Jeff Bingaman: “with many of my colleagues, I traveled to Lowell, MA, last Thursday for the funeral of our friend, Paul Tsongas. He died…”

“with many of my colleagues, I traveled to Lowell, MA, last Thursday for the funeral of our friend, Paul Tsongas. He died at age 55. His battles were many, and so were his victories. His grace and courage will stand for many of us as beacons in our own lives. Paul befriended me when I was running for the Senate. His desire to spend more time with his family caused him to retire at the close of his first term here, and our Senate days overlapped by only a couple of years. Still, he was an influence on my life, and certainly on my career. There is no disagreement that Paul was one of the outstanding sons of Massachusetts. The affection for him and grief over his death which we all felt at the services are the kinds of emotions reserved for one of the family. The people of Massachusetts respected him, and valued what he stood for. We all did. When he served in the Senate, one of the items in his office was a framed quotation from one of John Adams' many letters to his wife, Abigail. The Massachusetts College of Art had produced it in January 1980. I had admired it on visits to Paul's office and when Paul left the Senate, he sent it to me, with a handwritten note. I treasure them both, and the feeling behind John Adams' words: I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy * * * in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, and music * * * May 12, 1780.…”