On the recordDecember 28, 2012
I wish to talk for just a couple minutes about Senator Inouye. I know I am late in the process, and that is partly why I am doing it--because I wanted to be late in the process. I had been in the Senate 1 day back in 1985, and Dan Inouye came to visit me in my office. He was up here; I was down here. He introduced himself. We talked about our States. He had all kinds of seniority and amazing qualities, I was nothing and he came to see me. I am sorry, but you don't forget things such as that. It says something about him, which went through his life. That is just the way he was. From there, a long friendship began. While I believe he looked at me as a friend, I looked to him as so much more than that. He was in a total sense a mentor with sort of a Confucian touch. He was of Japanese heritage and I had an interest in Japan and he had a way of imparting judgments and wisdom which were in the Eastern method, very subtle. He was not always that way, but he could be, and he was with me. I learned from him how this Chamber works and how to get things done. I watched the way he did them--not with a heavy fist or sharp words but with thoughtfulness and hard work, a commanding presence, that voice-- that voice--and genuine relationships, including across the aisle. He believed in action. He believed in getting things done through hard work and through determination. He had very much of an agenda.…
