E284 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks March 4, 1998 To the people in my district, the safety of HONORING THE BIRTH OF ABBEY HONORING HENRY STEELE pipelines is absolutely essential. My constitu- DEENA TO DR. HERBERT LEPOR COMMAGER ents were witnesses to a horrible tragedy that AND DR. ELLEN SHAPIRO they carry with them, even four years later, HON. THOMAS M. DAVIS fears they had never before imagined. In a OF VIRGINIA way however, they were also witnesses to a HON. PETER T. KING IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES miracle: only one person lost her life in the ac- OF NEW YORK Wednesday, March 4, 1998 cident, tragically suffering a heart attack, and most residents escaped without injury. Cer- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, it is with tainly, in light of the total devastation of the deep sadness that I rise today to announce Wednesday, March 4, 1998 area, the potential for a greater number of fa- the passing of a great historian and teacher, Henry Steele Commager. His contributions to talities is apparent. Mr. KING. Mr. Speaker, I rise to inform the The Edison accident, like the majority of our nation during the twentieth century are be- House that on February 25, 1998, Dr. Herbert pipeline accidents, was caused by third party yond measure. He taught generations of Lepor and Dr. Ellen Shapiro became the damage. Often times, excavators do not know Americans to respect the genius that lay be- what is buried beneath their work sites. This proud parents of a baby daughter, Abbey hind one of the greatest documents in world ignorance can lead to fatal and expensive Deena. Abbey Deena was born at The New history, the United States Constitution. Mr. consequences. The bill we are introducing York Presbyterian Hospital and she weighed Commager died on Monday, March 2, 1998 at today proposes three simple solutions to this in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces. The best news of the age of 95. It is difficult for me to believe problem: before they begin digging, all exca- all is that Abbey Deena and her mother are in that such a prolific American historian is gone. When I was a student at Amherst College, vators should call a central phone number to perfect health. I had the honor of having Mr. Commager as learn whether there are any underground fa- I am proud to be able to call Dr. Lepor and an instructor. This brilliant scholar reminded cilities at the excavation site. All facility opera- Dr. Shapiro my good friends. Dr. Shapiro is an his students about the unique circumstances tors should participate in One-Call programs, internationally renowned Pediatric Urologist and rare, combined genius that existed when and, once notified, should accurately mark any our republic was created. In addition, he underground facilities. Finally, states should and is the Director of Pediatric Urology at New York University Medical Center. She received worked tirelessly to awaken a true respect for strongly enforce their One-Call laws to encour- and commitment to our government institu- age maximum participation in One-Call pro- her medical degree from the University of Ne- braska College of Medicine, was a surgical in- tions from his students. Under his tutelage, I grams. These simple measures can save came to learn about the power of our Con- tern and resident at the Johns Hopkins Hos- lives, prevent property damage, and prevent stitution and the importance of its structure in pital and a Clinical Associate in the Surgery the need for expensive repairs. every facet of our government. I believe Mr. More than anything else, One-Call is about Branch of the National Cancer Institute, Be- Commager's tireless passion led many young prevention. One telephone call can prevent thesda, Maryland. She was a fellow in Pedi- people such as myself to public service. More- explosions like the Edison accident. One tele- atric Urology at the Children's Hospital of over, I firmly believe he showed many of his phone call can prevent the death of an exca- Michigan and was Assistant Professor of Sur- students how to be active citizens committed vator digging near a gas line. One telephone gery at the Washington University School of to fighting apathy in the American electorate. call can prevent the contamination of the envi- Medicine and at the Medical College of Wis- Mr. Commager encouraged all politicians ronment by a ruptured hazardous liquid or consin. Prior to moving to New York City, she not to be afraid of their moral convictions and sewer line. One telephone call can prevent the practiced Pediatric Urology at the Children's to vote on the principles that originally elected need for expensive repairs to fiber optic ca- them to office. He was a strong-willed man bles. As another example, shortly after the Hospital of St. Louis and the Children's Hos- pital of Wisconsin. with the singular courage to pursue