, I represent thousands. But
when the wind shifts around here, and you Dems have the
horses, don't let 'em come around my office with a tape
measure and some greedy looking guy with a clipboard.''
And he said, ``It's a deal.'' And we had a handshake. Then
the time came, and no one ever darkened my door, no
unworthies with tape measures ever came to see me.
So, we legislated together, we argued, we collaborated,
we joshed and laughed with each other, we took pleasure in
confusing people. Same first name, same hairstyle;
``hairing impaired'' is what we called it in political
correctness. Same gaunt, emaciated frame. Same gait, same
grin. And, people would come up to me and say, ``I just
think the world of you and you ran for President, and your
views on the environment and nuclear freeze thrill me to
death.'' And I'd say, ``No, no; I'm Al Simpson,'' and
they'd say, ``Not you!'' And Al said he got that in
reverse about, you know, twice a month, too, so we would
compare that, and our constituents were often not in
alignment, you might imagine. But the best one, though,
and then I'm going to stop: Cheney, Gulf War, Secretary of
Defense, he called and he said, ``We're going over to a
game in Baltimore; bring Ann,'' and we went over to the
game, and 53,000 Oriole fans, ``Hey Cheney, we love ya!
Great stuff!'' You know, I said, ``Boy, this is getting
bad in here.'' We left in the seventh inning and went back
down through the bowels, where all the guys, the beer
drinkers and the cigar smokers, were, and they went,
``Hey, Cheney, baby, you're all right--we love ya!'' And I
turned to him and I said, ``You know, they never treated
you like this in Casper.'' And a guy from the audience
said, ``Hey, I know the big guy, too; that's Al
Cranston!'' So, I can assure you he loved that story, when
I told him that.
Well, he handled life well. Stuck to his guns, worked
through pain, met life full in the face, as if in a track
meet, headed for the tape, and he loved that thrill. Many
would have buckled; not Al. The pain of loss of the
Presidency, the pain of loss of family members, the pain
of loss of Norma to Parkinson's disease that withered her,
that withered their union. The pain of cancer, the pain of
accusation and assault by the media, the pain from his
peers at that time; we talked about that, oh yes we did,
of that sense of being singled out, very painful.
And he left the Senate and went on to vital other
things, and meaningful things in his life, undaunted, head
high, smile on his face, fire in the belly, finishing the
course laid out. We knew on one unknown day he would be
taken from us. And we shall miss him. But not mourn him.
For he was a man of vigor and joy and vision. And my life
is much richer for having shared a significant piece of it
with Alan Cranston. A race well run, my old friend. God
rest his soul.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. Senator Simpson, we greatly
appreciate your having rearranged your schedule to come
down here from New York and we know you have to leave to
go back there.
We're going to show a very short film now, it's only 2
or 3 minutes, but we thought we ought to have Alan with
us.
Narrator. Moscow, Winter, 1998.
Voice. Alan, you don't wear a coat in the Russian
winter?
Alan Cranston. I don't believe in them.
Voice. He doesn't believe in them. It's like John
Kennedy, it's . . .
Narrator. That was Alan in retirement. For most people,
a time to slow down. But at 84, as he approached the
Russian Duma, Alan Cranston was a man on a lifelong
mission.
Alan Cranston. I got into all this way back shortly
after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I met Albert Einstein. He
told me, as he told others, that the whole human race
could be wiped out by nuclear weapons. I've been working
on it ever since.
Narrator. And 40 years later, after trillions had been
spent on weapons of mass destruction, Alan emerged with a
collection of allies that astonished even him.
Alan Cranston. One very dramatic moment, when Lee
Butler, who had command of all of our nuclear weapons,
gave his first public address at the State of the World
Forum, in San Francisco, revealing the concerns he had
developed about the whole deterrence policy and the
ongoing dangers from reliance on nuclear weapons. And, as
he spoke, presiding right next to him was Mikhail
Gorbachev, the leader of the country that we would have
destroyed. At the very end of this remarkable speech,
Gorbachev and Butler stood up and embraced each other.
That was a very dramatic moment.
Two weeks ago, General Butler and I made public a
statement by 48 past and present Heads of State and some
75 other national leaders from 48 nations, advocating
specific steps toward abolition. Despite these and other
favorable developments, there is significant doubt,
skepticism, cynicism, and outright opposition to much of
this. So, plainly, there is much to do, and we have a lot
of hard thinking to do about what is in order. But let me
say in closing that I do not believe that we need to wait,
and I do not believe that we can afford to wait, until the
end of the next century, to fulfill the obligation of our
generation to all generations that preceded us and all
generations that hopefully will follow us, to deal with
the threat to all life that exists and is implicit in
nuclear weapons. Thank you.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. That film was pulled together
from a larger documentary by George Crile, a former CBS
producer, who has developed documentaries on nuclear arms
for ``60 Minutes'' and CNN. We are indebted to him and the
Global Security Institute, of which Alan Cranston was
president, for making that film available to us.
And now we will go a little bit out of order, and hear
from one of this event's sponsors, the senior Senator from
California, whose work with Alan Cranston goes back many,
many years and who, among many other achievements, carried
on successfully with some very important environmental
initiatives that Senator Cranston began.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.
Senator Dianne Feinstein. Thank you very much. It's
really a great honor and a privilege to be here. I just
want to recognize two members of the California House
delegation that came in. First is Lois Capps, from the
Santa Barbara area, and Jane Harmon, from the southern Los
Angeles area. And I'm not sure whether Paul Wellstone and
Jeff Bingaman were introduced earlier, but I want
everybody to know that they're here, too.
Alan Simpson is a hard act to follow, there's no
question about that. I look at life this way: That we're
here but for an instant in an eternity. No one really
knows when that instant is over, and the only thing that
really matters is what we do with that instant. Because,
when it's over, there's nothing we can take with us other
than the legacy we leave behind. Alan Cranston first came
into my life in 1962, and that's when I first met his
sister, R.E., and it was in his campaign for State
Controller; believe it or not, it was the first campaign
for which I ever volunteered, and so I've always kind of
taken a special interest in a lot of his achievements.
From that point on, I found this former long-distance
runner really to be a tireless workhorse for all
Californians, and, as a matter of fact, for all Americans.
This was a man who really loved the intricacies of the
legislative process. He was the consummate vote counter.
He possessed the uncanny ability to assess competing
camps, to quickly find where votes would fall and
determine whether the best course of action was to fight
or compromise. Unfortunately, neither my friend Barbara
Boxer nor I really had an opportunity to work with him in
his nearly quarter of a century here in the Senate, but I
think these traits are legendary, I think they're known by
all.
Alan Cranston yielded a whole array of wonderful
accomplishments, but I want to just concentrate today on a
few things in the environment. And, in the true spirit of
the legendary Californian conservationist John Muir, Alan
Cranston became a very passionate architect of measures to
preserve our God-given natural treasures. Alan Cranston
was the original author of something called the Desert
Protection Act. Shortly after I won in 1993 and knew I was
coming to Washington, the phone rang, and Alan said,
``Would you be willing to take over the effort to pass a
Desert Protection Act?'' And I said, ``Of course.'' And we
came back and we revised the language, rewrote the bill
somewhat, changed some of the concepts, and moved it
ahead. But, the basic originator of this, let there be no
doubt, was Alan Cranston. The bill was filibustered, but
we were lucky in the Senate, we got it through, and it
became a reality in 1994. The legislation created the
largest park and wilderness designation in our Nation.
Over 6 million acres, two new National Parks, Death Valley
and Joshua Tree, and one National Preserve, the East
Mojave. And so because of that, we have actually
protected, well I said 6, but it's actually closer to 7
million acres of pristine California desert wilderness for
all time. Thank you, Alan Cranston.
He was also the lead sponsor of legislation which
established the Golden Gate and the Santa Monica National
Recreation Area, the Channel Islands National Park, a
48,000 acre addition to the Redwoods National Park, and
the inclusion of Mineral King into the Sequoia National
Park. He also sponsored 12 different wilderness bills that
became law between 1969 and 1982. He helped close Death
Valley National Monument to open-pit mining. He helped
craft the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal
Protection Act, and with just two bills, on which he
teamed with the late and wondrous Phillip Burton of San
Francisco, the Omnibus Parks Act of 1978, and the Alaska
Lands Act of 1980, as much acreage was placed under
Federal protection as all the park lands created earlier
in the 20th century combined.
So, I can truthfully say, without his service, America
would have been a different, and certainly a poorer place,
in terms of our environment and the quality of life for
many of our citizens. Alan Cranston leaves a legacy of
preservation that will be remembered and enjoyed and
certainly by his beautiful 7-year-old granddaughter Evan,
who is here today. And I think, for my granddaughter, for
Barbara's grandson, and for all of us, who really look at
this land and want to do what we can to protect it.
This was a very special Californian. And life wasn't
always easy for Alan, either. But I think his ability to
keep his eye on the goal, to establish what he
established, whether it was from the translation of ``Mein
Kampf,'' to his work against nuclear devastation, to his
environmental record, Alan Cranston truly lived that
instant in eternity, and he has truly left us a good
legacy. Thank you very much.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. I'm sure there are others that
I failed to mention. I thank Senator Feinstein. I know
that Senator Reid is also here, and again I apologize if I
missed anyone.
