to bid farewell with dignity, with grace, and with beauty.

On the following day the Congress again gathered in the rotunda accompanied by members of the Cabinet, former Presidents, and many of those who had taken great parts in the life of this Nation. We gathered in complete quiet. The eloquent men, the great orators of the Congress, all stood silent with heads bowed and centered in attention and emotion on the casket carrying the body of the 35th President of the United States. As the pallbearers bore the casket from the rotunda every soul in that assemblage was wrenched by the human suffering of Mrs. Kennedy and of her children—that suffering which she subdued because the wife of a President is not even allowed the privilege of an expression of her grief, but must uphold the traditions of the office to which her husband had been called.

In the afternoon, Congress went to Arlington National Cemetery to bid farewell to John F. Kennedy. I was struck by the fact that the Members of Congress gathered on the grass under an ancient oak tree, gnarled, almost leafless— standing on the hill below the home of George Washington Parke Custis in that sunny afternoon as if they were gathering in a country churchyard. There was a simplicity about the fact that these Senators and Representatives-Members of the greatest legislative body in the world-stood there, bareheaded for the most part, waiting for the body of the Chief Magistrate of this Republic to be borne to its final resting place.

It was a simplicity reminiscent of the early federal period of our Nation when the patriotsWashington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, and all the rest lived their lives in simple grandeur.

From the hillside we saw the funeral cortege coming across Memorial Bridge. And what a procession—representing the peoples of the world-President de Gaulle, Prince Philip, Prime Minister Home, King Baudouin, Emperor Haile Selassie, all these come to salute a great man and a great nation. The day seemed in tune with the event. As we stood by the grave at Arlington the sun moved over our heads and touched the top of the trees. The shadow lengthened and it was, indeed, a time for farewell.

How rightly typical of a Republic—what a scene to emphasize the dignity of man—there, not separated by position, rank or favor, the leaders of the nations gathered as one family to pay a last tribute. It was a moving testimonial to the office of the Presidency, to its 35th occupant and to the Nation over which he presided.

I believe that the greatest monument that any President can ever have reared to his memory is that the Constitution passes intact from his hands to his successor's, and, I believe, the greatest act of memoriam any citizen can render is to resolve anew that the life and work and greatness of the Republic shall continue.

This is the monument that every American can help to build. This is the monument that will endure and will commemorate the life of dedication which is required of and freely given by a President of the United States.

In this city we have reared great marble temples to our national leaders of the past. One of the greatest is to Abraham Lincoln, a memorial which inspires me anew every day I pass it.

Yet Abraham Lincoln is known to millions throughout the world who have never and will never see the Lincoln Memorial. It is the principles of freedom and democracy, that he proclaimed and supported, and the Constitution and the Republic that he supported which make his name a household word in all nations of the world.

But all Americans since Lincoln's day have helped to build this monument. By our respect for freedom and self-government we have helped to rear this monument.

Just so, I propose that all Americans take part in erecting a similar monument to John Fitzgerald Kennedy. By the care with which we continue the institutions he held dear, we shall preserve his memory in a medium more lasting than stone.

The struggle for the maintenance of freedom was a historic task of John F. Kennedy. Freedom may well be lost, if Americans ever slack in this constant and unremitting contest. To recognize the gifts that freedom confers, and to observe the discipline that freedom imposes is the duty of every American, but it is also a contribution to the memory of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

ADDRESS BY

Hon. John A. Blatnik

OF MINNESOTA

Mr. Speaker, it is truly difficult for me to express my feelings about the tragic assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. When it was finally announced that the President had died, I was filled with heartbreak and grief. The days which have since passed have done little to dull the pain of that tragic hour.

In life President Kennedy gave of himself to his utmost, with great courage, devotion, total dedication born of deep conviction. With greatest determination he worked to give full freedom to all the people of our country and to build up our domestic strength to support the tremendous requirements necessary to sustain us in world leadership. He dedicated himself to seeking peace, freedom, and the blessings of a good life for our own people and the people of the world.

