Farewell to the Senate

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I wish to join with my colleagues in saluting the departure of one of our best, Senator Chris Dodd. I first saw his father, though I did not meet him, when I was a student intern for Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, who had an office that was next door to Chris Dodd's father's. I saw Senator Thomas Dodd leaving that office and was certainly aware of the great contribution he made to America.

Little did I know some 16 years later, when I would be a candidate for the House of Representatives, that his son would come to Decatur, IL, to do an event for me in my campaign. It was a smashing success, the biggest turnout ever. I am sure Senator Dodd believes it might have been because of his presence. It also could have been because it was a $1 chicken dinner and people came from miles around. But I was happy to advertise him as the star talent at that event.

What a great life story. Christopher John Dodd, the fifth of six children of Thomas and Grace Dodd, was born in 1944 with a caul, a thin veil of skin thought to be a sign of good luck, covering his head. The doctor who delivered him told his mother that with this sign of good luck, this baby might grow up to be President, to which Mrs. Dodd replied: ``What is the matter with Franklin Roosevelt?''

It was a great line, but the truth is, while Grace and Tom Dodd were both ardent New Dealers, they knew America would not depend on one leader forever, not even FDR. They knew and they taught their children they all have an obligation in our own time to try to move America closer to a more perfect Union.

Thomas Dodd, Senator Dodd's father, worked to fulfill that obligation in his time. He chased John Dillinger as an FBI agent, prosecuted war criminals and KKK members as a government lawyer, and served in both the House and Senate. His son Chris followed his father's example, found his way to serve America by serving in the Peace Corps as a volunteer in the Dominican Republic, where he lived for 2 years in a mountaintop village in a house with a tin roof and no running water or telephone.

In that village he started a maternity hospital, family planning program, a youth club, and a school. Those were the first installments of what would become, for Chris Dodd, a lifetime of work protecting women and children worldwide.

Senator Dodd was elected to the Senate in 1980, at the ripe age of 36. He is both the youngest person ever elected to the Senate in Connecticut history and the longest serving, as has been said. Early on, his colleagues recognized his talents and named him one of the three most effective freshman Senators. He has never let up on his efforts to help America and help Connecticut.

He is a passionate, articulate voice for economic justice, for civil, constitutional and human rights and for America's role as a moral leader in the world. He is a champion of fairness, cofounder of the Senate Children's Caucus, lead sponsor, as Senator Lieberman mentioned, in 1993, of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which has helped countless millions of Americans.

He has achieved more in the last 2 years, though, than most Senators achieve in long careers. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, he led the fight in the Senate for the most important Wall Street reform since the Great Depression. He picked up the fallen standard from his dear friend Ted Kennedy and helped lead the fight Ted Kennedy always dreamed of for affordable health care for all Americans. For that achievement alone, Chris Dodd has earned a place in history.

Chris Dodd has, as Eugene O'Neill might say, ``the map of Ireland on his face,'' but he has the promise of America written in his heart. His work in the Senate has made that promise real for millions of Americans. In his office in the Russell Senate Office Building, an office once occupied by his father, are portraits of two Thomases: Thomas Dodd, his father, and another of his heroes, Sir Thomas More.

I listened to Chris's speech just a moment ago, and I was reminded of what Thomas More wrote in his masterwork, ``Utopia.'' He said:

If you can't completely eradicate wrong ideas, or deal with inveterate vices as effectively as you could wish, that is no reason for turning your back on public life all together. You wouldn't abandon a ship in a storm just because you couldn't control the winds.

For 30 years in the Senate, even when he has had to sail through fierce headwinds, Chris Dodd has kept his compass fixed on the ideals that make America both great and good. In doing so, he has made the Senate, Connecticut, and America a better place.

I am proud to have served with him and call him a friend. I thank him for his efforts that brought me to the House of Representatives so many years ago. I thank him for his service in the Senate and a special thanks to his wonderful family; Jackie, a great friend, and those two great daughters, Grace and Christine, whom I have seen as swimmers at the Senate pool, good health and good luck to the whole family for many more chapters in their lives.

I yield the floor.

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