[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16] [Senate] [Pages 23340-23341] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]AMBASSADOR VANDEN HEUVEL'S TRIBUTE TO SENATOR KENNEDY Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate the Honorable Edward Kennedy, who received the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom Medal in early May of this year. I ask that Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel's remarks honoring Senator Kennedy be printed in the Record following this statement. The remarks follow. The Four Freedoms: A Gateway to the New Millennium An Address by William J. vanden Heuvel, President of the Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute--Hyde Park, New York--May 7, 1999 Today, midst the renewal of life that Spring represents, we come to the valley of the Hudson River that Franklin Delano Roosevelt loved so very much. The President parents and four children of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt are buried in this country churchyard. We remember that three sovereigns of the Netherlands--Wilhelmina, Juliana and Beatrix came to this church to worship accompanied by it Senior Warden who was also the President of the United States. We welcome the Queen's High Commissioner. Wim van Gelder, and the delegation from Zeeland where the Roosevelt Study Center has established itself as a pre-eminent place of study of the American presidency. Winston Churchill described Franklin Roosevelt as the greatest man he had ever known. President Roosevelt's life, Churchill said, ``must be regarded as one of the commanding events in human destiny.'' We listen once more to the words the President spoke to the Congress on January 6, 1941, as he defined the fundamental charter of democracy: [The voice of President Roosevelt as he spoke to the Congress of the United States on January 6, 1941] ``In the future days, which we seek to make secure we look forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms. The first is Freedom of Speech and Expression--everywhere in the world. The second is Freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--everywhere in the world. The third is Freedom from Want--which, translated into world terms, means economic understanding which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants--everywhere in the world. The fourth is Freedom from Fear--which, translated into world terms, means a worldwide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world.'' Freedom of Speech and Expression Freedom of Worship Freedom from Want Freedom from Fear For ourselves, for our nations, for our world. Those are the reasons why we fought the most terrible war in human history--to secure those freedoms for our children and generations to come, to make possible for them the well- ordered society that only Democracy can assure, a community established by the consent of the governed, where the rule of law prevails, where freedom means respect for each other, and where fairness and decency and tolerance are the cherished values, where government protects the powerless while encouraging everyone to nourish the spirit and substance of our land. Franklin Roosevelt was the voice of the people of the United States during the most difficult crises of the century. He led America out of the despair of the Great Depression. He led us to victory in the Great War. Four times he was elected President of the United States. By temperament and talent, by energy and instinct, Franklin Roosevelt came to the presidency, ready for the challenges that confronted him. He was a breath of fresh air in our political life--so vital, so confident and optimistic, so warm and good humored. He was a man of incomparable personal courage. At the age of 39, he was stricken with infantile paralysis. He would never walk or stand again unassisted. We can feel the pain of his struggle--learning to move again, to stand, to rely upon the physical support of others--never giving into despair, to self-pity, to discouragement. Just twelve years after he was stricken, he was elected President of a country itself paralyzed by the most fearful economic depression of its history. He lifted America from its knees and led us to our fateful rendezvous with history. The majesty of that triumph can never be dimmed. He transformed our government into an active instrument of social justice. He made America the arsenal of democracy. He was Commander-in-Chief of the greatest military force in history. He crafted the victorious alliance that won the war. He was the father of the nuclear age. He inspired and guided the blueprint for the world that was to follow. The vision of the United Nations, the commitment to collective security, the determination to end colonialism, the opportunity of peace and prosperity for all people--everywhere in the world. Such was the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt. President Roosevelt spoke in simple terms that everyone understood. Civilization needs a police force, he said, just as every one of our communities look to their local police for security and protection against the lawless. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi hoodlums brought the world to the precipice of destruction. Franklin Roosevelt was the first among the world's leaders to denounce and confront the savagery of the Nazis. The tin horn dictators who trample democratic values today when they carry out ethnic cleansing and murder innocent people, destroying their children and their hopes, are in the same gangster tradition. It is Franklin Roosevelt's legacy to nullify their power by collective action. If the freedoms, which are the [[Page 23341]] essence of civilization, are only rhetoric unworthy of defense and sacrifice, they will not prosper. They will perish. The America that President Roosevelt left us was prepared for the challenge of the New Frontier. Despite the trouble and turbulence of the 20th century, there is much of which we can be proud. We have a nation based upon the consent of the governed. We must cause it once again to be respectful of the opinions of Mankind. We have amassed wealth that has never been equaled. We have brought together all of the world's races and creeds and shown that we can live together in peace and common purpose. We have spent our treasure and spilled our blood to prevent tyrants from destroying the possibilities of freedom and liberty. Neither President Roosevelt nor we who share his vision are projecting a Utopia, a place liberated of all human trouble, where no one shall want for anything. No, the Four Freedoms are not a vision of a distant millennium, but rather the basis of a world attainable in our own time and generation. It is the purpose of this day to honor five laureates whose lives and achievements give us hope that our cherished freedoms will endure as our Republic will endure. It is my privilege and honor to bestow the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medals. ____ Award of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom Medal to Edward Moore Kennedy ``We look forward,'' President Roosevelt told Congress and an embattled world on January 6, 1941, ``to a world founded upon four essential freedoms''--Freedom of Speech and Expression, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear. On this 7th day of May, 1999, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom Medal is awarded to Edward Moore Kennedy whose commitment to peace and social justice and whose brilliant command of the parliamentary process have made him the most influential Senator of his era, esteemed by his colleagues, and respected and admired throughout the world. Six times the voters of Massachusetts have elected you to the Senate of the United States. Like the great leaders of this century, you have been the target of doubt, derision, ridicule and hatred, but to your enemies' everlasting disappointment, you have endured and prevailed, fortified by an inner strength that caused each fateful assault to leave you stronger, more determined, and more effective. You have been much more than the heir to a great political dynasty. You have been the executor of its legacy, a pioneer forever advancing the new frontiers of equal opportunity and American purpose. Born into a family of wealth and influence, you created an independent career that has profoundly enriched the Kennedy saga and given voice and power precisely to those who, lacking wealth and influence, have been denied the opportunity of the American dream. In the struggle for civil rights, your eloquence has been the trumpet of our leadership. You are the inexhaustible champion of racial justice and minority rights, of better schools, of the protection of the environment, of care and concern for the casualties of a market society--of those left out of America's historic prosperity. No one has done more to provide healthcare for all Americans. You have built extraordinary coalitions--and when necessary you have stood alone--in extending insurance coverage, in controlling costs, in protecting the vulnerable, in advancing medical research. You have fought for a social security system that truly assures security. You have led the fight for the minimum wage and the rights of labor, for equal opportunity for women, for the protection of children and for all those caught in the web of poverty. What the New Deal established, you advanced. You are the defender of past social gains and the designer of new social opportunities. Your capacity for friendship, your graciousness and good humor, your willingness to do the tedious homework that makes you a master of legislative detail has enabled you to overcome partisan divisions. You have achieved extraordinary results without compromising principle. In world affairs, you are a champion of peace and international understanding. Northern Ireland has the hope of peace today in large part because of your outspoken opposition to violence and terrorism and your untiring support of those on the front line working for justice and reconciliation. The developing nations of the world know you as their friend, and the United Nations esteems you as an American leader who is determined to see our country fulfill its responsibilities of leadership. Your life has not been absent adversity and pain but that has not lessened your determination to strive, to seek, to find and never yield in the quest for a better world. In 1980 bringing your campaign to an end, you said: ``. . . But for all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.'' You have been faithful to that promise. Those words define our purpose with this award. You have understood and enhanced the great message of the Four freedoms as Franklin Delano Roosevelt meant them. Therefore, in his name, we honor--and we thank you. ____________________