CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE July 16, 2001
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July 16, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE 13305 for 61⁄2 decades honorably served his Mort Caplin returned from the war to New This simply opened a new phase in his aston- Nation, his community, and our be- York, but not many years later heard the ishing career of service and dedication to loved University of Virginia, amassing University’s call and answered, joining the this University and to the profession. Still to an exemplary record of accomplish- Law faculty in 1950. For over a decade he come was a five-year term on the Univer- sity’s Board of Visitors and exemplary serv- ment of the highest order. I ask unani- taught federal taxation and constitutional law. During this time he produced important ice to the Law School as chair of the execu- mous consent that the following re- scholarship and excelled in the classroom. tive committee of our recently concluded marks made by Robert E. Scott, Dean Perhaps equally important was the leader- capital campaign. When we began the Law of the University of Virginia Law ship role Mortimer Caplin played at the Uni- School campaign in July 1992, the first per- School, be printed in the RECORD. versity and in the Charlottesville commu- son I went to see was Mortimer Caplin. When These remarks are part of a speech nity. In 1950 Mort led the Law faculty in its I asked whether he would lead what would Dean Scott made during the presen- unanimous decision to admit Gregory Swan- become an eight-year fundraising effort. tation to Mr. Caplin of The Thomas son to the Law School, the first African- Mort replied simply, ‘‘I’ll do it.’’ True to his word, he did. By dint of his example and Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law, American to enroll at the University. Subse- quently, Mort was a central figure in orga- leadership, the Law School recently con- the University of Virginia’s highest nizing the efforts of the Charlottesville com- cluded the most successful campaign in the honor. munity to circumvent the ‘‘massive resist- history of American legal education. REMARKS OF DEAN ROBERT E. SCOTT UPON ance’’ campaign that Virginia’s political Mort Caplin remains to this day a central THE PRESENTATION OF THE THOMAS JEFFER- leaders had launched at the Supreme Court’s figure in the governance of the Law School SON FOUNDATION MEDAL IN LAW TO desegregation mandate. Mort, along with and its guidance into the twenty-first cen- MORTIMER M. CAPLIN, APRIL 12, 2001 other law faculty and their spouses worked tury. He has been a driving force behind the MR. PRESIDENT, MR. RECTOR, AND DISTIN- unceasingly to ensure that neither children Law School’s commitment to a broad public GUISHED GUESTS: Today is the 10th, and last nor civil rights suffered during this dark vision, as reflected in our decision to dedi- time I will stand in this glorious space and time in Virginia’s history. cate our Public Service Center in his honor. introduce a recipient of the Jefferson Medal A brilliant and popular professor, Mort He, in turn, has honored, elevated, and en- in Law. None of the prior occasions have Caplin dazzled his students. One who was es- riched us along every possible dimension. Mr. President, Mortimer Caplin comes to given me as much joy and pleasure as the pecially impressed was Robert F. Kennedy, us today as the embodiment of what Mr. Jef- duty I discharge today. It is my great honor the younger brother of a rising star in the ferson envisioned as the best that we Ameri- to present Mortimer M. Caplin, the 2001 re- Democratic Party. Several years later, after cans have within us. He has lived a life in cipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation that rising star had become the President of law as a high calling, one dedicated to ad- Medal in Law. Mortimer Caplin represents the United States, John F. Kennedy ap- vancement of knowledge, service to the na- the very best of the University’s aspirations pointed his brother’s former tax professor as for its own. Some people gain distinction by tion, husbanding the great resources with United States Commissioner of Internal Rev- which we have been endowed and ensuring happenstance, by being in the right place at enue. Mort accepted this challenge with his the right time and then rising to the occa- that all Americans can take part in our characteristic energy and good judgment. He great national banquet and enjoy the oppor- sion. Mortimer Caplin’s reputation rests on a led that critically important if sometimes lifetime of achievement. Throughout the tunities that life in America presents. On be- unpopular agency for three years, at a time half of the School of Law and the selection nearly seven decades that he has been associ- of significant changes in the United States ated with the University, he has exemplified committee, it is my privilege to introduce economy and the tax system. At the end of Mortimer M. Caplin as the 2001 recipient of a singular constancy of excellence. At every his term, the Treasury Department granted step of the way he has shown how talent, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in him the Alexander Hamilton award, the Law.