His whole life was wrapped up in our country's heritage and its institutions. When he returned from his volunteer service overseas in World War I he gave unstintingly of his time to all our veterans organizations and all those who would listen to him speak so eloquently about these institutions, patriotism and Americanism. As a matter of fact he was at his best when these very institutions were under attack.

I can recall his even speaking to our small high school civics class in those early days of his political career. Some years later at the close of a Constitution Day speech in Peoria, I was prompted to send him a telegram saying: "Senator, again you moved us to tears in appreciation of our Constitution."

He was a student of the Bible and the classics before becoming one of the best-informed men in or out of the Government.

It was my good fortune to introduce the Senator on so many occasions and I was tempted at times to compare him with our most notable citizen from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, but hesitated to do so because it would have embarrassed him. But certainly in terms of his impact on our party, on our State, and in this Congress, there were good grounds for making just such a comparison.

As a matter of fact, the Senator's personal life parallels to a remarkable degree that of Lincoln. The Senator's father died when he was only 5. He went to work at a very early age selling vegetables from door to door from his mother's garden and like Lincoln, he tried a number of occupations, ranging all the way from being a baker and driving a bakery truck in the family business to the manufacture of washing machines. He was proud of the fact that he carried a lunch pail and labored with his hands as a youth and it cannot be denied that these very rough and trying days of his early life played a significant role in forging his character and personality.

The Senator was given to quoting Biblical scripture and I am reminded of one he used from the prophet Job several years ago in a eulogy to a dear friend, which reads:

If a man die, shall he live again?

And the Senator's response was:

Surely he shall, as surely as day follows night, as surely as the stars follow their courses, as surely as the crest of every wave brings its trough.

This seemed to be the foundation of the Senator's philosophy of life and this was his firm conviction.

I shall sorely miss him, for he was such a good teacher. I shall always cherish the memories of both the serious and lighthearted gettogethers particularly with family and friends for this was where one got to know him best. To know him well was to love him for all his qualities.

There will never be one to take his place or fill the role as he played it. My heart is heavy for Louella, Joy, and the grandchildren, for they were his heart and soul and we try feebly to share the burden of their profound loss.

Mr. BOGGS. Mr. Speaker, there is little I can add to the beautiful tributes that have been paid to our late honorable and distinguished colleague, Senator EVERETT MCKINLEY Dirksen.

I had a relationship with him-an abiding one-which started in the House of Representatives 30 years ago. I had the greatest respect and admiration for him as a man, as an American, and as leader.

I say, as a man, because he was a man who suffered much in his life but complained very little. I remember when as a young man he left the House of Representatives mainly because he suffered an attack of glaucoma which is a very disabling eye disease. For years he suffered chronically from sundry ailments, heart difficulties and lung complications. But, I never heard him complain. I wondered about the strength of this man.

Mr. Speaker, there were so many things that gave him strength. First, he has a wonderful wife and a fine family. He was a great scholar of the Bible, of the classics, of Shakespeare, and of history. He was also very close to nature. He loved to garden and in that diversion we had very much in common because I, too, love to plant things and watch them grow.

Many times when we were discussing matters of highly important affairs of state at joint leadership meetings dealing with these matters, the distinguished Senator from Illinois and I would discuss our respective crops, he some type of flower and me some type of vegetable.

He was a man that lived in the heart of all of us and of all humanity. Mr. Speaker, as the poet was asked "For Whom The Bells Toll," they toll for all of us because each of us is lesser for his departure.

Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Boggs and I will miss him and we extend to his wonderful wife, children, and grandchildren our deepest sympathy.

Mr. SPRINGER. Mr. Speaker, in the death of EVERETT MCKINLEY DIRKSEN the country has suffered a great loss and the State of Illinois a distinguished son.

No man within my recollection has served more ably, more earnestly or with greater distinction in the Congress of the United States than has Senator DIRKSEN.

For 16 years he was a Member of the House of Representatives and for 19 years a Member of the Senate. In those years history has been made, and EVERETT McKinley Dirksen not only has been a part of that history, he has helped to create it. Senator DIRKSEN moved with the times. Some people and a portion of the press often alleged that he changed his mind. He once made the statement:

There is no more powerful force in the world than an idea whose time has arrived.

He was not one to put off the inevitable.