No Senator has worked on more causes closer to Alan
Cranston's heart and soul than has Senator Edward M.
Kennedy. I am particularly grateful to him, because it was
through his chief counsel, Jim Flug, who is also here
today, that I was introduced to and came to work for Alan
in 1969. Senator Cranston and Senator Kennedy served
together for 12 years on the Labor and Public Welfare
Committee, which Senator Kennedy chaired from 1987 to 1995
and again for 17 days this year.
Our next speaker, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Thank you, Jonathan. To Kim,
and Colette, and Evan, and R.E.--let me begin by saying
that I loved Alan Cranston too. I will never forget the 24
years of friendship and leadership and achievement with
which he graced the Senate and the Nation. And so it's a
special privilege and honor for me to be part of this
tribute today. Alan is profoundly missed by his family and
friends, his colleagues in the Congress, and by all those
around the world who pursue the great goals of hope and
progress and peace.
I must say--I grew up thinking Cranston was a city in
Rhode Island. But Alan taught each of us that Cranston
stands for something else as well--the very best in public
service.
Alan loved to lead behind the scenes--for 14 of those 24
Senate years with us, he was our Democratic Whip, and he
wrote the book about the job. In those great years, we
used to tease Alan about the position, because so few
people outside Congress knew what it involved. Since Alan
was from California, a lot of people thought the Minority
Whip was the name of a leather bar in Malibu.
But seriously, Alan was a giant of his day on many
issues, and his concern for social justice made him a
leader on them all. We served together for many years on
the Labor Committee and especially the Health
Subcommittee, and his insights were indispensable. I
always felt that if we'd had another Alan Cranston or two
in those years, we'd have actually passed our Health
Security Act, and made health care the basic right for all
that it ought to be, instead of just an expensive
privilege for the few.
Perhaps the greatest legacy that Alan left us was his
able and tireless work for democracy and world peace.
Every village in the world is closer to that goal today
because of Alan. No one in the Senate fought harder or
more effectively for our nuclear weapons freeze in the
1980s, or for nuclear arms control. His hope for a
nuclear-free future still represents the highest
aspiration of millions--even billions--throughout the
world.
I also recall Alan's pioneering efforts to press for
Senate action to end the war in Vietnam, and his equally
able leadership for civil rights at home and human rights
around the world. We know how deeply he felt about
injustice to anyone anywhere. And his leadership in the
battle against apartheid in South Africa was
indispensable.
Throughout his brilliant career, the causes of civil
rights and human rights were central to Alan's being and
his mission--and America and the world are better off
today because Alan Cranston passed this way.
A key part of all his achievements was his unique
ability to translate his ideals into practical
legislation. Few if any Senators have been as skilled as
Alan in the art of constructive legislative compromise
that fairly leads to progress for the Nation.
He was a vigorous supporter of the Peace Corps, a strong
overseer of its performance, and a brilliant advocate for
all the Peace Corps volunteers. He was a champion for
health coverage for returning volunteers, and one of the
first to understand that good health coverage had to
include mental health services as well.
In many ways, his first love was the Peace Corps, and I
know that President Kennedy would have been very proud of
him. Even before he came to the Senate, he had his first
contact with the Corps, as a consultant to Sargent
Shriver. As Alan often said, he became involved because he
was so inspired by my brother's vision of a world where
Americans of all ages could work side by side with peoples
throughout the world to put an end to poverty.
Because of Alan, the Peace Corps today is thriving as
never before--free of the partisan tensions that divide us
on other issues--spreading international understanding of
Alan's and America's best ideals--educating new
generations of young Americans about our common heritage
as travelers on Spaceship Earth--teaching us about the
beauty, the richness, and the diversity of other peoples,
other languages, other cultures and about the enduring
importance of the greatest pursuit of all--the pursuit of
peace.
Near the end of John Bunyan's ``Pilgrim's Progress,''
there is a passage that tells of the death of Valiant:
``Then, he said, I am going to my Father's. And though
with great difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not
regret me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive
where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me
in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can
get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a
witness for me, that I have fought his battle who now will
be my rewarder.
``When the day that he must go hence was come, many
accompanied him to the riverside, into which as he went,
he said, `Death, where is thy sting?' and as he went down
deeper, he said, `Grave, where is thy victory?' So he
passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the
other side.''
We loved you, Alan. We miss you. And we always will.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. Thank you, Senator.
Our next speaker was elected to the Senate seat that
Alan occupied when he retired in 1993. She and Senator
Cranston collaborated on many matters while she served in
the House of Representatives, and she authored with
Senator Feinstein a lovely resolution of tribute to
Senator Cranston that was adopted by the Senate on January
22. On behalf of Alan's family and his extended family and
all his friends, we express our gratitude for this most
gracious action.
Senator Barbara Boxer of California.
Senator Barbara Boxer. Thank you. To Alan's family,
beautiful family, and to my dear colleagues who are here,
it certainly has been my honor for the past 8 years to
serve in the seat that was held by Alan Cranston for 24
years.
Alan was a deeply caring human being, and he cared even
for those whose distant cries were not always heard in
Washington.
From civil rights to arms control, from cleaning up the
environment to improving the lives of our Nation's
veterans--Alan's work knew no geographic boundaries. But,
sometimes Alan's legacy on women's rights gets overlooked
and that is what I'm going to speak about today.
From his earliest days in the Senate, Alan made
improving the lives of women a priority. In 1969, he
supported the Equal Rights Amendment. Remember the ERA. It
failed. But, in 1972 he became a proud co-sponsor again of
the ERA, and it passed. But he didn't stop there--he wrote
letters and he got on the phone to California legislators
considering the measure, urging their support, and his
work paid off and California ratified it that same year.
Unfortunately, not all the States followed suit. But Alan
did not stop his advocacy. He continued over the next
decade to push for the amendment's ratification and when
time ran out, he co-sponsored another ERA in 1983 and
another one in 1985, even before he knew he was going to
have a granddaughter. Alan would not give up.
He worked to eliminate gender discrimination in the
workplace. He was the principal author of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Act Amendments of 1972, which
extended protections against gender discrimination to
Federal employees in the workplace. And he was the very
first Member of Congress to introduce legislation aimed at
eliminating wage discrimination in the Federal workplace.
Alan understood the challenges faced by working mothers.
He worked to provide child care for this Nation's working
families, introducing some of the first ever legislation
to provide care both before and after school. He knew that
many kids were without adult supervision, and I was so
proud when under the Clinton administration, we saw
afterschool funding increase from $1 million in 1997 to
$845 million in 2001. Alan, you laid the groundwork for
that.
He also worked tirelessly to protect a women's right to
choose, authoring the Freedom of Choice Act to codify Roe
v. Wade. I proudly carry that bill now. He pushed for
increased access to family planning services for low-
income women and teenagers, and fought to provide medical
care to low-income pregnant women, who otherwise would
have been left without it and would not have had healthy
babies.
And he didn't stop there. He sought to level the
financial playingfield for women, pushing for laws
prohibiting discrimination against women trying to obtain
credit. And we forget today when we open our mailboxes and
we keep getting all these applications for credit cards,
that there was a time when a woman could not get any
credit. We thank you, Alan, although we have to restrain
ourselves now and then. We appreciate the work you did.
Alan was responsible for the first appointment of a
woman to the Federal court bench in California. I've
personally, and I know Dianne, we've recommended many
women; five of those that I recommended to President
Clinton were nominated and confirmed. Alan laid that
groundwork too.
An advocate for equal education for young women, he
fought hard for Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972, and you know what that is, equal opportunity for our
children, for our girls in athletics.
And the list goes on, but I will stop there with it,
because it could go on and on. But I stand before you
today, as a Senator who is carrying on the progressive
work of Alan Cranston. His belief that women are equal has
borne fruit.
If you look around today in the Senate, there are 13
women Senators from both parties. That's just in this
building. Next door--and we have a couple here--there are
61 women in the House. We are doing better now, but as my
friend Barbara Mikulski often says, it takes the ``Sir
Galahads,'' to get us there, and Alan was definitely a Sir
Galahad.
I'm just going to tell you one quick personal story, and
then I'll end. Alan decided to retire, I ran for the seat
and won the seat, and about a year later, he made an
appointment to come to see me. Now, I know this, the
family must know this, but unlike the Whip's office, which
someone else must have decorated, Alan's personal office
here in the Hart building was not the most beautiful
place, because this was not important to Alan. It was
dark; it was dark leather and dark walls and the blinds
were drawn, and that was it. Alan just saw it as a place
to work--files all over the floor. So when I got into the
office, I said: ``Let's brighten it up. Let's bring
California.'' And I ordered all of these green plants, and
we opened up all the shades and we painted the walls peach
and we got peach and green fabrics, and I mean, it was
different. So I thought, you know, Alan was coming to see
me about arms control, but I was excited that he was going
to see what had happened to his office. And he came in and
he sat down, and he sat there and his first thing is,
``You've got to be more aggressive on arms control.'' Now
that's the first time anyone ever told me to be more
aggressive on anything. But he started to lecture me and,
you know, time went on, it was an hour, he still hadn't
said a thing about the room. So, finally, I got up my
courage, and I said, ``So Alan, what do you think of the
office?'' And he looked around, and he looked around, and
he said, ``You moved my desk.'' That was it.
