Louise Slaughter: “A giant of a man has fallen; and I do not think this House will ever be the same. Joe Moakley was so deeply rooted in…”

“A giant of a man has fallen; and I do not think this House will ever be the same. Joe Moakley was so deeply rooted in his beloved South Boston and grateful, to the moment of his death, that the people who lived there had entrusted him with the greatest thing that they could give, to let him represent them here in the House of Representatives. And represent them he did. Most of all, though, he was a human being, to his core. He told me a story that I think sort of summarized Joe, that when he was growing up, he was always big for his age, which was one of the reasons he was able to talk himself into the Navy at the age of 16. As they would be driving down the street, if they saw anybody being bullied or anything that did not look quite right to Joe's father, he would say, 'Well, Joe what are you going to do about that?' He would park the car, and Joe would get out and fix it. I think he was most proud, at least I am most proud, of what he did in Central America, because he stepped up against his own government to right a wrong, and all of us benefited from that.”