the hearts pipeline incident in my district, a cut in an and minds of all Americans. His writings were electric line at Newark airport by a contractor Dr. Lepor has been Chairman of Urology at not limited to the academic world, rather he resulted in closure of the Airport for nearly 24 New York University School of Medicine since actively sought to engage all individuals and hours. One-Call programsÐand this billÐ 1993. During that time he has established one rouse in them a passion for our history, our would prevent this type of accident. of the preeminent centers of urological care, founding fathers, and our institutions of gov- Today, 49 States have some kind of One- education and research in America. Dr. Lepor ernment. Henry Steele Commager dedicated Call system, but Federal action is necessary, graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum himself and his life's work to preserving our as demonstrated by the accidents mentioned laude from the University of California, Los Constitution. above. Many current state systems are inad- Angeles (UCLA) at the age of 20. He earned I know that Henry Steele Commager will be equate. Some provide exemptions for certain missed by lawmakers in both chambers who his medical degree at the Johns Hopkins Uni- types of excavators. Some fail to cover all un- were influenced by his many writings, particu- versity School of Medicine and completed derground facilities. Some states have incred- larly The Growth of the American Republic. ibly complex enforcement mechanisms, and Urology Residency Training at the Brady The breadth of his work and its lasting legacy some states don't bother to enforce One-Call Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins. Dr. will always serve as a reminder of Mr. laws at all. This bill recommends a program Lepor is a nationally renowned expert on pros- Commager's patriotism and the strength of his that will be successful. The key to this suc- tate treatment and has written numerous sci- commitment to democratic principles. My cess is the concept of participation by all ex- entific articles and books on that topic. He per- deepest condolences go to Henry cavators and facility operators. Excavators will forms more radical prostatectomies a year Commager's family, his wife Mary Powesland be assured that they are digging in a safe than any other surgeon in the tri-state area. and his children. Recent articles in both The place, and facility operators have insurance He has been recognized by American Health Washington Post and The Washington Times that their lines will not be damaged. magazine and New York Magazine for his ex- illustrates Mr. Commager's contributions to our This bill encourages States to improve their pertise in prostate cancer. nation. One-Call programs. It contains no mandate [From the Washington Post] that States adopt such a system. Instead, it At the time of their marriage, Dr. Lepor and Dr. Shapiro were the only husband and wife Henry Steele Commager, 95, one of the provides grants to States that choose to insti- leading scholars of U.S. history, died March tute the principles of this bill and develop ef- Urology team in America. More important than 2 at his home in Amherst, Mass. The cause of fective one-call systems. I believe that once any of their professional abilities, however, death was not reported. states delve deeply into this issue they will they are outstanding people who care deeply Dr. Commager taught U.S. history at col- conclude, as I have, that a comprehensive about their patients and give untiringly of leges and universities for more than a half- One-Call system is a life-saving device that themselves. century. Since the 1930’s, he had maintained should be a part of any public safety program. a torrential outpouring of writing aimed not With this bill, we have an opportunity to pre- As happy as Dr. Lepor and Dr. Shapiro are only at sophisticated scholars but also at un- dergraduates, high school students and the vent accidents like the Edison explosion in over the birth of their beautiful daughter, I know that Abbey Deena will soon realize how general reader. He had the gift, rare in an every community in this country. Let us take academic, of being able to seemingly effort- the explosion that awoke the residents of the fortunate she is to have such outstanding par- lessly translate historically complex matters Durham Woods Apartment Complex in Edison ents. On behalf of myself and my family I wish into supremely lucid and deceptively simple as a wake up call to us. Pass one-call. them the very best of health and happiness. prose. March 4, 1998 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E285 Generations of his readers learned that of Dr. Commager’s popular texts, told the She survives him. His other survivors in- their country was truly admirable and that, Associated Press that the historian’s public clude two