Alan said about his role as Senator, and I quote him,
when he retired: ``It has been a privilege I have
cherished and for which I can never adequately thank the
people of California.'' Let me take this moment on behalf
of the people of California to say to Alan Cranston thank
you and your work lives on.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. Thank you very much, Senator
Boxer, and thank you for being with us so long. I couldn't
help but note when you talked about women and forging the
way for women, that the United States Army Strings that
played at the beginning of our ceremony today was composed
of four women from the U.S. Army. And no men.
I want also to acknowledge the presence here of Senator
Daniel Akaka, of the Democratic Leader, Senator Tom
Daschle, and of Senator Hollings of South Carolina. We
appreciate their presence with us very much.
Known to all veterans advocates as ``Mr. Chairman,'' our
next speaker was the counterpart in the House to Senator
Cranston and Senator Simpson as the Chairman of the
Committee on Veterans' Affairs in the other body, as it is
affectionately called. He and Alan had to resolve many
sticky and tricky issues over the 14 years that he led the
House committee, and they were always able to do so with
congeniality and mutual respect.
He has been a great friend to me personally, as has been
his committee staff. I now introduce former Representative
Sonny Montgomery of Mississippi, ``Mr. Chairman.''
Representative G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery. Thanks very
much, Jon.
To the family of Senator Cranston, my colleagues on this
panel, Cabinet Members, other distinguished guests, ladies
and gentlemen.
I'd like to thank you, Judge Steinberg and others for
letting me participate in the remarks of this memorial
tribute to Senator Alan Cranston.
Alan and I became friends because he was Chairman of the
Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and I was Chairman of
the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, and we both enjoyed
working for veterans and their families. Alan was a
veteran of World War II and had really a good feel for
veterans issues.
You know, at first, I was a little uncomfortable working
with the great Senator from California. I am kinda the
hand-shaking, pat-on-the-back Congressman whereas Alan was
in great physical shape, and he would look down on me and
say ``I am sure we can work together,'' and we did.
He had a couple of veterans functions out in California
and asked me to come out.
Going from one veterans meeting to another in different
towns in California, we stopped at this restaurant, and he
said they made the best vegetable soup in California.
People recognized him when he walked in, but Alan wanted
the soup and didn't work the crowd, so to speak.
I said to Steinberg, ``explain to me,'' and he did. In
California you had millions of people and you just don't
work the crowds. So, I found out about that.
Alan did many good things for veterans, and I will
mention a few.
He was the architect of the Veterans Readjustment
Counseling Act that Max Cleland mentioned. There are 206
centers to help Vietnam veterans to readjust, and Alan did
pass this legislation in 1979.
He had a strong interest in veterans health care and he
passed legislation that gave thousands of veterans more
access to health care. He pushed for more outpatient
clinics, and more veterans use outpatient clinic
facilities now, and the VA, I'm happy to say, has been
able to cut back on the number of hospital beds in our 172
hospitals, because of Alan Cranston and our outpatient
clinics.
He was part of our team that established the U.S. Court
of Appeals for Veterans Claims and worked very hard for
the upgrade of the VA to a Cabinet department.
Some Member of Congress, and what a mistake he made,
introduced legislation to tax veterans disability
compensation. Senator Cranston went berserk, he killed
this tax legislation before it even saw the light of day,
and he was right.
Alan was very helpful in establishing educational
benefits for veterans who completed their military
obligation, and he saw to it that the educational benefits
go to the actives as well as the National Guard and
Reserve.
As big as California is and the many government programs
that the State has, I believe he really enjoyed working
for veterans and their families more than other issues in
government.
He was a friend of the veteran, and veterans
organizations knew they could count on Alan, and he came
through for them.
We all miss him and know even in Heaven Alan has an
exercise program going.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman. I want to note Senator Jeffords who has just
joined us. We appreciate your being here.
Next, we will hear from a former colleague of Alan's who
knew him long before he became a U.S. Senator or held any
public office. He very graciously called last Thursday to
offer to say a few words in tribute to Alan. I now
introduce former Representative and Independent
Presidential candidate, John B. Anderson of Illinois.
Representative John B. Anderson. Thank you very much,
Judge Steinberg, and my distinguished former colleagues in
both the House and the Senate, distinguished Members of
the Cabinet, and Alan's family. I count it an honor indeed
to be included in the group that is privileged this
afternoon to say just a few words about the career of this
very remarkable man. You have already heard a great deal
about his commitment to the cause of civil rights, women's
rights, conservation, the environment, veterans affairs. I
will not attempt to repeat the comments or the praise that
could continue to be heaped upon him for the efforts that
he exerted in all of those fields. But, as a Member of the
``other body'' for 12 of the 24 years that Alan Cranston
served in the Senate, I was well aware of the
distinguished record that he had compiled in that body.
And I would simply again state what has already been
remarked that earlier than most he saw the folly of our
entanglement in Southeast Asia, and I remember his very
clear and clairvoyant voice calling for an end to the
struggle there. He called for more than that, for an end
to the arms race.
And it's really to that vision that he had in this
particular realm of international affairs that I wanted to
direct my very brief remarks this afternoon. Because, as a
very young man he was gifted with a passion for achieving
peace in our time that was shaped as someone said about a
former President, I forget who it was, he had a vision
that enabled him to peer around a corner of history, to
see what lay beyond. In short, he was, indeed, a globalist
long before globalization had become a term used in common
parlance.
And it was just 2 years after the founding of the United
World Federalists in Asheville, North Carolina, that young
Alan Cranston at the age of 35 became the president of
that organization and served until 1951. One of his
mentors was the late, distinguished Grenville Clark, who,
along with Lewis B. Sonn, wrote that very magisterial work
on world peace through world law. And that indeed was the
vision that Alan Cranston had. He had a vision of a
democratic world federation that would emerge from what
was then, when he was president of the United World
Federalists, still a very nascent United Nations. He
maintained that interest and served on the Board of
Advisors of the World Federalists Association until his
recent death.
Upon his retirement from the Senate in 1994, and this is
the point, I think, that I wanted the opportunity to
emphasize here this afternoon, he did not regard his
career as ended. I read the account of the marvelous
memorial service conducted in San Francisco just 3 weeks
ago, in Grace Cathedral, where his son was quoted as
saying that he had said that ``when the end comes, I want
to be able somehow to still struggle across the finish
line with my head up.'' And he added to that that when the
end came, he was still sprinting; he was not merely
struggling, he was sprinting in pursuit of the goals that
he sought. And he became a leading and a very strong voice
in civil society in the area that, at the end of his life,
I am convinced, lay closest to his heart. It was the
interest in disarmament, an end to the threat of nuclear
war and the achievement of world peace through world law.
And he believed that that could be achieved only through
the application and the use of the same federalist
principles that had inspired the Framers of our
Constitution to write a Constitution that would bring
about peace and domestic tranquillity among the then 13
independent sovereignties who had found that under the
Articles of Confederation their bonds of unity had become
frayed. And it was Alan's belief, building on that
historical fact, that only with a restructured and an
empowered United Nations, one capable of maintaining peace
with justice, that we would recognize the goal that he
sought, of world peace through world law.
It's been mentioned, I think, already, that he served as
president of the Global Security Institute, a non-profit
organization dedicated to disarmament and world peace. He
saw security not simply as an issue confined within the
narrow boundaries of nationalism but as an issue that
required the forging of new bonds of global cooperation.
And one of the last and most vivid memories that I
personally have of Alan Cranston was less than 3 years
ago, when the Hague Appeal for Peace drew thousands of
peace activists from around the world to the Hague to
celebrate, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
first Hague Peace Conference. Alan was there as one of the
leading spokespersons from the United States. And again,
one of the memorable experiences of that international
meeting was to attend one of its sessions and to hear him
describe how he was even then busy working on a book, a
book on sovereignty, a book that would seek to explain
that, in this new millennium, the old Westphalian theory
of State sovereignty was simply not sufficient unto the
needs of our present age, and we had to re-conceptualize
that term in a way that would allow the formation of
Democratic global institutions that would carry out the
goals of disarmament and build a world in which peace
could be achieved through reliance on the rule of law.
Those are the memories that I will certainly carry with
me, as inspiration for the remainder of my life, and I
thank you, Alan Cranston, for the things that you did,
both in the Senate, and then in those very important years
when you carried forth your ideas and lived for your
ideals as a strong member of American civil society.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. I think that gave us all an
important glimpse of the formation of Alan Cranston's
philosophy and thinking, and I know that there are a
number of people from those early days in the United World
Federalists who are here today, including Neil Potter and
Ted Waller, who worked with Alan so many years ago at the
founding of that organization.
Our next speaker has served for 26 years in the House of
Representatives. He worked very closely with Alan on many
initiatives of significance to their California
constituents and particularly to the children of their
State and the children of the entire country. We are very
grateful that he has taken time to be with us throughout
this entire ceremony this afternoon.
Representative George Miller of California.
Representative George Miller. Well thank you, and to all
of you, to family and friends, and colleagues. I am very,
very pleased to be able to participate in this memorial to
an extraordinary life, to clearly one of the leading
California statesmen of the 20th century.
