Political Quotes

“I would like to take a few moments to say farewell to a friend and a public servant who served my State of Illinois and our Nation well. His name was Charles Carroll Smith, but his friends called him Charlie. He died on the day after Thanksgiving. Our paths crossed often over the years. Charlie served as Illinois' deputy secretary of state under then- Secretary of State Alan Dixon. When Alan Dixon was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980, Charlie came to Washington with him. He was a key member of the Dixon staff, serving as both legislative director and senior national security adviser. When Alan Dixon left the Senate, Charlie joined the staff of Kentucky Senator Wendell Ford, then the Senate's Democratic whip. Charlie was Senator Ford's legislative staff director and a trusted adviser to Senator Ford on matters involving national security and foreign relations. He helped craft and pass many important pieces of legislation, including the 1990 law establishing the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission in 1990. He went on to serve as executive director of the 1995 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission-a massive task to try to realign America's military bases with the realities of the post-Cold War world. The work of the Base Closure Commission was necessary, complex, and historic, and Charlie's intricate understanding of both the Defense Department and the security needs of America and our allies was critical to the commission's success.…”