On the recordSeptember 28, 2010
for 34 years in the Senate it was my privilege and honor to serve alongside Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. Today, I would like to pay tribute to Ted, a dedicated public servant, a respected lawmaker, and a man I was proud to call my friend. Ted Stevens loved this country, and he dedicated nearly his entire life to public service. He served as a pilot in World War II, as a U.S. district attorney, as a senior member of the U.S. Interior Department, and as a U.S. Senator. Ted loved his State. In fact, he assisted in its birth as a State. During his more than four decades in the Senate, he was an unrelenting and unabashed advocate for Alaska and its people. I know no other Senator who has filled so central a role in their State's public and economic life as did Ted Stevens. He was a man many Alaskans knew simply as 'Uncle Ted.' The fight for Alaskan statehood was Ted's principal work at the Department of the Interior, and, over time, he developed another appropriate nickname: 'Mr. Alaska.'