My familiarity with Alan Cranston goes back long before
my politics, when as a young boy, I sat in the living room
of our home and listened to Alan Cranston and my father
and many other California politicians plot campaigns and
create and organize the California Democratic Council,
which changed the politics of California, changed the
Democratic Party in California, launched their careers,
and later the careers of so many other progressive
politicians in the State of California. It was a profound
organization, in terms of its influence in California. In
the post-war, in the conservative years, it was an
organization that, led by Alan, would speak out on nuclear
arms control, on civil rights, on the rights of labor--
these issues that became the cornerstone for so many of us
who later sought to run for political life in the State of
California.
I think it's rather fitting that we remember Alan at
this time. Because we can remember when a conservative
administration came to this town 20 years ago and sought
to launch an attack on programs for the poor, on women and
the ill, on foster care and adoption, on child health, on
handicapped education, and so many other programs that
were targeted for elimination. Alan and his colleagues not
only led that fight, but participated in it, stood their
ground, and fought against those efforts, and today, when
we see a new administration arriving in town, we're no
longer talking about the elimination of these programs,
we're talking about making them work better. We recognize
the beneficiaries of these programs, and the benefits to
our society. We now see that, in fact, because of the
fight that was made a long time ago, we now have a legacy
of understanding the role and the importance that
government plays in so many American lives, and the
necessity of it. We've heard it with respect to veterans,
we've heard it with respect to the environment, to women,
and to so many others in American society.
Many of us would think that if you look at the last
quarter of the 20th century in American politics, you
would think of extreme ideological behavior, you'd think
of political chaos, and you would suggest that not a lot
got done. But, as already had been mentioned here, if you
look at the legacy and the workload and the work product
of Alan Cranston, you would recognize that, in fact, it
was a golden age of legislation for people like Alan
Cranston. He was able to put his signature and his work
into so many efforts that became the law of the land. I
recall two of those, working with him as a colleague in
the House. One was in the 1970s; in the late 1970s, after
5 years of working together, of holding hearings, site
visits, talking with families and children, we put
together legislation to deal with the problems of foster
care, to children who were trapped in a system from which
they could not escape, families who could not get their
children back from that system, and the impact that it had
on these children. That law was later signed by President
Carter, and it was Alan's tenacity that allowed us to get
it through.
The other one, of course, that's been mentioned here is
the California desert. Alan started pioneering that effort
so many years ago, so many years before we actually
considered it on the floor of the House or the Senate.
Where he walked over those areas, he hiked over them, he
spent time with the constituents who were interested in
them, with the organizations that were trying to preserve
them. Kim has spent much time in that area. And, after
Alan left the Senate, I managed the bill on the floor of
the House. The opponents were numerous; we used to have to
have security and armed guards to go into the hearings on
the California desert bill. They held the controversial
ones in Beverly Hills, so that people would have trouble
getting there, it was a grand ploy. And it worked.
But, in any case, the opposition in the House was
incredible. We spent many, many days debating this
legislation, on again, off again, part of the day, into
the night. They filed numerous amendments, all of which
had unlimited debate time. They had a coterie of people
who would speak on every amendment for the maximum time
allowed, so that they could delay this bill and not see it
enacted. I called Alan and I said, ``Alan, we've got to
accept some amendments to speed this along. The Members of
the House are starting to call me Moses, they've said
they've been in the desert for so long on this
legislation.'' I said, ``Some of these amendments, what
can we accept to narrow this down,'' and he said,
``None.'' And I said, ``Alan, this is the House, it will
never stop,'' and he said, ``None.'' He said, ``We can't
accept them.'' I talked to him about a couple of
amendments to move the boundaries, he said, ``No, I've
been there; I've been there and if you go to the bottom of
that canyon, you're going to find a little spring down
there--most people don't know it exists. You can't put
that outside the park, that's going to have to be in.''
Well, it's turned out he was right. Dianne managed the
bill on the Senate floor, and Bill Clinton signed it into
law, and now it's one of our leading attractions in the
Nation and certainly in the State of California. Those who
opposed it are now seeking authorizations and
appropriations for visitor centers and various support
systems for the park. The Chambers of Commerce now think
that this is a cash register, and they'd like to have it
expanded, they'd like to have the boundaries expanded,
they'd like to have the protections upgraded, so that more
visitors would come and bless their economy. It was Alan
Cranston's foresight that brought that about.
You know, the political mentor to so many of us, Phil
Burton, used to say to us that when you came to the House
or you came to the Senate, that it was a privilege and it
was an honor, and you had to pay the rent, you had to pay
the rent all the time to stay there. And I think that Alan
fully understood that, while this clearly was the world's
most exclusive club, he still had to pay the rent, and he
did over and over and over again, on behalf of so many
Americans, on behalf of our environment, on behalf of
world peace, on behalf of human rights. He paid the rent
constantly to earn his right to stay here and to work and
to work and to work on behalf of all of us. And I think we
should thank him, for all of the fights that he made, and
all of the ground that he stood, on behalf of America, and
all of its people. Thank you very much, Alan.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. Thank you, Representative
Miller.
Next, we will hear from a Senator who served on two
committees with Alan--Banking and Foreign Relations--where
they shared many common interests. Senator Kerry was a
highly decorated veteran of Vietnam and a co-founder of
the Vietnam Veterans of America, an organization which was
to play an important role in the enactment of much
legislation that he and Senator Cranston championed,
particularly the Veterans' Judicial Review Act that
created the court on which I am honored to serve, along
with another former Member of Congress who is also with us
today, Chief Judge Ken Kramer.
Senator Kerry succeeded to the Democratic leadership of
the Banking Committee's Housing Subcommittee, which
Senator Cranston had chaired from 1987 to 1993. Also, I
know that Senator Kerry shares the passion that Senator
Cranston lived and breathed for ending the threat of
nuclear annihilation.
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Senator John Kerry. Thank you, Jonathan. Kim, Colette,
Evan, and R.E., it's a very special privilege to join with
all of you today in remembering the remarkable life and
achievements of our friend, Alan Cranston.
As we've heard today, and as we all know, Alan was a
sprinter, a record-holding sprinter, who, in his sixties,
was only 2 seconds slower than he was in his twenties when
he set the records. And I think it's safe to say that
those who knew him well would agree that he really
sprinted through life; he sprinted through the U.S.
Senate, always with a yellow pad in his hand and a felt-
tip pen, covered with ink, with more things on that pad to
do in one day than most of us would venture to accomplish
in a week or a month, and he got them done. And always
with this incredible, mischievous twinkle in his eye. He
had fun advocating and challenging the system.
One of the most enduring images of Alan would be at the
Iowa caucuses in 1984 at the Holiday Inn in Keokuk, Iowa,
where he was seen sprinting barefooted down 40-meter
hallways, then he'd walk back, and he'd repeat the
exercise for about 40 minutes. And I think we can
understand why it was no coincidence that Alan's favorite
hotel was the Chicago O'Hare Hilton, where they had 250-
meter hallways.
Three weeks ago in California, we had a tender goodbye
to our friend, this sprinter, at a memorial service--
calling to mind the many ways in which he enriched our
lives and this country.
There in the Grace Cathedral, we heard Colette Cranston
say that in death Alan Cranston ``has become my Jiminy
Cricket--that little voice in [her] conscience that says,
`Colette, think before you leap.' '' It would not be an
exaggeration to say that that warning was a characteristic
of Alan--think before you leap, and, most of all, he
wanted us to think, he wanted us to look, and, by God, he
wanted us to leap. He implored us to put a public face on
policy. He wanted us to think not in terms of statistics
and numbers and programs, but in terms of people; and the
people he spoke of most often, as all of my colleagues who
served with him will remember, were senior citizens,
children, those without decent housing, immigrants, those
in need of a helping hand regardless of race or religion.
He was a moral voice, a voice of conscience, someone who
understood that even as he remained vigilant in defending
the needs and wishes of his home State of California, he
was also a global citizen and he knew and felt the
responsibilities of this institution toward the rest of
the world.
Through four terms as a U.S. Senator, he also remained a
man of enormous humility--on his answering machine he was
simply ``Alan''--as he was to so many who worked with him
and knew him. And this personal sense of place and of
restraint made it easy to underestimate the contributions
that he made to the Senate, and to our country. Certainly
he never paused long enough to personally remind us of the
impact of his service, of the history that he was a part
of and the lives that he touched.
I first met Alan in 1971 when I had returned from
Vietnam and many of our veterans were part of an effort to
end what we thought was a failed policy in that country.
In Alan Cranston we found one of the few Senators willing
not just to join in public opposition to the war in
Vietnam, but to become a voice of healing for veterans of
the war--a statesman whose leadership enabled others, over
time, to separate their feelings about the war from their
feelings for the veterans of the war. At a time when too
many wanted literally to disown this country's own
veterans, Alan Cranston offered them a warm embrace. He
was eager to do something all too rare in Washington: To
listen--and he listened to veterans who had much to say,
much of it ignored for too long. He honored their pride
and their pain with his sensitivity and his understanding.
