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 | FOND FAREWELL
JUNE 11, 1996TRANSCRIPT |
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Kwame Holman reports on Bob Dole's final day as a U.S. Senator and on the Senate's tribute to him.
June 11: Senators Bill Bradley and Bill Cohen reflect on the career of Bob Dole
June 11: Text of Dole's farewell speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate
May 16: Shields & Gigot examine Dole's announcement that he intends to leave the Senate
April 17: Bob Dole discusses the coming campaign with Jim Lehrer in a Newsmaker interview
Look here for the NewsHours' special general election page
KWAME HOLMAN: Bob Dole arrived at the Capitol this morning appearing nonchalant about the significance of the day.
REPORTER: How hard a day is this for you?
SEN. ROBERT DOLE, Majority Leader: Well, I woke up early but otherwise I'm all right. It's going to be, it's going to be a good day. The sun's out, I think, and I'm going to go open up the Senate for the last time. And, at 2 o'clock--3 o'clock walk down the steps. It'll be the last official visit.
REPORTER: Any regrets?
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: Well, it's mixed feelings, no regrets.
KWAME HOLMAN: Ironically, Bob Dole chose to leave in the middle of the first Republican-controlled Congress in more than four decades, but Dole had become somewhat frustrated. Last year, President Clinton vetoed the major pieces of legislation on the Republican agenda, Medicare and welfare reform, and their seven-year balanced budget plan. This year, Democrats set up a road block on the Senate floor, refusing to allow action on several bills unless Dole first scheduled a vote on increasing the minimum wage. But the focus today was on Dole's accomplishments as one Senator after another, Republicans and Democrats, came to the floor to pay tribute to their colleague.
SEN. NANCY KASSEBAUM, (R) Kansas: Mr. President, through all of these years, no challenge has been no too large and no concern has
been too small for Senator Dole. Our state motto is "Ad aster per aspora," "to the stars through difficulty." I've never known Sen. Dole to not look at a challenge and find a way to address it. He has been a tireless champion for our state in every farm bill, every tax bill, every bill of any kind that touched Kansas, and more importantly, then by extension, the nation.
SEN. PETE DOMENICI, (R) New Mexico: I think my feet will find me walking down that hall, and my feet will find me going into that office because I have done that so many times when we needed leadership. The legacy of leadership that he leaves will be sorely missed and only history will indicate its true depth.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD, (D) West Virginia: It isn't
enough to say in our heart that we like a man for his ways. It isn't enough that we fill our minds with sums of silent praise. Nor is it enough that we honor a man as our confidence upward mounts as going right up to the man himself and telling him so that counts. So when a man does a deed that you really admire, don't leave a kind word unsaid, for fear to do so will make him vain or cause him to lose his head, but reach out your hand and tell him, "Well done," and see how his gratitude swells. It isn't the flowers we throw on the graves. It's the words to the living that tell. And so I say to my friend, Bob Dole, well done. (applause)
KWAME HOLMAN: At noon and on schedule, Bob Dole returned to give his final speech in the Senate. The Senate was packed, and Dole nearly was overcome with emotion as he began to speak but then settled himself with a few quick jokes.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: It's been a great ride. A few bumps along the way. I've learned a lot from people in this room. I've even gone to Sen. Byrd when I was the Majority Leader to ask his advice on how to defeat him on an issue. (laughter in room) And if you know Robert Byrd as I do, he gave me the answer. (laughter in room)
KWAME HOLMAN: Dole spoke of his family and staff, but he spoke mostly of his Senate colleagues and their accomplishments, and in doing so, gave his audience a short history of the institution.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: And I remember back in the Vietnam debate, some of us were here and some were on each side of the issue. The so-called Cooper-Church amendments, it went on and on and on, week after week after week, about whether we ought to withdraw our troops or shut off funding, which I thought was wrong. And as I looked back on it, I think I was right because we had courageous men like
Bob Kerrey and John McCain and others in this chamber who were risking their lives, and they deserved our support.
And the first speech I ever made on the floor was April 14, 1969, about disabled Americans. Now there are a lot of people in this room who have worked on that program. And I know Senator Kennedy and Senator Harkin and Senator Durenberger when he was here--and Senator Jennings Randolph before--maybe before many of you came was in the forefront. We stood with many who couldn't stand on their own. And the highlight was passing the American with Disabilities Act. Forty-three million Americans, they're not all seriously disabled, but there are many in wheelchairs, many who can't even sit up, and it was a very impressive sight to be at the White House the day that bill was signed by President Bush. And I'm forever grateful. I know Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Harkin and others are. Have you ever seen so many wheelchairs at the White House at a signing ceremony? Never.
KWAME HOLMAN: Bob Dole's last speech as a Senator probably was his least partisan, and he barely alluded to his Presidential campaign.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: So the Bible tells us to everything there is a season, and I think my season in the Senate is about to come to an end. But the new season before me makes this moment far less the closing of one chapter than the opening of another. And we all take pride in the past, but we all live for the future. And I agree with the prairie poet, Carl Sandburg, who told us, "Yesterday is a wind gone down, a sun dropped in the West. I tell you that there is nothing in the world, only an ocean of tomorrows, a sky of tomorrow."
And like everybody here, I'm an optimist. I believe our best tomorrows are yet to be lived. So I again thank you. God bless America, and God bless the United States Senate. (applause)
KWAME HOLMAN: Dole spoke for 45 minutes with his colleagues surrounding him with applause at the conclusion. (applause) The spontaneous tribute lasted until Dole left the floor. (applause) And at 3:30 this afternoon, Citizen Bob Dole walked down the steps of the capitol. (applause and cheers)
REPORTER: You're going to miss this place, though, aren't you, Senator?
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: Yeah. I never knew that many people knew me up here but--it's really been a great day, and I just had a call from the President awhile ago. We've had a good day. I wished him well, and he wished me well.
KWAME HOLMAN: Dole now will be able to give his run for the Presidency full-time attention.
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