John F. Kennedy and I came to Congress together 17 years ago; I came to know him well and his gracious wife Jackie, whose courage and fortitude during these dark hours was perhaps the greatest tribute to his memory. The mark this man made upon our world is exhibited no more poignantly than in the expression of personal grief felt by so many in so many lands.

A most striking element of the death of our President was the discovery that on God's earth there were events which transcended the struggle which preoccupy us in our daily lives. Certainly it gave us pause to ask, "Can we look into our own hearts and say that we are doing all that we can for our beloved country?"

As we make the pilgrimage to the grave where is lit the eternal flame, there burns within us the memory of a great man. But beyond a memory there will be hope-hope for a world which will carry on in his spirit his basic humanity, his kinship with the peoples of the world-hope and confidence in the enduring greatness of America.

Truly, it can be said that greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends and for his country.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to include with my remarks a most moving editorial by Miss Veda Pokikvar, editor of the Tribune-Press in my hometown of Chisholm, Minn.

HE, TOO, BELONGS TO THE AGES

The voice of our captain has been stilled. Our Nation grieves in shocked disbelief at the swift and tragic death of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The world mourns with the crying skies, and the sad dirge of the winter wind.

On the streets of the world, men, women, and children of every color and creed stand together weeping unashamedly, yet in remorse that, in a civilized generation of humanity, such infamous action as the assassin's bullet could even come to pass.

Each crucial period in the history of mankind has given rise to men of kaleidoscopic leadership, and a vision that magnetizes and rebuilds the finest in human ingenuity. The various eras have had their outstanding leaders and great Presidents, but, without a doubt, historians will write of perhaps the greatest, John Kennedy. The world's problems were his problems and, in the loneliness of his trusted office, he approached each challenge with a courage and forthrightness that is not given to many men to enjoy or endure.

Millions of people believe in peace. But few pursued it with such vigor and keen analysis as did the President. He worked for this cause with a firmness that commanded the respect of friend and foe. The entire world was his threshold, and his deep belief in freedom convinced him that only by working together, as people of good will, oblivious to color of skin, greed, and hatred could we achieve the ultimate in man's dream.

In his three dynamic and historic years of the Presidency, the Chief Executive exemplified the beacon in the lighthouse, sharing his brilliant knowledge, his radiating kindness, and his humble goodness with the peoples of the world. His love for the United States was a masterpiece of patriotism. His piece of tapestry was the globe of nations and illimitable space. He wove the threads into a chapter of profound human leadership that has no peer. All those who love freedom, must be free; the starving must be fed; the uneducated, educated; the misguided, directed; those blind to justice made to see the righteousness of justice for all; and those steeped in hatreds and prejudices, mellowed in the understanding for the dignity of man.

The Divine Master must know that the piece of tapestry on earth has not been completed, and yet, in this unfinished work remains a challenge of unequaled significance. Our Nation-yes, the world-has lost a leader, a molder of good crucibles, a husband and father who exemplified the highest ideals of family life, and an American patriot who will stand with the musketed soldiers at Valley Forge; with the men of the Blue and Gray in the war of emancipation just a hundred years ago; with the hopeful khaki-clad armies of World War I; and the patriotic dreamed-filled youth of World War II. We stand today, with heads bowed, knowing that we must complete the task. This world cannot long exist, half slave and half free; two-thirds starving and one-third fed; two-thirds uneducated and one-third educated. Man was meant to be free, to live as a brother, and to share in the riches of the good earth. This, President Kennedy believed, and this, we must all believe.

Our fears must be assuaged by the inner candle glow of knowledge that death is not the end-it is only a

long sleep. The sun has set for America's most indefatigable President. He now belongs to the ages, and has left for all mankind a blueprint for peace.

We have work to do.

We must not-we cannot-fail.

