Mr. Speaker, the shocking and tragic news of the untimely death of President Kennedy has shaken the feelings and emotions of the world. In my own State of Tennessee, on Sunday, November 24, prior to the funeral of the President, a memorial service was held in Nashville, the capital city of Tennessee, which I was privileged to attend along with the Governor of Tennessee, The Honorable Frank G. Clement, members of his cabinet, members of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, and representatives of all religious faiths and leading public officials of Tennessee who were in attendance and participated. The vast War Memorial Building of Tennessee was packed to capacity, including the galleries with standing room only. Governor Clement made the observation that it was the largest crowd he had ever witnessed in this vast auditorium. On this occasion, Mr. Speaker, The Honorable Weldon B. White, distinguished justice of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, gave the principal memorial address and eulogy on the life and pub lic service of the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Judge White's address is a beautiful memorial to our late President, which I feel many will want to read. The memorial address to the late President Kennedy follows: MEMORIAL TO JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY-1917-1963 Governor Clement, Lieutenant Governor Bomar, former Governors Cooper, McCord, and Buford Ellington, Congressmen Richard Fulton and Joe Evins, distinguished members of the Cabinet, member of the general assembly of the State of Tennessee, fellow mem. bers of the judiciary, State and Federal, Mayor Briley, members of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County, the clergy of all faiths and all creeds who are with us on this platform here today, members of the press, radio, and television, and members of this audience, numbering more than 3,000, and fellow Tennesseans: It is an honor to have been selected by the committee on arrangements to deliver this memorial address. I speak the sincere and deep sentiment of all loyal patriotic Tennesseans in saying that the flag of our country and the heart of our people fly at half mast because— The President of the United States is dead. These sad and meaningful words were broadcast and rebroadcast by all news media to a sorrowful nation and a shocked world, the real victims of an assassin's bullet, on November 22, 1963. Born to wealth and educated by the masters, he possessed a love of country, a dedication to public service, and a responsive feeling for the welfare of the average American citizen far beyond that of most men. Answering his own conscience, and his Nation's call to duty in World War II, he gave his best efforts and almost his life in valiant service of this country that he loved so dearly. Returning to his home in Boston at the close of the war, and despite his injuries and consequent suffering, he became active and fruitful in the political affairs of his State and our Nation, meeting with such success that he finally attained the Presidency, the pinnacle of success. He was the youngest man ever elected President of our country. At his inauguration in January 1961, he outlined a program of ideals and goals which he hoped to gain during his administration. He then pursued them vigorously and wholeheartedly with his every resource of spirit, mind, and body. He was a strong and resolute man. Rebuff at home and abroad failed to daunt his courage or swerve him from these ideals or his chosen path and determined goal. He felt that this country, nearing 200 million, had sufficient natural resources and technological capability to provide an excellent standard of living for all of us, and, at the same time, maintain our place in the sun. He foresaw the need of other nations to know of and be acquainted with our institutions, our people, our purposes, and our democratic way of life. The Congress of the United States joined with him in creating the Peace Corps to travel abroad and to lay before the people of foreign lands our ideals and our way of life. The success of the program is known to all. He foresaw, too, that the cause of human progress would be advanced by acquiring knowledge of outer space and all the mysteries that lie there. Great strides are being made toward this end of our program. In confrontations with powerful leaders of other strong nations he stood erect and unbending in the belief shared by all Americans that the world can live in peace through the Rule of Law rather than suffer by the Rule of Force. But, he convinced those same leaders that if Force be necessary we Americans stood with him. This type of leadership, decisive action and resolution demonstrated to the enemies and friends of our country that we want and desire peace—not peace at any pricebut peace on terms honorable and just to all. The 35th President of the United States, the Honorable John Fitzgerald Kennedy, is now dead but he and his ideals remain a part of the heritage of this great Nation. He was stricken down in the discharge of the duties of his office. Mrs. Kennedy, another great