26270 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE December 5, 2000 a great Iowan and a great American— mission, and appoint the first black Park was fundamentally humble. He a man who dedicated many years of his state judge in . He worked to spent a lot of time among giants—Gov- life in service to the people of Iowa and grant home rule for cities, increase ernors, Presidential candidates, great our nation—our friend Park Rinard. spending for schools, and abolish the political leaders—but his ego never It’s been said that on the day John F. death penalty. And he successfully con- swelled to match. Park believed, as the Kennedy died, a tailor in New York put vinced Governor Hughes to oppose the saying goes, that ‘‘you don’t have to be a sign on the door of his shop that read, Vietnam war. These achievements were who’s who to know what’s what.’’ ‘‘Closed Due to a Death in the Fam- Park’s proudest legacies, and some of He was as comfortable lending a hand ily.’’ his most enduring. to a lost tourist, saying a kind word to Well, that’s how I felt when I heard But Park also had a vision for Amer- a new intern, or shooting the breeze that Park had passed away, like we had ica—a vision which he spent the re- with a cafeteria employee as he was had a death in our family. mainder of his career fighting for in chewing out a Senator whom he felt Unfortunately, I was unable to at- Congress. He believed deeply in expand- had gone awry. There were no small tend Park’s funeral. It was held during ing women’s rights, and he was a people with Park Rinard. the week before election day, and I had strong supporter of the equal rights All people mattered to Park—and his committed to campaign for AL GORE amendment long before it penetrated family mattered most of all. He was a and other Democratic candidates in the popular consciousness. He also devoted husband to his wife Phyllis, a Iowa. spoke passionately about ending dis- proud father to his children Judy, I felt awful that I would be missing crimination against gay Americans, David and Grant, and a doting grand- the service, and I thought about taking long before many others. father to his grandson David Bayard. the day off to attend it. But make no mistake about it, Park Their generosity in sharing him is ap- But then it occurred to me—by hit- wasn’t a knee-jerk liberal, not by a preciated by all of us enriched by his ting the road and working to get good long shot. He just believed in a funda- life. Iowa Democrats elected, I was paying mental, basic, golden rule kind of fair- The poet Henry Wadsworth Long- my respects just the way Park would ness. That was his moral compass, and fellow once wrote that ‘‘Lives of great have wanted. he steadfastly followed where it led. It men all remind us we can make our Park Rinard was a legend in Iowa is therefore unsurprising that Park had lives sublime, and, departing, leave be- Democratic politics. He began his po- such disdain for polls and focus groups. hind us footprints on the sands of litical career back in 1957 as an aide to For Park, politics wasn’t about pan- time.’’ Park was a great man. And he Governor Herschel Loveless. dering and spin, it was about leader- left lasting footprints on the political He then befriended a rough-hewn, ship and telling the truth. landscape of Iowa and America. young, Iowa truck driver who had a And tell the truth he did. No matter Today, in part because of the founda- beef with the state’s trucking policies. whom he was speaking with, Park tion he laid, Iowa leads the nation in Park persuaded this disgruntled fel- Rinard did not mince words. He was education and literacy, and it’s ranked low—a man by the name of Harold once asked by a hostile audience how as one of the top ten states to raise a Hughes—to join the Democratic party his boss could even consider supporting child. And today, because of the dia- and run for office. The rest, as they food stamps for union strikers. Park logues he helped begin, the idea of ban- say, is history, and Hughes later re- simply replied, ‘‘hungry people are ning discrimination against women and ferred to Park as his tutor in govern- hungry people.’’ minorities or passing hate crimes laws ment. A gifted speechwriter, Park wielded no longer seems novel, but natural. Park went on to advise Senator John the written word as forcefully as the These are Park Rinard’s footprints— Culver, Congressman Neal Smith, and spoken. He spent hours pecking away echoes from a golden time in our his- many others who have made their at his old manual typewriter, mas- tory when this slight, softspoken man mark on our Nation. saging policy into poetry often fin- made it his mission to create a more Mr. President, when I think back on ishing a speech at the last possible mo- humane world for the most vulnerable Park’s career, I’m reminded of some- ment, sometimes just minutes before among us. thing that Adlai Stevenson once said: his boss was scheduled to deliver it. With his words and ideas, both writ- ‘‘Every age needs men who will redeem Park never hesitated to use his gift ten and spoken, Park Rinard appealed the time by living with a vision of for strong language to stand up to his to the best in those he worked for and things that are to be.’’ That’s a perfect bosses—some of whom were nearly stood for nothing less. description of Park Rinard. twice his size—when he thought they We are lucky that so many great men Like my hero, Hubert Humphrey, were wrong. and women heeded his call and made Park believed that ‘‘. . . the moral test Park once told a fellow staffer, ‘‘Re- good on his dreams. of government is how that government member, you might work for one par- I ask unanimous consent to have treats those who are in the dawn of ticular Senator, but your paycheck is printed in the RECORD a copy of the eu- life, the children; those who are in the from the Senate of the , logy read by Senator at twilight of life, the elderly; and those and every employee of the Senate Park Rinard’s funeral. who are in the shadows of life—the works for the people of America.’’ That There being no objection, the mate- sick, the needy . . .’’ And Park had a was Park’s ultimate loyalty—to the rial was ordered to be printed in the vision of government big enough and people his bosses served. When Park RECORD, as follows: bold enough to encompass all of them. stood up to his bosses, he was standing EULOGY FOR PARK RINARD He envisioned a government that up for the American people. (By John C. Culver, November 3, 2000) trusted citizens—that believed in their And perhaps most extraordinary in I am very honored that the family has strength and capacity to learn, work this city that’s seen its share of egos asked me to say a few words today in mem- and serve a government that would in- and ambition is that Park worked his ory of Park and in celebration of his remark- vest in people and leave the potential magic entirely behind the scenes, able life. He dearly loved his wife Phyllis for of no citizen untapped. Through his happy to slip through back doors and fifty-five years and deeply revered her work with Governor Hughes, Park pound out details in back rooms. Park knowledge of and passion for the arts. He transformed that vision into the wave felt that, as Ralph Waldo Emerson once took great pride in daughter Judy’s work at of progressive legislation that charac- noted, ‘‘There is no limit to what can the National Geographic and Smithsonian as terized the ‘‘Golden Age’’ of Iowa poli- be accomplished if it doesn’t matter a writer, and, of course, his grandson David Bayard. Son Jeff’s career at the Library of tics. who gets the credit.’’ He never cared Congress and the Smithsonian gave him During these years, Park helped es- who got the applause and the pat on enormous satisfaction. Park and Phyllis’ de- tablish Iowa’s community college sys- the back for his own hard work. He just votion to their son Grant during his life was tem, create the Iowa Civil Rights Com- cared about doing right. inspiring to all.

