text:
tv Politics and Public Policy Today CSPAN December 31, 2016 12:00am-3:01am EST
a him andnd -- a vulnerable loan child refugees. but then mp's accuse the government of backtracking. >> can explain why they exclude children of 16 and 17 years old given the recognition that they are still children and still vulnerable. >> we want to address the children that the dutch amendment suggests. those are children 15 and below his nationality puts them in refugee status and who are at high risk of sexual exploitation. >> children are at risk of all kinds of exploitation. it could be trafficking, forced
labor and slavery. but this government does not care. >> the reason that we do not consider children after the 20th of march is quite simple. we do not want to introduce a factor to encourage parents to make this journey across the zahara and the mediterranean. >> you're watching westminster interview with me. still to come, can mp's were together to handle the health care crisis. >> as the year drew to a close, there were increasingly vocal calls for the government to do more to help civilians trapped
in the northern syrian video of aleppo. the city has been a key battleground between president bashar al-assad and rebels who want to overthrow him. the u.n. warns that up to 100,000 people were trapped there and that rebels were stopping many of them from leaving. hundreds of civilians have died, but the syrian government and the russians have denied. >> the numbers that the red cross has reported are accurate. they have reported that their is clear evidence of civilians being executed and shot on the spot. there are dead bodies in the streets that cannot be reached because of gunfire and there are
over 100 children that are unaccompanied or separated from their families who are trapped in a building and under heavy fire. >> the former chancellor reminded mp's that they voted against military action in 2016. >> if we believe we have no responsibility for what has happened in syria, the tragedy in aleppo did not come out of a vacuum. it was created by a vacuum, a vacuum of western leadership. of american and british leadership. i take responsibility as someone who set on the national security council throughout those years. parliament should take its responsibility for what it prevented being done. >> if russia and bashar al-assad continue to block aid convoys into the area, then surely the government must finally except that we have reached the point of last resort when the previous
foreign secretary promised that airdrops would be used. if we fear that man fights would be too dangerous, as i know the gentleman sitting next to the foreign secretary does, the government should consider using unmanned drones or gps guided parachutes. >> i'm sure many throughout the country watching television screens whose main feeling is one of frustration at the apparent impotence of our government to be able to get involved and do anything. host: he condemned russia for blocking aid to civilians. but he also criticized the referendum in 2013. >> in 2013, this house voted not to use force against assad even after he had poisoned hundreds of his people with nerve gas. we in the house of commons, we
in the country, we vacated that space into which russia stepped. every sense of that vote, our ability to influence intervention in syria or two help civilians or compel the delivery of aid has been severely limited. >> next, the labor secretary asked another question. >> is there no way that this regime can be shamed into facilitating this vitally needed humanitarian aid? >> apparatus influence at the present time -- our greatest influence at the present time is providing humanitarian need to people on the ground. this is what we can do in the face of this meltdown of humanity as of the high commissioner refer to it as. the british people are the
second largest donor into that area. >> the existence of a vacuum exploited by russia can never justify the indiscriminate bombing by russian aircraft flown by russian pilots. by russian aircraft flown by syrian pilots. >> say they are going to provide support for the u.n.. there is full evidence of war crimes being committed. >> there's the question that on the basis of the evidence there is a case of this being a breach of international humanitarian law.
a breach of the geneva convention and the people in time will be brought to justice. host: now, official figures tell us that the number of people living in the u.k. aged over 100 has increased by 65% over the last decade and many more are living well into their 80's and 90's. increasing longevity has put more and more pressure on the health and social care system. we investigated what the hell's care system will look like in the year 2030. the manning charge of the nhs in england said local areas should integrate services. >> there are things that we hope to do to integrate health and social care locally, but i believe those solutions are best designed by consenting adults locally rather than nationally. host: and he said he was inclined to look at provisions for all people more generally. >> in 2020, there are three
different ways in which people's pensions go up. that would be a triple guarantee for old people in this country. there would be a guarantee around income come around hiring and care. and i don't think you could think about any one of those in isolation from the other two. >> i can't tell you how depressing i find it sitting in the common chamber and hearing the politics over this issue. i think we need to do what was eventually done over pensions and accept that these dell of this is so great and it will be a challenge for whoever is in power. it is in the interest of all political parties to get together and have a mature discussion about how we fund this.
i feel this is the right time in the electoral cycle for that to happen. the closer you get to election, the more difficult that becomes. >> it is unnecessarily worrying to the public to talk about is the nhs and sustainable. the bigger question is, how are all help systems across the world's going to be sustainable in the face of the huge pressures of an aging population and the advances in medication and technology that are making us all live longer. there's a bigger question about how we are going to get more resources into health care systems. host: the next day at the prime minister's questions, one mp's said the system is in crisis. >> this system makes loved ones give up work and makes people stay in hospitals longer and
condemns people to an isolated life. fund it properly, please. >> they said in 1997, they had sorted their manifesto. they had a royal commission in 1999. the report in 2006. in 2007, they said they bought it. 13 years and no action whatsoever. host: theresa may, now, back in october, the home affairs committee tried to get to the bottom of why the chair of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse quit.