soldier, was at his side and gave him comfort and strength in his last moments. Her stanch devotion then and in the hours after his death gives to her a unique place in our history. We salute you, too, Mrs. Kennedy. You discharged your every duty to the President of the United States, your husband, and to the office you have graced for the past 3 years despite many hardships and personal losses. Robert Frost, the poet and the personal friend of President Kennedy, said: "Despite our fears and worries-and they are very real to all of us-life continues ⚫ it goes on. In these three words I can sum up everything I have learned in my 80 years about life" said Mr. Frost, "it goes on." We recognize, as Mr. Frost did, that life does go on. The drafters of our Constitution knew that the life of a nation does not stop at the passing of a man, even a great man. It has to go on, and for this purpose provision was made for succession to the presidency. Within the space of 2 hours after the death of Mr. Kennedy, the Vice President, Mr. Lyndon B. Johnson, with his hand upon the Bible, and with Mrs. Johnson on one side and Mrs. Kennedy on the other, subscribed to the oath of office as President of the United States. And, within the space of another 2 hours, he stood in the Capital City and gave to the American people this humble statement: "I will do my best. This is all I can do. I ask for your help, and God's." What more can we Americans ask of any man than that he seek our help and invoke the blessings of God upon assuming the obligations, duties, and responsibilities of this, the highest office occupied by man. We of all faiths, creeds, and color are united in our grief at the passing of our President. We must be equally united in our support of our new President who will need our help and that of Almighty God in maintaining and pushing forward this growing and maturing American society in its quest for educational, cultural, and economic advancement and political stability. We should bear in mind that our institutions do not rest on thin air. They rest on sacrifice, character, ideals and faith. Being an American is more than just being a citizen of a country. It is being a member of a strong, progressive, vibrant living society in which every man has respect for the other and the Government has respect for the integrity of all. At the time when we grieve over the death of our President, it is fitting that we pray to God that He grant to us as individuals the wisdom to "know ourselves" and from that knowledge to rid ourselves of all bitterness, hate and resentment that may be in our hearts, lest their acid eat into our physical being and corrode our spirits; and that He help us not to be frightened by the problems of the day, but rather to be a part of the answer and not a part of the problem. I think it most appropriate to quote the last paragraphs of the speech prepared for delivery by President Kennedy to the Dallas Citizens Council, the Dallas Assembly and the Graduate Research Center. He was to have said: "Our adversaries have not abandoned their ambitionsour dangers have not diminished-our vigilance cannot be relaxed. But now we have the military, the scientific and the economic strength to do whatever must be done for the preservation and promotion of freedom. "That strength will never be used in pursuit of aggressive ambitions-it will always be used in pursuit of peace. It will never be used to promote provocations— it will always be used to promote the peaceful settlement of disputes." Mr. Kennedy continued: "We in this country, in this generation, are-by destiny rather than choice-the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility-that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint-and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of 'peace on earth, good will toward men.'" So ends the last speech prepared by our President. In Switzerland, I am told, there is a church among the Alps far up on the mountainside and in it there are no lights or lamps. When the time comes for evening service one can see the villagers coming from their homes, each one bearing his own light. At first there is only a glimmer in the darkness, but when they have all arrived for the service the little church is aglow with the combined light of many lamps and candles. Many of us have only a small light. John F. Kennedy had a large light. A gun in the hand of a man with a diseased and depraved mind has snuffed out the bright light of this forceful, courageous, and dedicated man. In our grief over this great tragedy we must remember that America like the little church in Switzerland has no light at all, save as we bring our individual lights together for its improvement and the betterment of man. To the family of Mr. Kennedy we, Tennesseans, extend our sympathetic understanding. To our new President, Mr. Johnson, we, Tennesseans, pledge our loyalty and support in the troubled and difficult days ahead. WELDON B. WHITE, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Tennessee. (The above address was delivered in the War Memorial Auditorium on Sunday afternoon, November 24, 1963.) TRIBUTES