VerDate jul 14 2003 10:47 Jan 23, 2005 Jkt 029102 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR00\S05DE0.000 S05DE0 December 5, 2000 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE 26271 On behalf of everyone here, I want to sin- sponsoring on Vietnam. Park immediately ‘‘clear as the noon whistle at Ida Grove.’’ cerely thank the Rinard family for sharing called them and ordered them to bring a These phrases all slipped easily into his own Park who so greatly enriched each of our large bundle of New York Times newspapers speech patterns and the language he crafted lives. with them. Thanks to Park, Ann did not lose for those in public life. Senator Harold Hughes once described a single sale that day! Many of us here today recall Park, smok- Park Rinard as ‘‘a quiet, peaceful man with Park loved to play tennis and he enjoyed ing his pipe, while hunched over his ancient a core of steel and a ‘‘heart of gold.’’ He also cooking but his real passion was his garden. Olympia typewriter pecking out those many said, ‘‘Park was the toughest man he ever He was particularly proud of his blueberries speeches. Park was a most gifted writer. met.’’ and would bring boxes of them into the office However, unlike Federal Express he was re- When he worked for us Harold Hughes and and the staff would eat them out of paper luctant to guarantee a precise arrival time I were both over 6′2″ tall and unfortunately cups on their desks during the day. One day for the finished speech draft. On more than usually over 250 lbs. It was also falsely ru- Ed Campbell got a call from the Fairfax Hos- one occasion, this led to serious staff anxiety mored that on occasion we could be some- pital that Park would be late to work be- and a near nervous breakdown for the person what intimidating. Harold and I had one cause he had been in an automobile accident. expected to deliver the prepared remarks at other thing in common. We were both scared Ed rushed to the hospital where he found a particular event. to death of Park—who was only half our size. Park with a gash over his eye. Park ex- In 1968 at the Democratic National Conven- I am convinced that what we respected was plained that a newspaper flew onto his wind- tion in Chicago Harold Hughes was to place Parks’ integrity and what we feared was that shield and blinded him and his car hit a tele- Eugene McCarthy’s name in nomination. we would fail to live up to his expectations. phone pole. Ed said, ‘‘Park’s only concern Park was in a Des Moines Hotel room where Park believed that being a good politician was that he could not deliver his prized blue- he was supposed to be writing Hughes’ required one to lead and educate public opin- berries and tomatoes to the office as they speech. Ed Campbell called Park and told ion and not just to reflect it. Park always were now splattered all over the interior of him to put the speech on a plane. This was a said that one of his primary responsibilities his car.’’ time, of course, which predated the era of fax was to tell the elected officials he served One of the worst-kept secrets in the 1960’s machines and e-mail. As zero hour ap- what they didn’t want to hear. Theoretically was that Park was Governor Hughes’ right proached, Hughes asked Ed ‘‘Where the hell I agreed with him. However, there were hand man, even through he held no official is the speech?’’ Ed called Park. Park said times, I have to confess, that I found his zeal portfolio in state government, and was actu- ‘‘he was working on it and would send it by in carrying out this duty a bit excessive. But ally working with the Iowa League of Mu- Western Union.’’ Ed frantically got a room certainly his good judgment and candor nicipalities. Park operated not from a desk beneath the podium and with a technician served me well as I know it did Hershel Love- at the state House but downtown from a arranged to have the speech pages put on a less, Harold Hughes, Bonnie Campbell, Neal booth in King Ying Low’s restaurant. The es- teleprompter as they arrived over the wire. Smith and countless others both in and out tablishment didn’t have a liquor license. Hughes was called to the Convention podium of public office. Whenever I occasionally joined Park there with no text and had to ad lib his opening be- As many of you know, Park had been sec- for lunch, the proprietor, Park’s close Chi- fore the first page arrived and was put on the retary, friend, and companion to Iowa artist nese American friend, Louie Lejon, would in- teleprompter. Hughes literally gave the Grant Wood, who reportedly Latinized his quire, ‘‘Mr. Rinard, your usual?’’ Park would speech in Chicago while Park wrote it in Des name and called him Parkus. Several origi- respond, ‘‘That would be fine.’’ I noticed that Moines. At what appeared to be the conclu- nal Wood paintings graced Park’s small of- Park’s ‘‘usual’’ somehow never smelled quite sion Hughes turned to Ed and, putting his fice in Capitol Hill. like the tea the rest of us were drinking out hand over the mike, asked in a stage whis- Among the many roles Park played for of our tea cups. When Park agreed to join me per, ‘‘Is that the end?’’ It was, and Gene Wood was to model for some of his paintings. in the Senate, I inherited what was undoubt- McCarthy’s name was thereby officially Apparently, on one occasion, he actually edly the largest Asian immigration caseload placed in nomination as the Democratic posed as George Washington. Now Park was in the U.S. Congress. There must have been Party candidate for President of the United a wonderful man and Grant Wood was a bril- at least 550 Chinese immigrants certified to States. liant artist. But somehow that particular work in King Ying Low’s Des Moines res- I know Park was not pleased with the con- collaboration never survived to replace Gil- taurant during my Senate term alone. dition of American Politics in recent years bert Stuart’s famous portrait of the Nation’s Park Rinard was the intellectual god-fa- where mechanics have overwhelmed the first President. ther of Iowa’s progressive agenda for a half- issues. Park thought the dialogue had grown Park was responsible for the trans- century, and those years with Governor sterile and he had little interest in pollsters formation of Grant Wood from a shy indi- Hughes were really the ‘‘Golden Age.’’ It was and consultants. However, he had an abiding vidual, who avoided public speaking, into the a time when: Community colleges were es- faith in democracy and believed that politi- national spokesman for Regionalism as a sig- tablished; the Iowa Civil Rights Commission cians who speak to the best in their con- nificant American Art Movement. When created; home rule for cities granted; state stituencies will draw it out. He did his best Grant Wood died, Park was there. He prom- spending for schools, prisons, and welfare in- to make sure that we office holders did just ised Wood that he would look after Grant’s creased; the first black state judge ap- that. sister, Nan, which he did for the rest of her pointed; and the death penalty abolished. Whatever Governor Herschel Loveless, life. Nan’s last conversation with Park was It is worthy of note that Iowa’s State Gov- Governor and Senator Harold Hughes, Attor- when he called to tell her that the U.S. Post- ernment has not taken the life of even one ney General Bonnie Campbell, Congressman master General had approved use of a Grant person since Park involved himself in Iowa Neal Smith and I were able to collectively Wood painting for a postage stamp. The politics. contribute in our public service careers was, image of the stamp was Young Corn and Decades later Park remained at the fore- in no small park, made possible because of Park said, ‘‘The painting represented Iowa as front of enlightened political thinking. He Park Rinard. Park was truly an ‘‘Iowa Origi- a state that nurtures its young people that strongly advocated an Equal Rights Amend- nal.’’ He uniquely sensed the soul of the they may grow to their full potential.’’ ment to the Constitution for women. He sur- state he selflessly served and loved for a life Park was a beloved figure because he treat- prised younger members of my Senate staff time. His legacy will endure for generations ed everyone—regardless of their status in over 20 years ago by accurately predicting and Iowans will enjoy more opportunities life—with genuine warmth and kindness. that the next significant civil rights chal- and have a better life because of Park Once in a while, I couldn’t find him, and lenge would be to overcome discrimination Rinard. What greater reward does life afford? someone would track him down in the Sen- against gay Americans. ate office basement, where he was providing Bonnie Campbell once remarked that Park f personal counseling to one of the cafeteria was so completely centered and certain in workers. His son Jeff reminded him that his his liberalism that he knew instantly the SENATOR RICHARD BRYAN supportive advice, was often, ‘‘Don’t lose proper position on an issue because of his your nerve.’’ ‘‘fundamental sense of fairness,’’ while the Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, Senator Over the years, Park befriended an elderly rest of us had to at least think about it. DICK BRYAN is one of few people who woman named Ann, who operated a small Growing up in Northern Iowa over four has served in this Chamber who has lit- newsstand where he would buy his news- score years ago Park acquired values he erally devoted nearly his entire life to papers each evening. One day Ann was upset would never abandon: common sense, co- serving the people of his state and na- because she had not received her New York operation, love of the land, sincerity, com- tion. Times delivery. Park was distressed because passion, civility and justice. this would be a significant economic blow to These values formed the underpinning of Senator BRYAN’s distinguished career her modest income. A group of wealthy N.Y. his political philosophy: phrases like ‘‘the started the day he took the oath of of- businessmen were coming that day to Wash- milk of human kindness,’’ ‘‘the least of fice as president of his 8th grade class ington to attend a conference Hughes was these’’ and describing something as being at John S. Park Elementary School. It

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