Tom Harkin: “when I heard that my friend, Alan Cranston, passed away this New Year's Eve, I couldn't quite believe it. I remember…”

“when I heard that my friend, Alan Cranston, passed away this New Year's Eve, I couldn't quite believe it. I remember Alan as a man in a constant state of motion, always pressing on for the causes he cared for, plotting the next steps, pondering how he could do more. It is hard to reconcile the finality of death with the endless, focused energy that defined his life. Alan's record of service spans the better part of the twentieth century. He was a journalist who covered World War II, an author who warned Americans about the threat of Hitler, a leader of an organization that opposed discrimination against immigrants, long before that was fashionable. He revived the California Democratic party in the 1950's, was the California state controller in the 1960's, and served his first term in the United States Senate in the 1970's. He was a Senator for 24 years, including seven consecutive terms as Democratic whip, and he even made a run for the Presidency in 1984. And since his retirement from the Senate in 1993, Alan had dedicated himself to the cause he cared about most; eliminating nuclear weapons. If you didn't know Alan, his impressive list of accomplishments might lead you to think that he must have been a man of great showmanship and obvious charisma. But that wasn't Alan. Alan believed in the philosophy of Lao-tzu: "A leader is best when people barely know that he exists.”