What I have thus far said does not mean that Senator DIRKSEN did not have positive ideas about fundamentals-and on fundamentals he never surrendered. He had great insight about history and where we were and what we were doing at this point in history. He had a strong feeling about the Constitution and its interpretation. He was a great believer that it meant certain things, and they could not be amended by judicial decision. He was a believer that this country was great because of its freedoms. One of his famous statements is:

I am going to leave this country for my grandchildren at least as good as it was handed to me. These are crucial times through which we are going. If the cause of freedom is lost in the future, I do not want those grandchildren to say to me, "But, Grandfather, you were there, and you could enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

One of EVERETT MCKINLEY DIRKSEN's favorite quotations was from Matthew:

Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

It fits him especially well at this time.

Mr. ANDERSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, last year we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the admission of the State of Illinois to the

Union. In that period of a century and a half our State has produced a great many distinguished political leaders of truly national stature. Today we mourn the passing of EVERETT McKinley Dirksen and add his name to that illustrious roster. None was more distinguished.

He enjoyed a career that enabled him to rise from very humble circumstances to the heights of public acclaim. Yet, through it all he carried the remembrance of a life of early struggle and perseverance to aid a widowed mother, to gain an education and still later to overcome the physical adversity that had threatened him with blindness.

He was rugged like the Illinois prairies under the scourge of the winter's north wind. At the same time he was a gentle man who loved nothing better than to work among his flowers. He was a man of sophisticated wit and wisdom. Yet for surcease from his arduous responsibilities as the leader of his party in the U.S. Senate he loved to retreat to the Virginia countryside and with his own talented hands construct the birdhouses which were then lodged in the trees surrounding his home where he could watch the arrival and departure of his favorite species.

I have so many vivid memories of Senator DIRKSEN. Among the first that I have is almost a score of years ago. He had come to the square of the courthouse in my own town in pursuit of the Senate seat then held by the late Scott W. Lucas who was also the Senate majority leader. We had heard of this man DIRKSEN before, of course, because for 16 years he had served in the Congress only to be forced into retirement when threatened by blindness. Now he had recovered and we heard that he had worn out two automobiles and traveled a quarter of a million miles up and down and back and forth across the State of Illinois in his effort to unseat the man who was then one of the most powerful and able men in the U.S. Senate. There in the pale of half-light of an early evening in summer I heard him speak of the war in Korea that was then raging and how the sacrifice and treasure of our country was being expended in that conflict. He spoke then of the importance of finding a means to resolve that tragic episode in our history in a manner compatible with our national honor but also in a way to hasten the advent of a more peaceful world. I was thrilled that evening, as were the thousands who heard him over a public career that was to span almost four decades, at the rich imagery of his speech and his ability to in

tone a sincerity and conviction that held you literally in his thrall until the last sonorous words had been spoken.

Later, as a young Congressman I was to have the honor of sharing many platforms with him as we campaigned northern Illinois together. This year, with the advent of a Republican President, it has been my privilege to observe him each week at leadership meetings with the President of the United States. There I observed his mastery of legislative detail and saw the evidence of his prodigious memory for the facts surrounding the multitude of different tactical situations that confronted him as a Senate leader. He had a large mind which, although deeply immersed in these facts, could also see the broad sweep of events both domestic and international which had an impact upon those decisions which he and the Presidents he served were obliged to make. Thus, out of the rich tapestry of his varied experiences he could distinguish the particular thread that would be helpful and relevant to a present crisis.

He was not a small or mean man. Even in confronting his political foes, and in so lengthy a career, there were many, he could not descend to the level of vituperation, but used the gentle balm of humor and good nature. It was he who practiced what he jocularly described as a political philosophy that "the oil can is mightier than the sword."

He was kindly and avuncular in his relations with those younger than he; he was the essence of patience in giving of his time and advice to those of us who often sought his advice and assistance on matters concerning our mutual constituency in the State of Illinois.

He had a deep love for young people. His Christmas records of recent years were best sellers because children loved him. How many times I heard him pridefully tell the story of how he would talk to his grandchildren just as if he was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and how they would listen at his feet.

He was a warm and humorous man, accomplished as a raconteur and able to relish a story no matter how often he had repeated it to an audience which in turn never tired of hearing the Senator tell one of his favorites.

He was an effervescent part of authentic Americana who will be remembered as long as men gather to talk about the most colorful and effective political figures in the history of the American republic.