Political Quotes

“I rise to speak briefly about progress in the nation of Croatia, which I was honored to visit recently. At the invitation of the Croatian Minister of Defense, I participated in what is known as the ``Croatian Summit,'' a gathering of leaders from Eastern Europe. The theme of this year's summit was: ``A New Decade for Southeast Europe: Finalizing the Transition.'' Less than 15 years after a terrible ethnic war that devastated Croatia, the nation is making enormous progress. It is rapidly making a transition to a market-based economy and its government leaders are committed to a strong and lasting partnership with the United States. They are a great partner of ours in Afghanistan and in other trouble spots across the globe. That is personally important to me because 100 years ago this year, my grandfather emigrated from Croatia to this country. John Begic--then it was spelled B-E-G-I-C--then 17 years old, left his farm and eventually settled in northern Minnesota's Iron Range. John Begic and his young bride, Anna Martinich had four children. Their youngest, Nicholas, made his way to America's new frontier of Alaska even before we were a state. He was my father. Nick Begich was an educator and eventually was elected Alaska's lone Member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1970. I am honored to follow in his footsteps as a Member of the Senate, where I am the only Member of Croatian decent. My recent visit to Dubrovnik was my first to Croatia.…”