Tributes to John D. Rockefeller

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Scripture tells us that to those whom much is given, much is required. My friend, Senator Jay Rockefeller, can rest well knowing that he has passed that biblical test.

John Davison Rockefeller, IV, is the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son of the founder of Standard Oil--America's first billionaire. Senator Rockefeller grew up amid wealth in Manhattan and Westchester County, NY. He prepped at Exeter and graduated from Harvard. He was destined for a life of comfort and privilege far removed from the struggle of the poor. But this man, this Rockefeller, consciously chose a different path in life. And he has spent 50 years--two-thirds of his life--working to try to make life better for people who too often have precious little.

He has been a Member of this Senate for 30 years. You can see his legacy throughout West Virginia and across America. You can see it in children who have better schools, miners who have safer working conditions and seniors who have retired with greater dignity. You can see his legacy in the 8 million American children who receive health care through CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program, which Jay Rockefeller authored.

You can see his formidable legacy in the additional millions of Americans who--because of the Affordable Care Act--now have reliable health insurance, many of them for the first time in their lives. No one--no one--in this Senate has worked longer than he for affordable health care for all Americans.

Unlike some Senators, Jay Rockefeller did not grow up dreaming of being a Senator. As a young man at Harvard, he had planned a career in diplomacy, focusing on Asia. He even took time off from college to live for a while in Japan. But something momentous happened when he graduated from college in 1961. America had just elected a hopeful, young President who made Americans believe, as Senator Rockefeller would later say, ``that America could achieve anything.''

Senator Rockefeller called his father and his Uncle Nelson, then the Governor of New York, to let them know he had switched from Rockefeller Republican to Kennedy Democrat. The family took the news surprisingly well.

Soon after, Senator Rockefeller was asked by Robert Kennedy to help establish the Peace Corps; he worked for 2 years as a chief assistant to Sargent Shriver, the first Peace Corps director.

In 1964 a friend told him that he did not need to travel halfway around the world to help people in need. There were people here in America, in his friend's home State of West Virginia, living on the outskirts of hope. So Jay Rockefeller asked Bobby Kennedy to send him to West Virginia as a volunteer for VISTA, the precursor to Americorps.

He planned to spend a year in West Virginia. He has never left.

At age 27, in the tiny Appalachian coal-mining town of Emmons, WV--population 346--Jay Rockefeller discovered his defining purpose. He saw that people working together and a caring government could transform lives and communities for the better.

In 1966, he was elected to West Virginia's House of Delegates.

In 1968 he was running for West Virginia secretary of state when his last great hero, Bobby Kennedy, was murdered. His Uncle Nelson, Governor of New York, offered repeatedly to appoint his nephew to fill out Senator Kennedy's term in the U.S. Senate--but Jay Rockefeller refused. He told his uncle that if he were going to serve in this Senate, he wanted to earn his seat.

He won that race for secretary of state and went on to serve two terms as West Virginia's Governor.

In 30 years in the U.S. Senate, Senator Rockefeller has been a passionate advocate for his State, for America's children, for seniors, coal miners and others. He not only earned his seat in this body, he distinguished it with his thoughtful, compassionate, dedicated service.

Five years ago, during a late-night Senate Finance Committee markup of the bill that would become the Affordable Care Act, Senator Rockefeller recalled some of the people from that little mining town of Emmons, WV, who he met 50 years ago. It was close to midnight on a Friday night. His voice broke with emotion as he spoke about the hardships and unfairness that pervaded the lives of many of the people in Emmons. He also spoke about the hope that good government programs, like Medicare and Medicaid, had brought to their lives.

He said that he had kept a journal during his VISTA years in Emmons and written detailed notes in it each night. He said that, in 43 years, he had never been able to bring himself to open that book. It was too painful to look back.

When Senator Rockefeller looks back on his years in the Senate, I hope that he will feel a deserved sense of pride in the great and positive changes he helped make possible during his time here. I wish him, his wonderful and accomplished wife Sharon--the daughter of former Illinois Senator Charles Percy--and their family all the best in their future endeavors.

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