J. Exon: “This Nation will likely lose the most important Senator of all with regard to national security and foreign policy when…”

“This Nation will likely lose the most important Senator of all with regard to national security and foreign policy when my colleague Sam Nunn departs this body. I believe Senator Nunn is one of the greatest leaders of the current era. He has been a leader and a close personal friend and confidant of mine since the very first day I came here 18 years ago. Sam Nunn has been my Democratic leader on the Senate Armed Services Committee. We have worked closely together, and always in harmony, on many, many issues of vital importance to this Nation's national security. Sam has been a stalwart in helping to win the cold war. I remind all that Sam is, bar none, the Senate's top expert on national security matters. No one has done more to help recruit and retain the Nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, who are on duty today and are the best that we have ever had in uniform in our Nation's history. I was proud to be a charter member of the informal 'Sam Nunn for President' group in 1988. I believed then, and continue to believe to this day, that Sam Nunn would have been an outstanding President of the United States.”