BY Hon. Leonard Farbstein OF NEW YORK Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks, I would like to include an editorial writ ten by my good friend, Abraham Schlacht, editor and publisher of the East Side News. Mr. Schlacht did not affix his name to this particular editorial because he wanted it to be the general expression of the newspaper. This is a typical characteristic of Abraham Schlacht, a man who has worked tirelessly and unceasingly in behalf of the people of the East Side of New York, most of the time without making known his efforts. However, fame has a way of singling out for recognition even the most unassuming of individuals. In the case of this outstanding journalist, his address on the occasion of the presentation of an award to him by the East Side Post Jewish War Veterans, later incorporated as an editorial entitled "Freedom Versus Apathy," was considered for an award by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. His editorial in memory of our late President speaks for the people of that area of New York which is known worldwide as New York's East Side-the melting pot of the Nation. I commend it to my colleagues: IN MEMORIAM, JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY-1917-63 A week ago today our great President fell at the hands of an assassin, and the Nation has not yet recovered from its tragedy. Our hearts still overflow with grief at the loss of our Commander in Chief-John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a sacrifice to the cause of freedom. Our hearts go out, too, to Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy and her two children, Caroline and John, Jr., who have suffered their greatest blow. Mrs. Kennedy will ever be remembered for the manner in which she bore her hour of sorrow. From the beginning to end of this tragic event, she reflected a stoic air and dignity that can never be erased from our memory. Since the days of the Great Emancipator no other President's death has struck the Nation with such shock and horror as did the senseless assassination of our President. No other President has left the world with such hollowness and meaninglessness as did the death of the late President. And no other in the annals of this generation has held the world spellbound, and no other has championed and symbolized the hopes of our youth and that of the world as did our stricken commander. To all of us, his passing is our personal tragedy. In eternal glory lie the mortal remains of our immortal President in Arlington National Cemetery. They rest on an open hillside among tall, bare elms, and a slight distance away stands a solitary cedar. As one looks about from the grave of the President, one can see several hundred feet away thousands of our honored dead, and the floodlighted columns of the CustisLee Mansion. One cannot help but sense a quiet, awesome feeling of deepest solemnity pervading the cemetery grounds. At the head of his grave burns an eternal flame, and around it is a multi-array of flowers. Let us trust that the light of this flame will cast its peaceful rays in the hearts of all men everywhere. And without a doubt millions of people of all races and creeds from every clime will make their pilgrimages to honor his memory. The American people cannot forget those moving words which he delivered in his inaugural address: "Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce." Which other leader in American life has expressed so aptly in so few words? Which other in this generation, we ask, has expressed in such simple and stirring language the things that lie closest to the average human heart. The image of the late President can never be forgotten from our memory. Who among us can ever fail to recall his winsome smile, his humor, often displayed at public places and press conferences; his repartee and brilliance in debate, and his knowledge and mastery of problems of state? Moreover, who can ever forget his innate sense of refinement, and, in particular, his unwavering steadfastness in the face of national peril? He will live on not for decades, but for centuries, so long as human beings love peace, righteousness, and mercy. May his soul repose in peace. May his memory ever abide in our thoughts. May his principles, for which he so ardently toiled, for ourselves and for humanity, become a reality. May his memorial, reflected in his utterances and deeds, be a glowing light ever to behold and an inspiration to this and to all future generations. For the people's safety and domestic tranquillity, let us dedicate ourselves anew to make these United States a haven of peace and good will, where hate and bitterness shall be forever obliterated, and where all are Americans, first and always. