Congressional Record—Senate S129
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January 8, 2014 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S129 close this tax loophole rather than re- [POLITICO, Dec. 26, 2013] Russia had been Clark’s early academic in- ducing military retiree benefits. What A NELSON MANDELA BACKSTORY: IOWA’S DICK terest and was as well in his first years at all Americans would agree with is that CLARK Aspen. But Africa tugged and he set out ‘‘to try to get a get a cadre of Congress who (By David Rogers) we should keep faith and leave no vet- would know about South Africa and what eran behind, making sure this amend- Dick Clark was Mandela when Mandela was going on in South Africa.’’ ment is voted on and approved and wasn’t cool. These typically were nearly weeklong sem- given legal force and effect so we cor- A one-term Democratic senator from Iowa inars—held at choice locales overseas to lure rect and fix the flaw in the budget and for years afterward a leader of congres- members of Congress but also to provide neu- agreement that has disallowed and dis- sional discussions on apartheid, Clark is now tral ground for the warring parties inside 85 and long gone from the public scene. But South Africa. honored the obligation we owe these the ups and downs of his career are an in- Bermuda, for example, served as a meeting retirees. triguing back story—and counterpoint—to place in 1989. The island allowed officials I thank the Presiding Officer, and I the outpouring of praise for Nelson Mandela, from the South African government to shut- yield the floor. the black liberation leader and former presi- tle in and out before the arrival of outlawed f dent of South Africa who died Dec. 5. representatives for Mandela’s African Na- It wasn’t always that way in Washington. tional Congress, which was operating then REMEMBERING DICK CLARK Indeed, Mandela turned 60 in South Afri- from outside South Africa. Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on De- ca’s Robben Island prison in the summer of ‘‘All of them were there, making their cember 5, the world lost one of the 1978 even as Clark—chairman of the African pitches,’’ Clark said. And once Mandela was Affairs panel on the Senate Foreign Rela- released from prison in 1990, the venue shift- greatest leaders of our era, and of any ed to South Africa itself. ‘‘We got Mandela, era, when Nelson Mandela died at the tions Committee—was fighting for his own re-election in Iowa. who had just gotten out of jail not long be- age of 95. His capacity for forgiveness It was a time when Republican challenger fore, to come,’’ Clark recalls of an April 1991 was rivaled only by his courage. His ac- Roger Jepsen felt free to taunt the Democrat session in Cape Town—a seminar that also tions serve as an example for the entire as ‘‘the senator from Africa.’’ Tensions were included F. W. de Klerk, South Africa’s world. Having led South Africa out of such that the State Department called in a white president. its darkest period of history, Mandela South African Embassy official in May for Most striking here was Clark’s impact on making disparaging remarks about Clark in Republicans—the party that helped to throw focused on achieving national rec- him out of the Senate. Iowa. And after Clark lost, South Africa’s onciliation to transition his govern- ‘‘He is a wonder,’’ says former Sen. Alan ment from minority rule and apart- ousted information secretary, Eschel Simpson (R–Wyo.). ‘‘I had been told he was a heid, to a multicultural democracy. He Rhoodie, said his government invested lefty, the stereotype, but he just drew out $250,000 to defeat Clark, who had become a people. He never showed bitterness toward was successful in this endeavor because thorn in the side of the white regime. he believed in the importance of bring- the right or promoting one side.’’ Jepsen denied any knowledge of South Af- Just as ‘‘Mandela made a difference, Dick ing people together, breaking down the rica’s alleged role. Nor does Clark accuse Clark made a difference in awareness’’ at barriers that defined, and imprisoned, him of such. But 35 years after, Clark has no home in Congress, Simpson adds. many South Africans. For Nelson doubt that the apartheid government led by Former Rep. John Porter (R–Ill.) remem- Mandela, the opportunity to lead Prime Minister B. J. Vorster wanted him bers an Aspen meeting in Cape Town at meant the possibility of painting South out—and had a hand in his defeat. which Clark surprised the participants on African society on a blank canvas. It Clark’s liberal record and support of the the last day by sending them out to walk Panama Canal Treaty, which narrowly through the neighborhoods