That's when I first came to see the great energy and the
commitment that he brought to issues affecting veterans,
especially those of the Vietnam era. He was deeply
involved in veterans health care issues, among the first
to fight for the recognition of post-Vietnam stress
syndrome, a leader in insisting, together with Sonny
Montgomery, on the extension of coverage under the VA,
under the GI bill. And when the agent orange issue came to
the fore, Alan insisted on getting answers from a
government that was unresponsive. He made sure that
veterans and their families got the care that they needed.
Under his leadership, together with his partner in the
House, they increased GI bill benefits for Vietnam
veterans--and I tell you that that was a time when
veterans too often had to fight for what was their simple
due, whether it was a memorial here in Washington, or
simply to have the government recognize that it was a war,
and not simply a conflict. Alan's leadership made all the
difference. It's a sad truth in our history that a weary
Nation indeed seemed eager to turn its back on the entire
war by also turning its back on so many veterans. It
should forever be a source of pride to the Cranston family
that Alan was chief among those who insisted that America
honor that service and keep faith with sons who left
pieces of themselves and years of their lives on the
battlefield in Vietnam.
This was a man who fought with extraordinary passion for
everything. And he fought at the most difficult of times.
Not just for veterans, but as we've heard from others
today, he fought against all that war represents--
remembering that war, and the killing that follows it, is
the ultimate failure of diplomacy.
Alan Cranston was above all else a man of peace. And he
was a man of peace not as a matter of public policy, but
as a matter of personal passion. Remember: This was a man
who, in 1934, found himself in the same room as Adolf
Hitler. Five years later, he wrote a critical English
translation of Adolf Hitler's ``Mein Kampf'' in an effort
to reveal the German leader's true plans. And he wore
Hitler's ensuing lawsuit as a badge of honor, proud that
he had stood up to try and warn the English-speaking world
about the evils of nazism.
Throughout the rest of his service he used public office
to force Americans to listen to other prescient warnings--
about nuclear war, about the arms race, about hopes for
peace that he refused to give up even as others chose to
beat the drums of war.
Senator Cranston came to his famous commitment, as we
learned from the film, after meeting with Albert Einstein
in 1946. And he left that meeting convinced that he had
found his mission and he would indeed spend the balance of
his life arguing that conviction before the world.
As a member of the Senate leadership and a senior voice
on the Democratic side of the Foreign Relations Committee,
he worked tirelessly to reduce the nuclear threat.
Obviously, there were many of those efforts, but one of
the most unpublicized was his effort through the 1970s and
1980s, when he convened a unique group known as the ``SALT
Study Group.'' A Senators-only gathering monthly in his
office, off the record, face to face to define the
confines of the debate. He knew the impact that quiet
diplomacy could have on the issues, but on this issue
above all that he cared about the most.
He loved the Peace Corps, and he fought for it. He
fought to attach human rights conditions on aid to El
Salvador. He was a leading national advocate for the
mutual verifiable freeze. He was always an idealist whose
increase in political power, gratefully, was always met by
progress for the issues that he cared about so deeply. It
was not just the work of a career, but the work of a
lifetime--and after he left the Senate, we all know the
remarkable commitment that he continued with Mikhail
Gorbachev and ultimately in his founding of the Global
Security Institute.
He did that because he sensed that the end of the Cold
War, with all of the opportunity that it afforded, which
he understood, still left us a world that was more
dangerous, and he was haunted by the threat of nuclear
terrorism. We missed his voice in the debate on the Test
Ban Treaty, and we miss him even more today.
When he left the Senate, Alan reflected on his service
and he said of his own legacy, simply: ``Most of all, I
have dedicated myself to the cause of peace.''
That dedication was real, it was lasting, and the legacy
of peace for a good and peaceful man who gave living
embodiment to Culbertson's simple, stubborn faith that
``God and the politicians willing, the United States can
declare peace upon the world, and win it.'' That belief
was Alan Cranston--and it's a belief still worth fighting
for.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. Our concluding speaker from
this body is also one of its newest Members. She traveled
to California 3 weeks ago, as did Senator Kerry, as he
told us, to attend the ceremony attended by over a
thousand persons at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
For reasons that I know she will share with us, she will
be--along with Max Cleland--a living legacy of Alan
Cranston in the U.S. Senate.
Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington.
Senator Maria Cantwell. Thank you. To Kim and Colette
and Evan and R.E., thank you for allowing me to share this
occasion to remember Alan and to have been there a few
weeks ago and to see so many of the friends and faces that
Alan touched.
People today have talked about Alan's legislative
career--the many pieces of legislation that will live with
us for a long time. But I'd like to share with you today
maybe a different Alan Cranston that I knew as I worked on
his Presidential campaign in 1983 and 1984. Some people
might think running for President is a glorious task, but
it is a very difficult one that I think Alan knew would
help aid the cause and message that he wanted to fight
for. In fact, I'm not from Washington State originally; it
was Alan Cranston that dropped me off there in 1983. In
fact, the first time I ever visited, I was a part of his
Presidential campaign staff, in which he left me at SEA-
TAC Airport in Seattle and went on about his business to
campaign. But people who knew Alan knew that he jumped
into that race to deliver a message for the right reason.
I was fortunate enough to have read R.E.'s book about
Alan, and knew all the things that Alan had fought through
in his life, some of the things that have been mentioned
today. About being sued by Adolf Hitler for translating in
next to no time a version of ``Mein Kampf.'' Being a pre-
World War II journalist and being smart enough to
understand what was going to be advocated and running back
to the United States and having that published. And all of
the other wonderful things that Alan did in helping women,
and on the environment; one thing I haven't heard
mentioned today is his work with Native Americans, which
is something that I recognize.
But what was amazing about Alan from a personal
perspective, and you definitely get to know someone from a
personal perspective when you travel with him on a
Presidential campaign, is that Alan was very self
disciplined. John Kerry talked about his running, and that
was something that was very important to Alan on a daily
basis. And, yes, I can attest to the fact that he did
sprint in the hotel corridors when you didn't schedule
time for him to run outside. But, when Alan, challenged
with the fact that maybe some of the other hotel guests
found it shocking to find somebody so tall and long
running down the halls at 7:30 in the morning, the Senator
replied, ``Well, maybe I should start at 6:30 instead.''
But Alan never complained about that task. And for me,
in Washington State, there were lots of World Federalists,
a lot of people part of the nuclear freeze movement, a lot
of people very appreciative of his efforts on the
environment. But Alan was also a very self-deprecating
person when it came to making a moment light. And I'll
never forget the time in Vancouver, Washington, where
hundreds of people had showed up at 8:30 on a Sunday
morning, I think it was the Fourth of July, to hear his
message about the nuclear freeze. And when he mistakenly
called the host of the event, whose name was ``June,''
``Jane,'' and he heard a gasp from the audience, he
quickly looked down at his program and saw that he had
mistakenly called her the wrong name, and all of a sudden
started pounding on his chest, saying, ``Me Tarzan! You
Jane!'' Which put everybody at ease, and Alan went on to
give his very important remarks to a community that I
don't think has seen since the likes of Alan Cranston.
And yet, when you run a Presidential campaign, you also
are a spokesperson for your issues. But I never saw Alan
take advantage of that situation, where he was trying to
make more than the situation called for. In fact, he was
very reserved in his comments. I remember being with him
on August 31, in 1983, when the Korean Airline Flight 007
was shot down. We happened to be in Anchorage, Alaska, at
that time, and many of you probably know the various
controversies that arose out of that; 269 people were
killed. And I remember waking up that morning to a press
event where probably 200 different people were there,
including the national press, all wanting Alan to make a
statement right away, because he was a Presidential
candidate, because his remarks would be all over the news.
And yet Alan had the self-discipline not just to say
something immediately that morning, but to say, in a
calming way, ``Let's find out the facts, first.'' And when
I think about that as a human being, particularly in my
new post and job, in which the world moves so fast and in
which people go about promoting their idea and concepts,
the very human side of Alan Cranston remains with me, and
I hope it does with each of you.
I talked to him in October of this year, in which I was
out campaigning in Bellingham, Washington, one of the last
places I had to campaign with him, and I said to him,
``Senator, you dropped me off here almost 17 years ago,
and you never picked me up.'' And Alan reminded me that it
was time to work together. So I guess I say to Kim, and
Colette, and R.E., and to those of you who are going to
carry on the Cranston legacy, that he left in each one of
us a piece of that flame that he carried for so long. You
saw it on the film. It started when Albert Einstein said
to him, ``Nuclear arms could wipe out a whole race of
people.'' I think Alan started saying that from that
moment on, and reminded people about it until his last
days. And so I hope that each and every one of you, as I
will, carries part of that torch and flame that Alan had
of self-discipline, knowing that he was not the message,
but the messenger, in helping this fight. Thank you.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. And now we'll hear from Alan
Cranston's son Kim, who I know is committed to seeing that
Alan's lifelong commitment to securing world peace is
carried on as his most important bequest to his
granddaughter Evan and all the children of our planet.
Kim.
Kim Cranston. Thank you, all. Those of you who were
familiar with the legal pads that Alan carried around and
the black pens will be happy to know that Evan is over
here busy making a ``to do'' list. I'm not sure what it
all includes.