daughters. pronouncements helped sway policy makers if it sometimes stumbled, it always righted f itself. Dr. Commager, who called himself an to question the Vietnam War. independent Democrat, wrote with the faith ‘‘He certainly influenced me in making TRIBUTE TO THE QUARTER BACK- of a Jeffersonian liberal in the aims and certain that I was on the right track. My own instincts and reading and study con- ERS OF THE SOUTHAMPTON HOS- abilities of the American people and clearly PITAL admired the nation’s past. vinced me of that. To have a person of the As a champion of the U.S. Constitution, status of Henry Steele Commager saying the once calling it the ‘‘greatest monument to same thing was very reinforcing,’’ McGovern HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES said. political science in literature,’’ he wrote of OF NEW YORK this country’s greatness as not unrelated to Over the years, Dr. Commager wrote for IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES the sweeping growth of social justice. such publications as Current History, the At- He lectured Americans not only in class- lantic Monthly and the Nation. History, Wednesday, March 4, 1998 however, reported that he owned at least a rooms but also in some of the best-received Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to general history texts of his time. He may be thousand classical record albums, which he best known for ‘‘The Growth of the American played while working. pay tribute to the members of the Quarter Republic,’’ written with Samuel Eliot Morri- Dr. Commager also was enthusiastic about Backers Club of Southampton Hospital, who son and published by the Oxford University sports. He had written works on baseball and for 20 years have poured their hearts and val- Press in 1931. Noted historian Allan Nevins was a rabid college football fan. At least one uable time into helping the hospital acquire the hailed the book as ‘‘the most entertaining, parent of an Amherst graduate recalls Dr. most technologically advanced, life saving stimulating and instructive single-volume Commager shouting ‘‘advice’’ from the stands, in no uncertain terms, to an embat- medical equipment and services for the East history of the United States as yet written.’’ End, Long Island community. Dr. Commager and Nevins collaborated on tled Amherst football coach. Dr. Commager was a member of numerous the work’s 10th edition, which was published As a lifelong resident of the Long Island historical societies, as well as Phi Beta in 1987. Town of Southampton, I am very proud to In 1941, Dr. Commanger co-wrote ‘‘Our Na- Kappa, and the American Scandinavian Soci- count the Quarter Backers as my personal tion,’’ which became a leading high school ety. friends and neighbors, men and women U.S. history text. In 1942, he and Nevins co- whose commitment to our home town knows wrote ‘‘America: The Story of a Free Peo- [From the Washington Times] no bounds. Motivated solely by the selfless ple,’’ a best-selling book for the lay reader Henry Steele Commager, a prolific Amer- desire to help Southampton Hospital provide that covered U.S. history from the first Brit- ican historian who championed the Constitu- the best medical care available, the Quarter ish settlers to the Japanese attack on Pearl tion as a model of political genius, died yes- Harbor in December 1941. terday at the age of 95. Backers have raised and donated more than In addition to immensely popular general Mr. Commager, who died at his home in $100,000 annually for the purchase of the best histories, Dr. Commager also wrote on more Amherst, wrote a body of works spanning diagnostic, therapeutic and emergency medi- specialized topics. These included a 1936 bi- much of this nation’s history. But his best- cal equipment in the industry. Their labors ography of a pre-Civil War New England the- known work was ‘‘The Growth of the Amer- have produced the greatest fruit imaginable, ologian and abolitionist, and such philo- ican Republic,’’ which in various revised ver- for they have saved the lives and eased the sophic offerings as ‘‘The American Mind,’’ sions served as a standard college text for suffering of countless numbers of their neigh- ‘‘Freedom, Loyalty and Dissent,’’ ‘‘The generations of students. American Character’’ and ‘‘The Empire of His impact went far beyond fellow histo- bors. Reason.’’ rians and students. Mr. Commager wrote as The brainchild of John Grattan, a member of He also was a prodigious editor, making much for the popular press as for the schol- the Hospital's Board of Directors who came up historic writing more accessible to the gen- arly journals. In both arenas, he championed with the idea while he was a patient at the eral reader. Works he edited included Alexis principles of the Constitution, which he hospital, the group was christened the Quarter de Tocqueville’s ‘‘Democracy in America,’’ called the ‘‘greatest monument to political Backers because members offer quarterly Benjamin Franklin’s ‘‘Autobiography’’ and science in literature.’’ The self-described independent Democrat contributions to Southampton Hospital. With Francis Parkman’s ‘‘The Oregon Trail.’’ the help of Richard J. Micallef, the current He once maintained that his most signifi- also did not shy at lecturing Congress and cant work may have been his now-legendary presidents about what he viewed as their chairman of the Quarter Backers Steering ‘‘Documents of American History,’’ first pub- moral and constitutional obligations. Committee and a member from the beginning, lished in 1934. Growing to more than 600 doc- Mr. Commager was John Woodruff Simp- John Grattan organized the many East End uments, its 10th edition was published in son lecturer at Amherst College—a post pre- business men and women, community leaders 1988. viously held by poets Robert Frost and Ar- and others who were committed to supporting Dr. Commager was born in Pittsburgh and chibald McLeish. Before coming to Amherst in 1956, he was on the faculty of New York the hospital. Born at Southampton Hospital 21 grew up in Chicago. Orphaned before he was years ago, the Quarter Backers Club has 10 years old, he was raised by a grandfather, University and Columbia University. He also held chairs in American history at a Chicago clergyman. The future historian grown into one of the most vital and active Cambridge University and Oxford University. began earning his living at age 15 by working members of the hospital family. He lectured at universities in Latin America, in a local library. Today, the Quarter Backers number more He received a bachelor’s degree in philoso- Japan, Israel and most of the countries of than 200, men and women from every walk of Western Europe. phy and master’s and doctoral degrees in his- Mr. Commager, who earned his doctorate life who have helped Southampton Hospital tory from the University of Chicago. He also from the University of Chicago in 1928, also adjust to rapid advancements in medical tech- received a master’s degree in politics from wrote ‘‘Theodore Parker,’’ 1936; ‘‘Majority nology. They have raised funds to acquire car- Oxford University in England and attended Rule and Minority Rights,’’ 1943; ‘‘The Story diac diagnostic machines, expand the ortho- the University of Copenhagen. of the Second World War,’’ 1945; ‘‘The Amer- During World War II, he worked for the Of- pedic sports medicine facilities and supply ican Mind,’’ 1951; ‘‘The Commonwealth of fice of War Information in Europe and also mammography equipment that formed South- Learning,’’ 1968; ‘‘Jefferson, Nationalism and ampton Hospital's Breast Health Center. Col- was an official Army historian. He taught Enlightenment,’’ 1975; ‘‘The Empire of Rea- history at New York University from 1926 to son,’’ 1977; and ‘‘This Day and Generation,’’ lectively, the Quarter Backers are as integral 1938 and then at Columbia University before with Edward Kennedy, 1979. to Southampton Hospital as the 120 staff phy- joining the faculty at Amherst College in the In 1934, he edited ‘‘Documents of American sicians, sixty consulting doctors, nurses and 1950’s. History,’’ a compilation of nearly 500 other staff members in building a healthier As a teacher, Dr. Commager promoted dis- writings. The 10th edition was published in cussion if not downright battles in the class- East End. 1988. More than just fundraisers, the Quarter room. A champion of civil liberties, he had ‘‘The Growth of the American Republic’’ tangled with Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R–Wis.) was written with Samuel Eliot Morison in Backers are the hospital's ambassadors to the in the 1950’s over the professor’s opposition 1931. Mr. Commager collaborated with Alan East End, reaching out to their neighbors, to loyalty oaths. Nevins on the 10th edition published in 1987. business groups, local media and schools, Even in the 1980’s, he continued to lecture Born in Pittsburgh and orphaned before his building and cementing relationships with the politicians on history and civil liberties, 10th birthday, Mr. Commager was raised by community. Their devotion to Southampton quoting Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wen- his grandfather, a Chicago clergyman. He Hospital and their commitment to saving lives dell Holmes to the effect that ‘‘we should be said he began earning his living at the age of ever receptive to loathsome ideas. 15 by working in a library. and improving community health is all that mo- George McGovern, the former South Da- Mr. Commager married Evan Carroll in tivates the members of the Quarter Backers. kota senator and Democratic presidential 1928, and they had three children. He married This is the reason why they have flourished candidate, who once taught history with one Mary Powlesland in 1979. and grown during two decades of service.