of a black town- meant the possibility of creating a uni- cleared the Senate in the spring of 1978, also ship to meet with families. ‘‘Dick Clark fied and free South Africa, rather than hurt his chances in Iowa. But the fatal blow would do things like that,’’ Porter said. perpetuating a fractured mosaic de- was a fierce wave of late-breaking ground at- ‘‘This was before all the big changes in fined by inequality. tacks from anti-abortion forces—something South Africa when we were debating sanc- We are fortunate to have leaders even conservative writers like Robert Novak tions,’’ said former Sen. John Danforth (R– among us who share many of Nelson had not anticipated in a published column Mo.). ‘‘He was just so dedicated to it and Mandela’s qualities of leadership and a weeks before. knew all the players.’’ In fact, Clark says he ‘‘Abortion was the issue, and how much ef- knew very little about Africa before coming focus on human rights. Having served to the Senate after the 1972 elections. But for nearly four decades in the Senate, I fect this apparent $250,000 had to do with pro- moting it more, I have no way of evaluating when a seat opened up on Foreign Relations have had the privilege to serve with it,’’ Clark said in a recent interview at his in 1975, he grabbed it and fell into the Africa some of them. Dick Clark, a Senator home in Washington. ‘‘No question that they post—just ahead of his classmate Sen. JO- from Iowa who was in the Senate when did it. They said they did, and I think they SEPH BIDEN (D–Del.), the future vice presi- I was first elected, is one such indi- did.’’ dent. Timing is everything in Congress and vidual, and his story is connected to Clark had made himself a target for South it was Clark’s good fortune in this case. The Nelson Mandela’s legacy. I not only Africa with his high-profile chairmanship of legendary but very controlling Foreign Rela- tions Committee Chairman J. William Ful- served with Senator Clark but I trav- the Africa subcommittee. In Washington as well, he was not without critics who accused bright (D–Ark.) had just left the Senate at elled with him to Vermont and else- the end of 1974 and this allowed sub- where. His sense of commitment and him of being too puritanical, too quick to fault U.S. policy. But like no senator before committee chairs like Clark to act more on his conscience set a Senate standard him, Clark used the panel to raise the visi- their own. ‘‘Fulbright’s attitude was the subcommit- that is rarely matched. bility of human rights issues in the southern tees couldn’t do anything. Everything ought He was a fierce opponent of apart- regions of the continent. The roster of prior to be done by the full committee,’’ Clark heid, and a recent POLITICO article re- Africa subcommittee chairs reads like a said. ‘‘I was next to last on seniority. When calls Dick Clark’s efforts to raise Who’s Who of national Democrats: John Ken- it got down to me, the only thing left was Af- nedy in the late 1950s; Tennessee Sen. Albert awareness in Congress on the impor- rica about which I knew very little. Some Gore, father of the future vice president; fu- tance of the issue, and to push legisla- would say none. So I just figured: Here’s a ture Senate Majority Leader Mike Mans- tion that would distance the United chance to learn something and I spent a lot States from the South African govern- field; and former Vice President Hubert of time doing hearings and learning about Humphrey after his return to the Senate. ment’s activities in the region. His ef- Africa.’’ But all stayed for just one Congress before He also traveled—venturing into southern, forts eventually contributed to his moving on. Clark stuck, challenging Cold electoral loss at the end of his term, sub-Saharan Africa which was then unfa- War policies that he believed hurt the larger miliar to many on the Senate committee. but that did not keep him from pursing struggle against apartheid that Mandela ‘‘Humphrey told me that he got as far his goals. I am pleased that during this symbolized. south as Ethiopia,’’ Clark said. ‘‘It was new important period of reflection, Dick ‘‘He was the icebreaker here,’’ says his territory and interesting and of course we Clark’s contributions continue to be friend Rep. George Miller (D–Cal.). ‘‘He was were putting a lot of covert money in Africa, recognized. out breaking ice on Africa issues for the as were the Russians.’’ In the summer of I ask unanimous consent that a copy country and certainly for the Senate.’’ 1975, Clark and two aides left Washington for of the recent POLITICO article, A Nel- What’s more, after losing his Senate seat, what was to be a trip to just Tanzania, Zam- Clark didn’t stop.