Jonathan, thank you very much for helping to organize
this, and everybody else who was involved in this, the
Senate sponsors, and each of the other speakers; I deeply
appreciate your kind and touching words about Alan and his
work here. It's good to see all of you, so many old
friends. It's sad under the circumstances that we come
together, but it's wonderful to see you all again. I know
how much Alan cherished your friendship and collaboration
over the years.
I was really truly blessed, I feel, to have, through the
genetic lottery, ended up as Alan's son, and had the
opportunity to get to know him as my father, as my dearest
and oldest friend, and as a wonderful collaborator,
mentor, teacher, and leader. And I know his loss as a
leader is a loss we all share.
I've been reflecting over the last month on many of the
things that I've learned from Alan and our work together,
living with him, and a few things stand out that I wanted
to share today. One thing that stood out for me was the
remarkable style of leadership he had. Inside the program
is the poem that he carried, the Lao-Tzu quote, for most
of his life, that really informed the style of leadership
that he practiced. It concludes with:
But of a good leader, When his work is done, His aim
fulfilled, They will all say, ``We did this ourselves.''
And so today, we're here, recognizing what we
accomplished together with Alan. It's an opportunity not
only to mourn his loss, but to celebrate what we
accomplished together, and I think, beyond that, to
recommit, and commit to the ongoing causes that we engaged
in with him.
Another lesson that has stood out in the last month for
me was something that I really remember when I first began
hearing it from him. I was told the central purpose of
life was to make the world a better place, or, as one of
Alan's heros, Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, ``life's
most persistent and urgent question is `what are you doing
to serve others?' '' And it was certainly in that spirit
that Alan conducted his life and committed most of his
public life.
And, finally, one other thing that stands out very
strongly for me, both in terms of the work that he did
here in Washington, and to the work that he continued to
do after he left Washington, was his recognition of the
extraordinary moment in history in which we all live. In
that regard, I just note that a friend commented after
Alan had left the Senate, that they had seen him, and they
said, ``Kim, you know, he doesn't seem to be slowing down,
he seems to be speeding up.'' And I think that was true,
because he said to me that he'd felt since he left the
Senate that he could really focus in on the things that he
was most concerned about, to devote 100 percent of his
energy to those causes that were of greatest concern to
him. And I think the cornerstone of that was an
understanding that we have entered a new age during our
lifetime, when we're facing global challenges that can be
addressed only at the global level, and that we need to
come up with effective new approaches for dealing with
those challenges. After he left the Senate, the cause did
continue, most recently in the form of the Global Security
Institute, which is continuing, and it has a great board,
and a wonderful director, Jonathan Granoff, our CEO, who
is here today. And I would really urge those of you who
are here today who shared in those causes with Alan to
look forward to opportunities to collaborate with us,
because the work goes on, and Alan was just the messenger.
In closing, I'd just like to say something I know Alan
closed most of his speeches with, which was, ``I thank you
for all you are doing, and urge you onward.'' Thank you.
Judge Jonathan Steinberg. Thank you, Kim. I know your
father would be proud of your personal actions to pick up
the torch and deeply moved by your words.
I want to close with some expressions of thanks to many
people. Again, I want to note how grateful all of us are
to the sponsoring Senators and to all who spoke so
eloquently and movingly about the man who will live
forever in my heart as ``Alan,'' as the most important
influence on the lives of so many of us in this room
today.
The presence here throughout this entire ceremony of
three Cabinet officials in this new administration should
remind us all of Alan's abiding belief that it was
possible to form an alliance with every Senator on one
issue or another, and of his commitment to do just that.
Common ground and common sense was much more important to
him than party affiliation or political philosophy. We
thank the three Secretaries who joined us today and helped
remind us of how important those sentiments are for the
welfare of our country.
There are an enormous number of people who volunteered
their time and did just incredible work to make this
tribute as successful and meaningful as we hope that it
has been. If I leave anyone out, I apologize--as I do, and
as I did before, if I left out any current or former
officeholder, who I should have recognized earlier. So, I
offer special thanks, on behalf of the family and myself,
alphabetically, to Zack Allen, Bill Brew, Fran Butler,
Monique Ceruti, Kelly Cordes, Chad Griffin, Bill
Johnstone, Susanne Martinez, Katie O'Neill, Dan Perry,
Valerie Rheinstein, Alexandra Sardegna, Ed Scott, Martha
Stanley, Loraine Tong, Joel Wood, and one most special
person, Elinor Tucker, without whose highly efficient
logistical support we would never have made it to this
point. I thank Senator Rockefeller for allowing her to put
in so much time and effort and to do so in such an
effective way. Finally, an even more personal thanks to my
wife, Shellie, for helping to keep me on a relatively even
keel over the past month as this event was pulled
together.
And, finally, thanks to all of you who joined us in
tribute today to Senator Alan MacGregor Cranston, a great
American who lived his life by the philosophy of the
Chinese poet Lao-Tzu, whose words on leadership, printed
in today's program, Alan carried with him every day.
That concludes this tribute. Please remember to sign the
guest book, and thanks again for coming. And we'll go out
to the theme song from Alan's Presidential campaign,
``Chariots of Fire.''
A Legislative Legacy
Alan Cranston in the U.S. Senate
1969-1993
Overview
As an 8-year-old boy, Alan Cranston lost his first
election to be bench monitor in his Los Altos grammar
school. As an adult, he became the State's most electable
Democrat and one of the most durable and successful
California politicians of the 20th century. During decades
of political and social turbulence, when no other
California Democrat was elected more than once to the U.S.
Senate, Alan Cranston won four Senate terms in the
Capitol, serving a total of 24 years. It is a California
record unmatched except for the legendary Hiram Johnson, a
Republican who held his Senate seat from 1917 to 1945.
In addition, Cranston was elected to seven consecutive
terms as the Senate Democratic Whip, the number two party
position in the Senate. That, too, is an all-time Senate
record for longevity in a leadership post. Alan Cranston
is credited with rebuilding the Democratic Party in
California through grassroots activism and organization.
In the mid-1950s, he organized the then-powerful
California Democratic Council, a vast network of party
volunteers that in 1958 helped sweep Republicans from most
statewide offices. Edmund G. ``Pat'' Brown was elected
Governor, Democrats seized the California Legislature, and
Cranston began two terms as State Controller of
California.
Senator Cranston sought the Democratic Party nomination
for President in 1984. His campaign, though ultimately
unsuccessful, raised to new heights public support for
international arms control and a superpower freeze on
nuclear weapons.
In terms of political style, Senator Cranston drew upon
an earlier Earl Warren tradition of bipartisanship, and
was well served by a diversified base of political
support. Representing the California mega-State in the
Senate, Cranston skillfully balanced a wide array of
insistent and sometimes conflicting State interests. He
steered a delicate course between the State's giant
agribusiness interests and those of consumers, family
farmers and farm workers; he weighed the claims of
homebuilders and growing communities with the need to
preserve open space and wildlife habitats; and he nurtured
and led the California epicenter of the national arms
control and peace movements, while effectively
representing the home of the Nation's defense and
aerospace industry.
The record of congressional measures from 1969 to 1993
adds up to a catalogue of literally tens of thousands of
legislative actions on which there is a Cranston imprint.
These include the large events of the past quarter
century--Vietnam, the Cold War, civil rights, the rise of
environmentalism, the conflict in the Middle East,
Watergate, the energy crisis, and equal rights for women.
The Cranston mark is on thousands of bills and
amendments he personally authored affecting virtually
every aspect of national life. Without this legislative
record, America would be a different and poorer place in
the quality of life and environment for a majority of our
people. Rivers would be more polluted, the air less clean,
food less safe. Fewer opportunities would be open to all
citizens, fewer advances made in medicine and science;
there would be less safe conditions in workplaces.
Despite facile and careless cynicism about the work of
government, the achievements of the Nation's legislative
branch from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s have made a
distinct and meaningful difference in the lives of
millions of Americans. Alan Cranston's particular
contributions to progressive legislation is notable. The
difference a single U.S. Senator can make is demonstrated
by a study of all votes cast in the Senate over two
decades in which the outcome was decided by less than five
votes and often by a single vote. Between 1969 and 1989
there were over 2,500 such votes in which Alan Cranston's
influence often was critical to the outcome.
The figures do not include thousands of legislative
decisions reached by less narrow margins. Nor do they
reflect the additional influence of Senator Cranston as a
behind-the-scene strategist, nose counter, marshaler of
forces and shrewd compromiser who always lived to fight
another day. The sum of thousands of ``small,'' quiet,
often little-noticed and uncelebrated legislative actions
over nearly a quarter-century adds up to steady progress
in nearly every area of American life.
As for one man's place in such a record, former Vice
President Walter Mondale called Senator Cranston: ``The
most decent and gifted Member of the United States
Senate.''
Even with so diverse a legislative record, certain
points of emphasis and priority emerge. Although never an
ideologue, Senator Cranston was passionate in pursuit of
world peace, for extending opportunities to those left out
of the mainstream, and for protecting the natural
environment. Asked by a reporter what he ``goes to the mat
for,'' Cranston replied: ``Peace, arms control, human
rights, civil rights, civil liberties. If there's an issue
between some very powerful people and some people without
much power, my sympathies start with those who have less
power.''