∑ courage, persistence and a commitment to highest possible honor that institution can service can combine to inspire and transform bestow. f us. These are exactly the qualities that Mr. Having traveled to Washington, Mort chose EXECUTIVE AND OTHER Jefferson exemplified in his own life and to stay. He recognized the need for a first- COMMUNICATIONS wanted his University to embody. rate law firm specializing in tax practice Mortimer Caplin was born in New York in and, with Douglas Drysdale, another Vir- The following communications were 1916. He came to Charlottesville in 1933, grad- ginia alumnus, founded Caplin & Drysdale. laid before the Senate, together with uating from the college in 1937 and the Law Shortly after establishing his law firm, accompanying papers, reports, and doc- School in 1940. As an undergraduate, he not Mort resumed his teaching at the Law uments, which were referred as indi- only earned the highest academic honors but School. For more than twenty years he excelled at what the University then re- cated: taught advanced courses emphasizing the garded as the most estimable athletic en- EC–2802. A communication from the Direc- interplay of tax law and practice. For many deavor its students could undertake, inter- tor of the Corporate Policy and Research De- students at Virginia, tax law with Mortimer collegiate boxing. At the Law School, he dis- partment, Pension Benefit Guaranty Cor- Caplin became a springboard for a career played the same pattern of remarkable suc- poration, transmitting, pursuant to law, the cess. He was elected editor-in-chief of the both as public servants and as practitioners report of a rule entitled ‘‘Disclosure and Law Review and went on to serve as law in the nation’s elite law firms. Mort consist- Amendment of Records Pertaining to Indi- clerk for Judge Armistead Dobie, a former ently emphasized the importance of a law- viduals Under the Privacy Act’’ received on Dean of the Law School who by tradition yer’s independence and judgment, and June 26, 2001; to the Committee on Health, chose the most outstanding graduate of each preached the central obligation of advancing Education, Labor, and Pensions. class as his assistant. the public interest while serving one’s cli- EC–2803. A communication from the Direc- Mort had barely begun his career as a New ents. He sought to lead his students to a life tor of the Corporate Policy and Research De- York lawyer when World War II broke out. in law that would ennoble and dignify the partment, Pension Benefit Guaranty Cor- In anticipation of the conflict, he already person living it. poration, transmitting, pursuant to law, the had enlisted in the Navy and took up his During this time of building a prestigious report of a rule entitled ‘‘Benefits Payable in commission shortly after Pearl Harbor. law firm and extending a teaching career, Terminated Single-Employer Plans; Alloca- Eager for active duty, he requested a trans- Mort Caplin still found time for significant tion of Assets in Single-Employer Plans; In- fer out of the stateside intelligence work service to the bar and the general public. He terest Assumptions for Valuing and Paying that was his first assignment. The Navy re- served as President of the Indigent Civil Benefits’’ received on June 26, 2001; to the sponded by making him a beachmaster on Litigation Fund and on the executive com- Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Omaha Beach during the Normandy inva- mittee of the Washington Lawyers Com- Pensions. sion. Facing enemy fire, Mort had to make mittee for Civil Rights under Law, on nu- EC–2804. A communication from the Acting hard choices quickly to ensure that supplies merous significant committees of the Amer- Assistant Secretary for Administration and and reinforcements kept coming. When the ican Bar Association, and various charitable Management, Department of Labor, trans- occasion required it, he used creativity and organizations. His service as a trustee of the mitting, pursuant to law, the report of a imagination to cut through bureaucratic im- Law School foundation in particular pro- nomination for the position of Assistant Sec- pediments to achieving his essential mission. vided great vision and support during a pe- retary for Congressional and Intergovern- Thus, when a ship’s captain refused to beach riod of change and growth. In recognition of mental Affairs, received on June 27, 2001; to his vessel at a time when the ammunition it this service, Mort collected a remarkable the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, carried was in short supply along the front number of awards and distinctions, honorary and Pensions.