Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today we pay tribute to the American men and women who traveled abroad to defend this great Nation but never returned home to our shores. We also honor those who have suffered as prisoners of war. We are grateful to them every day. Today, which is National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we dedicate our remembrance to their sacrifice. I had the good fortune to be appointed in 1992 by Majority Leader Mitchell to be a member of the Select Committee on MIA/POW. The committee was chaired by John Kerry, and it was a wonderful experience for a number of reasons, not the least of which was to watch Senator Kerry because I really, frankly, didn't know him very well. I had been in the Senate for a few years, but when you work here, sometimes you don't really understand how good people are until you work with them on a really close-knit basis, as I did with him because of that appointment. He did a magnificent job of chairing that committee. Of course, he had some standing to look at what went on in Vietnam since he was wounded three times and had a number of Silver Stars for his heroism in Vietnam. But legislatively that was a great experience for that year, to look to see what had happened in Southeast Asia all over, not only Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, but people who had been taken prisoner of war and certainly, if not, were missing in action. It was a good experience for me, and I will always remember that.…”