During the 8 years that remained to him after he left
the Senate, Alan Cranston worked tirelessly on issues of
war and peace, speaking out for human rights, and for
preserving the environment of the planet for present and
future generations. In 1996, he became chairman of the
Global Security Institute, a San Francisco-based research
organization which he founded together with former Soviet
President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail S.
Gorbachev to promote world peace and the abolition of
nuclear weapons.
Early History
Few people in modern history have entered the U.S.
Senate as freshmen better prepared than Alan Cranston to
combine lifelong concerns over foreign and domestic policy
with an understanding of the inner procedural, political
and human workings of the institution. It was a
preparation which made it possible to gain and hold onto
Senate leadership as Democratic Whip for 14 of his 24
years in Congress.
In 1936, as a 22-year-old foreign correspondent, he
joined the International News Service (later part of
United Press International) immediately after graduating
from Stanford University. He was sent on assignments to
Germany, Italy, Ethiopia and England in years leading up
to the outbreak of World War II. He personally watched and
listened as Adolf Hitler whipped his audiences into mass
frenzy. He saw Mussolini strut before tens of thousands in
Rome. He covered London in the fateful years ``while
England slept,'' and he watched as the world seemed
helpless to act against the dark march of fascism.
Three years later, following his return to the United
States, Cranston learned that an English-language version
of Hitler's ``Mein Kampf'' was being distributed in the
United States. He was alarmed to discover that, for
propaganda purposes, parts of the text had been
purposefully omitted. These were passages which would have
made clear the nature and full extent of Hitler's threat
to the world. To warn Americans against Hitler, he
prepared a complete and accurate version of the book, with
explanatory notes making the Dictator's real intentions
clear. It was published in tabloid form and sold a half-
million copies before a copyright infringement suit
brought by agents of the Third Reich put a stop to its
further distribution.
Senator Cranston's strong commitment to human rights and
peace, and his alertness to the dangers of totalitarian
one-man rule, were clearly shaped by witnessing first hand
the rise of fascism in Europe and the deadly chain of
events leading to the Second World War and its Cold War
aftermath. His first work in Washington, serving in 1940
and 1941 as a representative of the Common Council for
American Unity, entailed lobbying Congress for fairness in
legislation affecting foreign-born Americans. This
activity gave him an opportunity to learn at close range
the inner workings of the Senate.
With the outbreak of war, Cranston served as Chief of
the Foreign Language Division of the Office of War
Information in the Executive Offices of the President.
When offered a draft deferment in 1944, he declined it and
enlisted in the Army as a private, where he was first
assigned to an infantry unit training in the United
States. Because of his experience as a foreign
correspondent and journalist, he became editor of Army
Talk. His rank was sergeant by V-J Day.
While still in the Army, he began researching and
writing a book in hopes of influencing international
decisionmaking in the post-war world. It was an account of
how, in the aftermath of the First World War, a handful of
willful men in the U.S. Senate, opposed to President
Wilson and the 14-Point Peace Plan, managed to prevent
U.S. participation in the League of Nations, thereby
ultimately undermining the peace and setting the stage for
a second World War.
In 1945, ``The Killing of the Peace'' by Alan Cranston
was published. The New York Times rated it one of the 10
best books of the year. The book served to warn against
the folly of repeating the same isolationist mistakes that
followed World War I. The Cranston book also presented a
meticulous description of the byzantine inner workings of
the U.S. Senate during the debate over ratification of the
League of Nations Treaty. At age 31, the future Senator
revealed a full appreciation of the critical role played
by individual egos, personalities and interpersonal
relationships in the legislative process, and showed how
awareness to such human factors could be critical in
determining the outcome of a vote.
The immediate post-war years in Washington and
publication of ``The Killing of the Peace'' marked the
real beginning of Cranston's determination to become a
Member of the Senate. He wanted to enter that institution
where he could promote world peace and causes of social
justice.
From 1949 to 1952 he served as national president of the
United World Federalists, dedicated to promoting peace
through world law. He was a principle founder of the
California Democratic Council, established to influence
the direction of the Democratic Party in the State, and
was elected as the first CDC president in 1953 and served
until 1958.
He was elected California State Controller in 1958,
which placed him among the top ranks of the party's
statewide elected officials. He was reelected in 1962 and
served until 1966.
Senate Achievements
Foreign Affairs
Elected to the Senate in 1968, during the height of
fighting in Vietnam, Senator Cranston quickly allied with
so-called ``doves'' who were a distinct minority in
Congress at that time. Together with Senator Edward Brooke
of Massachusetts, Alan Cranston co-authored the first
measure to pass the Senate cutting off funds to continue
the war in Southeast Asia. The Brooke-Cranston Amendment
paved the way to the U.S. Congress's ultimately asserting
its prerogatives over military spending and provided for
the orderly termination of U.S. military involvement in
Vietnam.
Senator Cranston played key roles in shaping the SALT
and START arms pacts, and in framing debate on virtually
every new weapon system, arms control issue and foreign
treaty from 1969 to 1993. A recognized leader on the
Foreign Relations Committee beginning in 1981, Alan
Cranston was a highly respected voice on behalf of arms
control, nuclear non-proliferation, peaceful settlement of
international conflict, human rights around the world,
sensible and compassionate approaches to immigration and
refugee issues, foreign trade and long-range solutions to
problems of famine, disease and oppression in the Third
World.
In addition to U.S.-Soviet relations, those specific
areas of foreign policy in which Senator Cranston made a
significant impact include the passage of the Panama Canal
Treaty, efforts to bar military aid to the Nicaraguan
contras, aid to Israel and efforts toward peace in the
Middle East, helping to bring a halt to U.S. involvement
in a civil war in Angola, and opposition to apartheid in
South Africa.
Environmental Legislation
Among the legacy of Alan Cranston's years in the Senate
is a wealth of parks, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges,
wild rivers, scenic areas and coastline protection
measures. With just two bills in which Alan Cranston and
Representative Phillip Burton of San Francisco teamed--the
Omnibus Parks Act of 1978 and the Alaska Lands Act of
1980--as much acreage was placed under Federal protection
as all the park lands created earlier in the 20th century
combined.
Senator Cranston was the Senate sponsor of legislation
creating the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the
Channel Islands National Park, a 48,000 acre addition to
the Redwoods National Park, and the inclusion of Mineral
King into Sequoia National Park. He sponsored 12 different
wilderness bills which became law between 1969 and 1982.
He helped close Death Valley National Monument to open-pit
mining and was an architect of the Endangered Species Act
and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
He worked diligently throughout his Senate years for the
California Desert Protection Act that called for setting
aside millions of acres of desert lands as wilderness and
park preserves, and creating better government
conservation efforts for a vast portion of the California
desert ecosystem. His efforts ultimately came to fruition
when Senator Dianne Feinstein, during the first Clinton
term, was able to enact into law the Cranston crusade for
desert preservation.
Even this long list does not tell the complete story of
Senator Cranston's environmental record, which includes
clean air and clean water legislation, control of toxic
wastes, liability for oil spills, restoration of fish and
wildlife resources, and support for new technologies for
cleaner fuels. No other period in American history has
seen so much accomplished for environmental protection as
the last three decades of the 20th century, and Senator
Cranston was an essential but largely unheralded architect
of these policies.
Civil Rights/Civil Liberties
In his first term as a Senator, Alan Cranston wrote the
amendment that extended to Federal workers the civil
rights protections earlier mandated to private employers.
He also played a key strategic role in ending a filibuster
which threatened the extension of the Voting Rights Act.
He authored the first Senate bill to redress grievances of
Japanese-Americans interned in relocation camps during the
Second World War. Cranston co-authored landmark
legislation protecting the civil rights of
institutionalized persons. He was the first U.S. Senator
to employ an openly gay person on his staff, and he fought
official discrimination against homosexuals in immigration
laws and access to legal services.
Aware from his days as a journalist of the importance of
protecting news sources, Senator Cranston fought the Nixon
administration to preserve an unfettered and free press in
America. He successfully blocked legislation in 1975 that
would have created an Official Secrets Act threatening
First Amendment freedoms.
Health Care
Both on the Senate Human Resources Subcommittee on
Health and Scientific Research, and as Chairman of the
Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Cranston
worked to secure for all individuals access to health
services necessary for the prevention and treatment of
disease and injury and for the promotion of physical and
mental well-being.
He authored the law, and extensions and refinements of
it, that provided for the development nationwide of
comprehensive emergency medical services (EMS) systems and
for the training of emergency medical personnel. He
steered the original EMS Systems Act through Congress,
then persuaded a reluctant President Nixon to sign it into
law. A few years later, the Cranston measure was quite
possibly responsible for saving another President's life.
It was at a special trauma care unit at George Washington
University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., established
in part by the EMS Systems Act, where President Reagan's
life was saved following an assassination attempt in 1981.
Senator Cranston also wrote laws that have made a broad
range of family planning services available to individuals
who cannot otherwise afford or gain ready access to them.
He authored legislation that improved services to families
with children afflicted with sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS) and encouraged expanded research efforts.
Legislation to support community efforts to control
venereal diseases and tuberculosis were shaped by Senator
Cranston. He authored several provisions of law
substantially increasing funding for AIDS research,
education and public health activities.
