[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16] [Senate] [Page 22422] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]LANE KIRKLAND Mr. DODD. Mr. President, earlier today, there was a memorial service for former AFL-CIO president, Joseph Lane Kirkland, on the campus of Georgetown University. I was deeply saddened to hear of Lane's passing and would like to reflect for just a few moments on his life and his enormous contribution to organized labor in America. Lane Kirland spent virtually his entire working life in the service of his country. As a young man, he enrolled in the first class of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and served the duration of World War II as a transport officer. Following the war, Lane went back to school, taking night classes at Georgetown, and received a degree in foreign relations in 1948. He intended to enter the foreign service and represent American interests abroad, but shortly after graduation he took a low-level research position with the American Federation of Labor. That seemingly temporary sidestep would become the consuming mission of his working life. An unlikely labor leader, born of a well-to-do southern family and schooled in international relations, Lane became a strong advocate for justice in the workplace and a champion of human dignity. From 1948 until, some would say, the day he died, he fought for working people--for higher wages, better health care, and greater protections for workers health and safety. It is a credit to his skill, intellect and unflagging determination that he was elected president of the AFL-CIO in 1979, a post he faithfully held for 16 years. Lane was a titan of the American labor movement. A man of great personal strength, Lane used his talent and energy to act upon his convictions, uniting people of diverse backgrounds and improving the lives of countless working families across this country and around the world. During Lane's tenure as president, organized labor faced ever- increasing challenges which called for strong, decisive leadership. With union membership declining across the country, Lane fought successfully to unite the Nation's largest and best-known unions under the AFL-CIO, guaranteeing the continued vitality of organized labor and ensuring it a position in American political discourse well into the 21st century. His vision for trade unionism did not stop at the water's edge. Under Lane's stewardship, the AFL-CIO reached out to workers around the world. Like few others at the time, Lane understood the global struggle embodied in the cold war. He was a man of great insight, and he realized that a fair workplace could be used as a lever to create a fairer society. Ardently anticommunist, Lane believed personal freedom was the right of every man, woman, and child and saw the union as a vehicle of freedom. Thus, he supported trade unions in China, Cuba, South Africa, Chile, and Poland, where unions were severely suppressed and personal freedoms denied. When Solidarity assumed power in Poland, Lane's faith in the power of trade unions and lifetime of work to build them were irrefutably vindicated. With Lane's passing, a bright light for trade unions has been extinguished. He will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Irena, and his family. ____________________