Mr. Speaker, I also include an editorial by my very good friend, Marty McGowan, editor of the Appleton Press, Appleton, Minn.

PRAYER FOR THE NATION AND ITS FALLEN LEADER

All Americans today feel saddened and ashamed. They are saddened because they have lost their President. They are ashamed that one among them would be so savage as to kill the President. They are further ashamed because the suspected assassin was murdered before he could be given a trial.

There is grief for the family of the President, the young widow bereft of her husband so early in life, and the two children who have lost their father.

The Nation is also the loser. Its great leader has been taken from the scene at such a young age, even before he completed his first term, and before his full potential could be realized. The question of what would happen to this young man after he had completed what were expected to be 8 years in the White House at an early age was answered by a sniper's bullet Friday.

The feeling of shame comes that there are still those in this Nation who would stoop to violence on their President. This is a nation having the highest standard of living with the most culture. Such things are not supposed to happen here; they are only for unstable South and Central American nations or those of Asia.

It may never be known the real reasons for the assassination but the crime must be attributed to a deranged mentality, as is usually the case with such killings. In a polyglot nation of 130 million there are bound to be a few crackpots.

The Press was not among the most ardent admirers of President Kennedy either before or after his election because of what this paper considered his failure to understand the great problems of the vast agricultural Midwest. This inability would be understandable in a man with no financial worries raised in an eastern manufacturing State.

Yet the Press did have the utmost admiration for the work of President Kennedy in other fields. He excelled in foreign relations where an innovation was the Peace Corps, which put the work of peace on a personal basis. That it was succeeding is manifestly evident. He also kept the cold war cool when the peace of the world was threatened with missiles in Cuba.

President Kennedy also excelled in civil rights. His efforts were long overdue but these same efforts were pushed with the vigor that characterized all his work and with a disregard for the political consequences.

For his work in these two fields alone will President Kennedy be most remembered. These efforts will also put him in the category of great Presidents.

Born to wealth, President Kennedy could have loafed through life and made no contributions for the betterment of his fellow man. Had he done so, he might be alive today.

But instead he offered himself and his labors to a lifetime of service. Nearly killed once in the wartime defense of his country, he was saved then only to be cut down later after greater service in the highest office the Nation can bestow on one of its citizens. He died Friday on another field of battle.

There will be little joy in the United States on this Thanksgiving Day. Yet there are still some small consolations to be found for which to be thankful.

This Nation has the system of government that can survive such a wrenching to its roots. It has another man well trained to step in and fill the breach. He has taken over and the Nation moves on.

The Nation can give thanks for this today as it also utters another prayer in memory of its fallen leader.

ADDRESS BY

Hon. Roman C. Pucinski

OF ILLINOIS

Mr. Speaker, it is with a deeply wounded heart. that I rise today to join my colleagues in paying tribute to our late and beloved President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

I speak here today in behalf of all the people of the 11th Congressional District on Chicago's northwest side, who join me in acknowledging the great loss our Nation has suffered in the death of President Kennedy.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy had the unique capacity to understand the problems of all people; and for this reason he was respected by all people regardless of their political views, their religious beliefs, or their racial background.

His untimely death has been mourned by all, and so today I extend condolences to his survivors not only for Mrs. Pucinski and myself, but in behalf of every single person residing in my congressional district.

The Washington Post, shortly after the tragic death of President Kennedy, in an article entitled "A Promise of Power Wisely Used," stated that:

President Kennedy gave our Nation an exhilarating vision of political dignity.

There will be many epitaphs written in his behalf and I think this epitaph certainly belongs in the forefront.

The Post stated:

However he had to zig and zag, the goal he sought was peace, and his methods were those of reason. Those

who admired him never doubted his earnestness, though they were sometimes impatient with his caution.

He now belongs to history, and his confidence that time would soon bear him out, bringing the country to where the land was bright, remains imponderable. So does his buoyant faith in reason.

For the most savage irony is that this apostle of enlightenment, this advocate of rational discourse, was cut down by the very fanaticism that as President he sought to contain.