He wrote the law that expanded and coordinated Federal
research on arthritis, and he helped create the National
Institute on Aging. Totally separate from his role as a
Federal legislator, he helped establish the private, non-
profit Alliance for Aging Research to spur research
scientists to find answers for the chronic disabling
conditions of aging, including Alzheimer's Disease.
His commitment to healthy aging was also personal. A
lifelong physical fitness buff and accomplished runner, he
set a world record for his age group in 1969, running the
100-yard dash in 12.6 seconds. He broke his own record 3
years later running in the University of Pennsylvania
Relays at age 59.
Rights for Persons with Disabilities
When Alan Cranston came to the Senate, disabled persons
had virtually no legal protection against unjust
discrimination and there had been little progress toward
removing physical barriers that excluded them from public
buildings and facilities. He was acutely aware of these
injustices, due to crippling disabilities suffered by
members of his immediate family. He often characterized
people with disabilities as ``the one civil rights
constituency any of us can be thrust into without a
moment's warning.'' He led efforts to enact legislation in
1973 for the first time outlawing discrimination in
federally funded programs and requiring that federally
funded buildings be made accessible to disabled
individuals, and promoting the employment and advancement
of persons with disabilities by the Federal Government and
Federal contractors. The sloping sidewalk curbs for
wheelchairs on nearly every street in the Nation stem from
Alan Cranston's early advocacy for disabled people.
Children and Families
Senator Cranston authored a rich body of legislative
reforms that humanized and vastly improved adoption
assistance, foster care, child custody and child care. He
was a leader in sponsoring child abuse and neglect and
domestic violence prevention laws and in investigating the
abuse of children in institutions.
He was responsible for extending the original
authorization of the Head Start pre-school education
program. He authored successful bills extending Medicaid
coverage for prenatal health care for low-income pregnant
women. He co-wrote the landmark 1975 law designed to
provide educational opportunities for handicapped
children, and he was a strong supporter and developer of
children's nutrition and feeding programs throughout his
time in the Senate.
Many private organizations honored Cranston for his
work, including the North American Conference on Adoptable
Children, which named him ``Child Advocate of the Year''
in 1979, the California Adoption Advocacy Network, the
Child Welfare League of America, the Day Care and Child
Development Council of America, the California Child
Development Administrators Association, and the JACKIE
organization, which cited ``his leadership in obtaining
national adoption and foster care reform.''
Veterans
Though opposed to the Vietnam War, Mr. Cranston was
deeply compassionate toward those who fought America's
most unpopular war. Able to separate the war from the
warriors, he was an early champion for the Vietnam
veterans, especially for improving health care in VA
hospitals and clinics.
In his first year in the Senate, Alan Cranston was
assigned chairmanship of a Labor Committee subcommittee
dealing with veterans. He used that post to draw national
attention to inadequate and shocking conditions in VA
hospitals, which were ill prepared to deal with the
returning wounded from the Vietnam War. When a full
Committee on Veterans' Affairs was established in the
Senate, he chaired its Subcommittee on Health and
Hospitals and later chaired the full committee for a total
of 9 years.
Among a few highlights of this record: improvements in
compensation for service-connected disabled veterans,
education and training programs tailored to Vietnam-era
veterans, requirements for Federal contractors to give
preference in hiring for Vietnam-era and disabled
veterans, and a long list of initiatives to improve health
care in the VA medical system.
Alan Cranston wrote the law that created a national
network of VA counseling facilities known as ``Vet
Centers'' to aid returning Vietnam veterans in coping with
readjustment to civilian society, and helping to identify
and treat the condition known as post-traumatic stress
disorder.
He was among the first to draw attention to the health
problems believed associated with exposure to agent orange
and he gave the VA specific authority to provide Vietnam
veterans with medical care for those conditions. He also
helped bring to light health problems of veterans who were
exposed to nuclear radiation as part of U.S. Government
atomic testing in the 1940s and 1950s, and he fought
successfully to allow compensation for subsequent medical
effects of the exposure.
For more than a decade he fought to allow veterans legal
rights to appeal VA decisions on claims for benefits and
ultimately succeeded in establishing the United States
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. On his very last day
in the Senate, Mr. Cranston was responsible for passage of
three veterans bills: Veterans Reemployment Rights,
Veterans Health Care Services, and the Veterans Health
Care Act.
Women
Another constant throughout the Cranston Senate career
were his efforts aimed at eradicating sex discrimination
and providing equal opportunities for women.
He worked hard, both in the U.S. Congress and in the
California Legislature, for passage and ratification of
the Equal Rights Amendment. He authored provisions of the
Equal Employment Opportunity Act precluding discrimination
in hiring and retaining women employees and those who are
pregnant. On the Banking Committee he pioneered laws
prohibiting discrimination against women in obtaining
credit and benefiting from insurance policies.
He consistently championed women's access to health care
and reproductive health services. He was the Senate author
of a bill, the Freedom of Choice Act, that proposed to
codify into Federal law the Roe v. Wade court decision.
Addenda
Any summary of the Cranston record would be incomplete
without also noting the following:
Senator Cranston helped lead the opposition in the U.S.
Senate to G. Harrold Carswell and Clement Haynsworth, both
nominated by President Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court.
Both nominations were defeated.
When Robert Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court, it
was a vote count taken by Democratic Whip Alan Cranston
that first showed the nomination could be defeated.
Senator Cranston skillfully used this information to
persuade swing vote Senators to reject the Bork
nomination.
During the Carter Presidency, when Cranston had the
patronage power to recommend Federal judicial
appointments, he instead established a bipartisan
committee with the California Bar Association to assist in
screening candidates based on merit. Under this system
four women, four African-Americans, two Latinos and one
Asian were appointed to the U.S. District Court in
California. In addition, one African-American, one woman
and one Latino were appointed as U.S. attorneys.
He long championed Federal support for mass transit,
including the Surface Transit Act, which for the first
time opened up the Federal Highway Act to allow mass
transit to compete for Federal funds on an equal basis
with highways.
As Housing Subcommittee Chairman on the Banking
Committee, he led efforts to pass the Urban Mass Transit
Act of 1987, the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, and the
Housing and Community Development Act of 1987. He then
succeeded in gaining enactment of the Cranston-Gonzalez
National Affordable Housing Act in October 1990, a
landmark law that set a new course for Federal housing
assistance, stressing production of affordable housing
units, improved FHA insurance, elderly and handicapped
housing expansion, special housing for people with AIDS,
and reform of public housing. Passage of the Housing and
Community Development Act of 1992 culminated Senator
Cranston's 24 years of major legislative achievements
steadily aimed at making housing more available and
fostering community economic growth.
He helped strengthen the Resources Conservation and
Recovery Act, the basic law which allows the Federal
Government to regulate hazardous waste material to ensure
that it is safely managed.
He headed efforts in the Senate to break the filibuster
mounted against labor law reform.
Over more than two decades, he provided diligent
oversight and direction for all Federal volunteer programs
including the Peace Corps, the ACTION Agency, Foster
Grandparents and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
Post-Senate Career
From 1993 until his death just hours before the first
day of 2001, Alan Cranston pursued the opportunity
afforded by the end of the Cold War to abolish nuclear
weapons. He worked on the issue as chairman of the
Gorbachev Foundation, and then as president of the Global
Security Institute in San Francisco, which he helped
establish. An important accomplishment of the Institute
was to put together, with a coalition of groups called
Project Abolition, the Responsible Security Appeal, which
calls for action leading to the elimination of all nuclear
weapons. At Cranston's urging, this document was signed by
such notable people as former President Jimmy Carter, Paul
Nitze, and General Charles Horner. Project Abolition,
founded by Cranston, promises to be the foundation for a
wider nuclear abolition campaign in the years ahead.
During the decade of the 1990s, he traveled to the
Indian subcontinent, in Central Asia and elsewhere,
working with national leaders to accommodate peaceful
change in the world, especially the development of
pluralistic, free societies in the former Soviet Union. In
the very last years of his life, he was more often at home
in the sprawling Spanish colonial-style residence in Los
Altos Hills, where he was surrounded by three generations
of his family. He assembled a magnificent library
encompassing a wide range of California, American and
international history and politics, in thousands of books,
artworks, memorabilia and photographs. To this library
would come many friends, political allies old and new,
former staff and an occasional journalist intent on an
interview.
Former Senator Cranston made this assessment of his
priorities in one interview, just months before his death:
I am an abolitionist on two fronts. I believe we have to
abolish nuclear weapons before they abolish us, and I
think we have to eliminate the incredibly important and
significant role of money in politics before we're going
to have our democracy working as it should work. If we
blow ourselves up in a nuclear war, no other issue, no
matter how important it may seem to be, is going to
matter. And until we get money out of politics, money is
going to affect every issue that comes along, often
adversely to the interest of the public. So let's abolish
both.
Years earlier, while preparing to retire from the U.S.
Senate, he expressed gratitude for the opportunities to
make a difference on behalf of California and people
throughout the world:
It has been a privilege I have cherished and for which I
can never adequately thank the people of California. It is
my hope that many of the accomplishments achieved over
these past 24 years in the areas of world peace, the
environment, and in the effort to secure a better quality
of life for millions of Americans will survive and serve
as the basis of continued progress by others on behalf of
future generations.