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks, I am pleased to include the eulogy in memory of our late President, John F. Kennedy, delivered by Rabbi Harry J. Kaufman, spiritual leader of the Beth Sholom Congregation of Washington, D.C., on November 25, 1963: With bowed heads and broken hearts we join America in the recitation "Boruch Dayon Hoemes" on the passing of a great and good leader, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. A sad and senseless national tragedy has come to pass, nurtured by a climate of derision, indifference, and hate that has become part of our contemporary scene. This supreme loss echoes in our souls the incisive lament of the teachers of Israel "Oy Ledor Sheovad Manhigo" "Oy L'sfisono Sheovad Karbonitoh" -Talmud (Baba Bathro) 91: B. "Woe to the world that has lost its leader and woe unto the ship that has lost its pilot." President Kennedy was not only the leader of our generation but was the confident pilot who guided the distressed ship of a faltering humanity. Our loss is incalculable even as this tragedy is unfathomable. Most trying times have come upon us. God is the source of life and the author of history. His will prevails. He sets the times and raises up the men to live in these times. We cannot question His action, what remains for us is to reexamine our conduct. In the book of Genesis we read, "And Jacob was left alone." A dreary night envelops him as he is overcome by a dismal loneliness; but the struggle for survival must go on. Faith becomes his most potent defense against the onslaught of a mysterious adversary. He is stunned, he understands not why nor wherefore this comes to be, but he continues indomitably, battling for God, for himself, and for humanity. Though gravely hurt he carries on and vanquishes his adversary, as a new dawn emerges. The time is today, the struggle is in the present. The anguish is ours as the mystery of these sorrowing happenings eludes us, but we too must carry on until the light of a new dawn will reveal itself to us. Great men become the fabric of a nation. Its martyrs set the tone of its ideals and dreams. Through the life of John Kennedy we were given a glimpse of a world that could come to be; a world of dynamic vigor, adventure, discovery, hope, and worthiness, of children laughing and men working together in a harmony of decency, purpose, and fulfillment. A world that can cast aside cruelty, ugliness, and hatred as the inevitable pattern of man's life on earth. A beautiful dream has been broken. The inspiring vision has been shattered and we have become poorer by his death, even as we were made richer by his life. We have been taught that the righteous are not memorialized by words but by works, not by august monuments but by monumental actions. not by lamenting dirges but by lofty deeds. The greatest of our goals and the noblest of our purposes have been sown in tears and born in agony. As the prophet, Jeremiah, cries out "Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears-for there is yet great reward in thine actions." Tears cannot bring John Kennedy back but he can continue to live with us and through us by our consecrated devotion and attainment of the great causes he served. May the Comforter of all sustain and protect this great land and our new President and may He bestow His loving grace upon the valiant and courageous First Lady and her dear children and the family of our great President. May He, who is the source of all strength and wisdom, embolden our resolve to make real in our lifetime, the Mr. Speaker, all the people of the Fourth Congressional District of Florida express their intense regret for the tragic death of the late President Kennedy; and they extend their heartfelt sympathies to Mrs. Kennedy, the children, and the family. The following editorials speak eloquently and are representative of the intense feelings, and the thoughts and prayers of the people I am honored to represent in the Congress of the United States: [From the Miami News, Nov. 23, 1963] WE MOURN FOR OURSELVES AND FOR THE WORLD The President of the United States and the leader of the free world is dead. The prayers of millions follow President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in death, and beseech guidance for his successor, President Lyndon Baines Johnson. We mourn for President Kennedy's family, a notably close family even in a Nation where close families are the norm. We mourn for our country, which must undergo a difficult change of leadership in critical times. And mostly, we mourn for ourselves, who have been denied the fullest potential of a brilliant young President. We have been denied by what Winston Churchill has rightly called a monstrous act, whose full impact is only beginning to seep into the hearts and minds of the Nation. In late years it has been axiomatic that the man who occupies the highest position in the United States occupies the most powerful position in the world. America has been fortunate that the men who have held this lofty office have treated it as a sacred trust. Certainly it was treated so by John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Only rarely in the course of our history have we been blessed with a President whose qualities of leadership combined to inscribe his greatness forever on our national shrines. Jefferson was one of these, and Lincoln was another. And more and more you are going to hear Mr. Kennedy's name mentioned as one of the great ones. He had youth, charm, and a zest for life and leadership that the White