S3148 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 27, 1995 he has ever done to the Communist con- tolerant—which is what all true conserv- from Arkansas and Chairman of the Senate spiracy here or abroad.’’ He cosponsored the atives should aspire to be. Foreign Relations Committee. He was Spe- censure resolution that was the beginning of He was one of the early champions of the cial Assistant to the late Senator Carl Hay- the end of McCarthy. wise investment of American aid to rebuild den, then the President of the U.S. Senate. In 1960 President Kennedy wanted Ful- and strengthen a war-ravaged Europe. Later, Mr. Pettit went to Vietnam as a foreign bright as his Secretary of State, but was dis- he was one of the early opponents of the ex- correspondent and made many distinguished suaded from asking him to serve. Much later travagant support of unpopular and repres- radio broadcasts in 1965 and 1966. He was one Fulbright said he was ‘‘not temprementally sive dictatorships abroad—enriching Asian of the very first Americans to predict that asuited’’ to administer ‘‘somebody else’s pol- countries merely because they professed to the United States could not prevail in that icy—or one I disagreed with.’’ Another rea- be anti-communist. He fought against the tragic undertaking. He wrote a long and pre- son is that it would have removed him from transfer of hundreds of billions of U.S. dol- scient letter to me from Saigon that was a the Senate that he loved. lars to the Far East, enriching Asian nations substantial influence upon my long opposi- He opposed the disastrous Bay of Pigs in- merely because they professed to be anti- tion to America’s adventure in Indochina. vasion of Cuba and tried vainly to talk Presi- communist. He was a reluctant witness to Later he wrote the book, ‘‘The Experts’’—the dent Kennedy out of proceeding with it. America’s rapid decline from being the big- definitive chronicle of the Vietnam War. He As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Rela- gest creditor nation on earth to become the has had a consistent vision of our proper role tions Committee, Senator Fulbright led the biggest debtor nation—what he called ‘‘a in foreign affairs and a continuing concern floor-fight for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution crippled giant.’’ for U.S. involvement in Asia and the Middle because President Johnson asked him to, Usually courteous to the point of court- East. promising him that its effects would be lim- liness—especially to the humble—he was He believes, incidentally, that since more ited and not open-ended. This began John- sometimes professorial, even condescending than fifteen years have elapsed since the end son’s tragic adventure in Indochina. Soon to his peers—especially the pompous. Only of hostilities, it is time for diplomatic, cul- after, Fulbright realized he had been lied to with difficulty did he suffer fools, He had tural and commercial relations to be re-es- about what really happened in the Gulf of contempt for politicians and their ‘‘commu- tablished. I agree. Tonkin, he had the courage and the manhood nications’’ experts—with government by Any courtesies extended to him will be ap- to confess that he had been wrong in sup- poll. ‘‘Their purpose seems to consist largely preciated. porting it. He then convened the so-called, in discovering what people want and feel and Sincerely, Fulbright Hearings of the Senate Foreign dislike,’’ he said, ‘‘and then associating J.W. FULBRIGHT. Relations Committee, summoning Dean themselves with those feelings. * * * This is Rusk and Robert McNamara and all the the opposite of leadership, it is followship, f great war-hawks to educate the American elevated to a science, for the purpose of self- public via television. He began his coura- advancement. Even formal policy speeches CONCLUSION OF MORNING geous seven-year crusade against the Viet- are determined by the polls. The policy BUSINESS nam War. statements that emerge have little to do The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning When a colleague asked him if the Senate with the national interest.’’ business is now closed. had the power to enact certain legislation, He lived through most of a terrible and Fulbright replied, ‘‘We have the power to do turbulent century. In the vastness of time, f any dawn fool thing we want, and we always his nine decades of life were but a narrow seem to do it.’’ valley between the peaks of two eternities. BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT Apropos of Vietnam and our tragic experi- And yet, what a bountiful valley it was. TO THE CONSTITUTION Sir Christopher Wren’s epitaph in Lon- ence there, he liked to quote Kipling: The PRESIDING OFFICER. The The end of the fight is a tombstone white don—in the St. Paul’s Cathedral he de- signed—is Si monentum requiris Chair does apologize to the Senator with the name of the late deceased, from West Virginia. Under the previous And the epitaph drear: ‘‘A fool lies here circumspice—‘‘If you would seek his monu- who tried to hustle the East’’. ment, look around you.’’ order, the Senate was to resume con- The same epitaph is appropriate for Bill sideration of House Joint Resolution 1 He was one of the first to warn that Ameri- Fulbright. cans were being taxed to pay for being propa- at 12:30. We will now do that. The clerk The United Nations. will report. gandized by what he called ‘‘The Pentagon The Fulbright scholarships. Propaganda Machine.’’ The anti-war years during the maelstrom The legislative clerk read as follows: He had the wisdom to see that in all polit- of Vietnam. A joint resolution (H.J. Res. 1) proposing a ical systems there is a tendency for public The scores of legislative accomplishments. balanced budget amendment to the Constitu- servants to metamorphose into public mas- The wise world-view he sustained tion of the United States. ters, surfeited with unchecked power and thoroughout his long lifetime. privilege and increasingly overpaid to The Senate resumed consideration of ‘‘Our future is not in the stars,’’ he used to the joint resolution. misgovern. He knew that even free peoples say, ‘‘but in our own minds and hearts.’’ can be led to death and maiming because In a sense, his most lasting monument is Pending: they do not realize that all wars are against invisible. It is the thousands of names that (1) Feinstein amendment No. 274, in the na- their interests. The tragedy of his life is his are not engraved on The Wall of the Vietnam ture of a substitute. discovery that wars, once started, tend to be- Memorial in Washington—all the names that (2) Feingold amendment No. 291, to provide come inundating forces of nature, are not there because once, long ago, he led that receipts and outlays of the Tennessee inexhorable and beyond the control of any of the fight against an unwinnable war he knew Valley Authority shall not be counted as re- the participants. was contrary to the interests of his country. ceipts or outlays for purposes of this article. He was a tory by birth and breeding, a cap- He was one of the first to diagnose the dan- (3) Graham amendment No. 259, to strike italist by background, conviction and in- gers of the arrogance of unchecked executive the limitation on debt held by the public. stinct. He used to say, ‘‘I believe that cap- power, the price of pride and hubris. He had (4) Graham amendment No. 298, to clarify italism is, by and large, the best system to the common sense to oppose old myths, the the application of the public debt limit with bring the highest standard of living to the vision to appreciate new realities, and a keen respect to redemptions from the Social Secu- most people. If, however, a country wants to feel for the great lesson of history—that the rity Trust Funds. try socialism or some other system, then price of empire is always too high. (5) Kennedy amendment No. 267, to provide they should by all means be permitted to. If half the Congress were composed of Bill that the balanced budget constitutional But I do not believe that we have the moral Fulbrights, legislative functioning might be amendment does not authorize the President right, and certainly not the capacity, to pre- extremely difficult. But unless America con- to impound lawfully appropriated funds or vent their going their own way.’’ tinues to produce two or three in every gen- impose taxes, duties, or fees. He was a conservative. He believed as the eration, America democracy as we know it (6) Bumpers modified motion to refer H.J. Founding Fathers did that governments de- might indeed perish. Res. 1 to the Committee on the Budget with rive their powers from the consent of the We have lost a great national treasure— instructions. governed. He believed in the limitation of ex- perhaps a nonrenewable resource. (7) Nunn amendment No. 299, to permit ecutive powers, in checks and balances and Sic transit. waiver of the amendment during an eco- in the separation of governmental powers. nomic emergency. Constitutionally he was a strict construc- To whom it may concern: (8) Nunn amendment No. 300, to limit judi- tionist. Mr. Clyde E. Pettit, Jr. is well known to cial review. He was a liberal, resonating to the prin- me. He is a lawyer and television producer (9) Levin amendment No. 273, to require ciples of the American Revolution and the from a prominent family in my state. He is Congress to pass legislation specifying the inherent right of all peoples to change their President of KYMA–TV and Vice President means for implementing and enforcing a bal- governments.