He paid with his life in a cause that remains in doubt. The last page of his biography must be written with what Vergil called the tears of things.

Mr. Speaker, perhaps another meaningful epitaph that belongs to John F. Kennedy is that he dared to dream.

He dared to dream of a world aglow with peace; he dared to dream of a world prospering from the blessings of freedom; he dared to dream of an America, strong, prosperous, free, educated, caring for its aged, opening new opportunities for its youth.

He sought an America where every citizen could develop his own full talents without discrimination because of his race, his age, the color of his skin, or because of his religious beliefs.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, President Kennedy left us a legacy-a legacy based on intellectual courage and honesty; a legacy which summons all Americans to his courage in carrying out his magnificent. dream for a greater America.

President Kennedy wrote his own "Profile in Courage."

Even though there were those, yes, here in this very Congress, and in his own political party, who admonished him that he was moving too swiftly; that he was working with strokes too broad for the canvas to carry; that he was too impatient with the normal pace of our democratic process; that he should curtail his awe-inspiring program for America.

President Kennedy insisted on moving forward because he had promised America a New Frontier. He himself said his program would not be completed in "the first 100 days or even the first 1,000 days," but he asked us to begin.

He urged and got from Congress, at least from the House so far, a historic tax revision program which gives new meaning to capitalism and the free institutions it represents.

He fought without compromise for civil rights legislation and admittedly risked his own political future in an almost spiritual belief that democ

racy cannot survive if all of our citizens are not free to seek equal opportunities.

Above all, Mr. Speaker, he had the courage to propose a concept for understanding in world relations, even with our most bitter enemies, in those areas where America's own security was not diminished.

President Kennedy has already built his own monument when he successfully worked through Congress the controversial nuclear test ban treaty; the Peace Corps, and the Disarmament Agency, which for the first time gives our Nation a systematic approach in the search for peace.

But man perhaps is incapable of envisioning the full glory that awaited America had President Kennedy been able to carry out his entire inspiring program. Imagine what great opportunities await our Nation with enactment of his program of medical care for our aged; the youth opportunities bill; amendments to the Manpower Retraining Act; the mass transit program; improved conditions in our educational institutes both at the secondary and higher education level; the President's program for aid to the mentally ill; his efforts to improve labor-management relations; his magnificent desire to help mankind. explore the mysteries of the moon and the rest of the universe.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy has already built his monument to a greater glory for our Republic.

Civilization will never be able to fully understand the monstrous attack upon this President by a hate-filled individual who took his life. The Chicago Sun-Times, in an editorial written. moments after the President's death, analyzed this particular aspect of this tragedy in words much more eloquent than I could hope to compose. It is for this reason, Mr. Speaker, that I request the Sun-Times editorial titled "America Weeps" and written by that newspaper's chief editorial writer, Robert E. Kennedy, be included at the conclusion of my own remarks.

The most unfinished business that faces our Nation today in the wake of this great tragedy is to make sure that hate never again becomes so much a part of our national fabric as to lead to another Lee Oswald.

Mr. Speaker, in paying tribute to John Fitzgerald Kennedy we cannot help but to also pay tribute to his gallant and heroic wife, Mrs. Jacque

line Kennedy. In the depth of her tragedy, Mrs. Kennedy, through her stature and her majestic behavior, has given all of us as Americans the strength we needed in our moment of greatest despair.

The spirit of President Kennedy lives on both in his wife and wonderful children. It also lives on in a grateful nation. We as a nation are so much the richer today that both President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy have touched all of our lives albeit much too briefly.

May our late President rest in peace and may his wife and his children be to all of us a constant reminder of his noble character.

Our Nation can offer a profound prayer of thanksgiving to the Almighty that in the wake of this great tragedy with the death of President Kennedy, we have been blessed with a worthy successor in President Lyndon Baines Johnson. [From the Chicago (Ill.) Sun-Times, Nov. 23, 1963] AMERICA WEEPS

(By Robert E. Kennedy)

President Kennedy lies dead, a martyr in the cause of democratic government.