House has seldom known. Surely no President faced larger problems than John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and none met his problems with greater optimism. It was a measure of his leadership that he never hesitated to attack a problem merely because that problem seemed insoluble, and Heaven knows many of them must have seemed just that. They would have crushed a lesser man into inactivity. He had courage in war and in peace, and he had the wits to confound those at home or abroad who would despoil his beloved country. He had brilliance when only brilliance would suffice. Like Jefferson, he kept faith with the common man, believing in the common man's ability to manage his own freedom. Like Lincoln, he had an abiding conviction that all citizens have a right to equality. Despite his certain knowledge that this conviction was unpopular in much of the Nation, he supported it to the fullest. This was a demanding test of his integrity, and he passed it in his own way as nobly as Lincoln passed his. America is a great Nation, and it is one of the blessings of our democracy that our Government endures even such catastrophes as this. These are times when we rally together behind our new leader. The President is dead, God save the President. [From the Key West Citizen, Nov. 24, 1963] AS THE WORLD MOURNS As the world stands bowed in grief today over the untimely death of one of the alltime great leaders of the world, our President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the real stature of this protagonist of peace is beginning to emerge as other world leaders pour out their hearts in sympathy. Sympathy, first of all to the bereaved family; then to the Nation he has led so well for 2 years and 10 months, and, lastly, to the whole population of the world, a world which has lost a mighty champion of peace and good will among all peoples. For the first time in the history of the world, the citizens of the bereaved Nation have been able to see the deep lines of grief etched upon the faces of the peoples of this and other nations and to hear, first hand, their expressions of regard and concern. It is highly significant that in this great tragedy even those who have disagreed with the President and his philosophy of government are as sincere in their grief as those who marched side by side with him as he stood firm at the helm of this great Nation. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, with firm determination and courage seldom found in mortal man, confronted the might of Soviet Russia and won his way, thus earning great respect for himself and for our Nation throughout the world. He fought valiantly for the betterment of the people of his own nation and for the bringing about of equal opportunities for all. As in the case of all great national tragedies, the world faces a time of readjustment and, we pray, selfexamination. As we mourn the passing of one great American, we turn our thoughts and prayers to the one upon whose broad shoulders the mantle of peacemaker has fallen. Our Nation shall long remember John Fitzgerald Kennedy for the deeds he did and the light he shed upon a dark and troubled world. People are wont to erect great memorials to leaders who have passed on to the Great Beyond. The greatest memorial that the world could erect to our late President would be one of a lasting peace and understanding among the peoples and nations of the earth. Even as we are bowed in sorrow let us each dedicate ourselves to the unfinished task of the 35th President of the United States. [From the Miami Beach Daily Sun, Nov. 24, 1963] You cannot stop an idea with a bullet. In the numbness of President Kennedy's assassination, this is perhaps our only solace. Our President died for freedom Friday. He was killed by hate; whatever particular label it may bear is only incidental. What killed him was the fury of the small minds which cannot tolerate anything different from themselves, any outlook different from their own, any aspirations with frontiers beyond their own crimped view. John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave voice as have few political leaders in this century to the cravings of all Americans for a job, for an education, for the right to move freely about one's own country as a full-fledged citizen of this Nation. Mr. Kennedy was a fighter, a trait which served him well in election but which ennobled him in times of national need such as the Cuban crisis. He articulated for us all the resolution necessary to back down a murderer named Khrushchev in Cuba. Memorials may well be raised to our late President. They really are but a postscript for even in death he left us with a living one: He cared enough for his fellow man to insist on a better way for him and his posterity. [From the Diario Las Americas, Miami Springs, Fla., Nov. 24, 1963] JOHN F. KENNEDY When the world learned the tragic news of the assassination of the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, a profound spiritual commotion invaded all the civilized peoples of the globe, who recognized in him one of the most outstanding figures of contemporary man |