His countrymen weep in sorrow and in anger.

The immensity of the crime can hardly be grasped in these hours of confusion that inevitably have followed the assassination of the Chief of the most powerful nation in the world.

The Nation is left temporarily without a leader. Vice President Johnson will assume the heavy burden of the Presidency and the policies of the Nation will undergo no imminent change. But inevitably the assassination will change the course of history, not only in the Nation but in the world.

And it should change the temper of our times. At the moment the motive that lurked in the twisted mind of the killer is not, of course, known.

But the deed in Dallas was different only in degree of importance from such acts of violence as the bombing of houses of worship, racial murders and only last month, in the same city, the degrading assault on U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson.

All of these acts of violence are the work of persons who, fundamentally, do not believe in a democratic government operating under a rule of law.

The preachers and whisperers of hate and disunity, who undermine confidence in our Government and our public officials by irresponsible attacks on their sanity and loyalty, plant the motives in the heads of those who pull the triggers and toss the bombs.

Those who impugn the motives of our national leaders, who defy the courts and distort the operations of the United Nations would not themselves do violence. But they engender the kind of hate that must have been in the eyes that lined up Mr. Kennedy's head in the crosshairs of a rifle sight yesterday.

The awful loss that hate visited upon the Nation and the world should inspire all Americans to join together in this hour of shock and mourning in a reexamination of the national conscience.

The right of dissent, the exercise of free speech, the criticism of the President and other public officials high and low, must not corrode into sullen rebellion that breeds violence. All Americans, those who agree with their Government's policies and those who disagree, must stand together on this fundamental and demonstrate this unity by action as well as words. The purveyors of hate must acknowledge the danger they create.

When we speak of the purveyors of hate we obviously are not speaking of the President's regular political opposition, those persons in his own party and in the Republican Party who had disagreed with many of his views and policies and who also grieve for Mr. Kennedy. We are speaking of the extremists from both parties who go beyond the pale in their opposition and criticism.

The Nation owes a great debt to Mr. Kennedy, who gave his life in the service of his country as surely as a soldier on the frontline. And to Mrs. Kennedy and the President's family the American people offer their hearts. The personal tragedy of an assassination seldom has been as heartbreakingly evident as in the scene that followed the shooting; Mrs. Kennedy holding the President's head in her lap and weeping "Oh, no."

No, it should never have happened in America. That it did must weigh heavily on America's conscience. And if it brings a reawakening and a real change in the temper of our times Mr. Kennedy will not have died in vain. This is a prayer in which all Americans can join.

[From the Washington (D.C.) Post, Nov. 24, 1963] A PROMISE OF POWER WISELY USED: JOHN F. KENNEDY GAVE US AN EXHILARATING VISION OF POLITICAL DIGNITY (By Karl E. Meyer)

He came in with a snowstorm and the symbolism was flawlessly right on Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961. There was no premonition of tragedy, but rather a sense of rebirth in a Capital mantled in beauty as the oldest President yielded office to the youngest man ever elected Chief Executive of the United States.

It was much more than a change of administration. It was also a change of generations, a change of outlookand, most immediately apparent, a change of style. When John Fitzgerald Kennedy became 35th President of the United States, he appeared to fulfill Robert Frost's augury that an age of poetry and power was commencing in Washington.

But the poetry is now hushed, and the promise of power wisely used is now an unfinished chapter of a history entitled, "Let Us Begin." We are left with memories of a singular and gifted man, memories that sustain us, following a tragedy as unspeakable as it was incomprehensible. None of us suspected that in retrospect the inaugural show would seem a shroud.

Every President is a bundle of men-the chief of state, who admonishes us to be better than we are; the taskmaster of a bureaucracy; the champion of a party and, not least, in this case the father of a family whose every