according to newspaper reports, other members of the inquiry panel had concerns about her leadership. a committee on the professor who was an adviser to the inquiry before being promoted by the gap left by the justice. >> we really would have preferred to sit in the room with a panel. we were kept at a distance from the activities of the inquiry. >> so was she a nightmare to work with at some papers would have suggested? >> i would not use that language. >> what language would you use? >> that she was difficult to work with. host: later, allegations of abuse came forward and different clubs since they were children.
mp's wanted a rigorous investigation. >> last week, i watched hundreds of thousands of children playing football. this is our national game. i appreciate what the faa is doing. the given that this is a national game, will she ensure that there is independence and we don't disallow the sport to investigate itself. >> we don't want a witchhunt, but we need to make sure everyone in sport involved with children understand the nature of these wicked people. they have to understand why it
is so important to put in place rigorous measures to safeguard our children and keep them safe. host: mp's said there were problems with existing vetting checks. >> there is a loophole for sports that don't have government bodies and there is a loophole for people who are self-employed, not employed by another person. sports that don't have with the secretary of state take this back and look at it? it would also affect music tuition. host: and mp -- brought colleagues to tears after talking about being raped when she was 14. >> it was quick, i remember feeling fear and horror that i could not escape. i walked home cold and shaking.
that was the shock response. i bottled it all up inside me. i realize now, i'm not scared, i'm not a victim, i am a survivor. >> i think the honorable lady what she said and the way in which she said it which left and indelible impression on us all. host: it was not the first time an mp told a story to represent a cause. >> i went to the emergency room and tried to deliver. the umbilical cord had been
wrapped around her neck for hours. she stayed alive for hours. i did not want to let her go. my five days of her being alive. she was never able to cry or smile, but i desperately wanted her. she is always in my thoughts. host: time now to take another look at some of the stories that made the news in brief.
in mid novemember, several thousand prison officers to the day of action in protest against violence in jails. there were a series of disturbances, culminating in a right in birmingham in which inmates to go over for wings of the present. when order had been restored, the justice secretary updated mp's. >> levels of violence are too high in our prisons. that's why we are reforming our prisons to be safe places and taking swift action to deal with the drugs. it is important to remember that these problems developed over a number of years and it will take time and concerted effort to turn the situation around. >> of all presence in 2015,
birmingham had the highest number of assaults on staff. the prison officers, the present government association and others have warned of the crisis since 2010. it is time fundamental questions were asked about the way our prison system is working or not working. host: there was unanimous support in the commons for a motion recommending that the former owner of bhs be stripped. more than 570 million pounds were lost in pension deficit as well as thousands of jobs. he tracked in heat -- he extracted large sums and left the business floundering. >> a modest part would make such
a difference to those pensioners still waiting. he took the rings from bhs's fingers, he put it on life support and then took credit for keeping it alive. host: emergency action has been called to save the african elephant. while there is an international ban on buying and selling ivory in other countries, it is still legal to buy and sell certain types of ivory within countries. the u.k. government announced it will spend 30 million pounds on finding ways to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. >> it is estimated that 30% or 144,000 have disappeared in the last year, especially because of poaching.
perhaps there is as few as 400 to 450,000. this is an emergency and it requires emergency action. host: now, there are more than 800 members of the house of lords and some think that maybe just a few too many. there have been numerous reports, debates and minor tinkering's to reduce the size. many think it is time for a serious overhaul. >> this is the largest second chamber in the world and is the largest legislative chamber of any sort in the world after the people's republic of china. the constant reiteration of those facts, they cumulatively drowned the recognition of the exact scrutiny we supply to
build the quality of our debate. host: scotland's finance secretary has confirmed that income tax rate will be frozen in scotland. sending out his draft budget for 2017-18, he said he will protect household incomes and support jobs. some parties and trade unions criticize him for not going far enough. there is concern that the basic rate of income tax will be frozen and the higher rate will be paid by those in just earning over 43,000, compared to the 45,000 limit in the rest of the u.k. >> we cannot accept the same kind of austerity.
it will limit the increase in the higher rate threshold to inflation. the high rate threshold will be set at 43,430 pounds. the commons has said goodbye to familiar faces and brought in some new mp's. host: the murder of the liberty secretary shocked everyone. the conservative liberal democrat -- the conservatives, liberal democrats, and others decided to not bring in a new candidate. david cameron later decided to quit the commons. there was an upset for the
tories. she took her seat at the start of december, flanked by her party's leader, bringing the total number of mp's to nine. and finally a replacement that was new to for another conservative who quit the commons for the government's handling of brexit. caroline johnson held on to her seat or the tories. her election means the number of women elected to the house of commons is the same as the men currently elected. 455. now let's go back to brexit and the commons where labor put forward a debate calling for a
plan to signal the formal start for the u.k. separation from the eu. theresa may agreed to that command, but also countered that they should follow her timetable for talks. >> we will probably the told the plan is to have a red, white, and blue brexit. we are the leaders in free trade, whereas we are giving up all the conditions that govern free trade in a single market. >> to say that it might consist of hints, i want to remind that when moses came down from the mountain bearing the tablets, it did not contain the full information.
>> we are seeing oversight used as a break against bringing our democracy home. once again the labor sides with the national elite. it is 167, almost six months since the referendum and we have 113 days to go until the deadline the government set itself. we are almost two thirds of the way there. talk about glacial progress may be an overstatement in this case. we have the opportunity to shape and economic policy and an immigration policy that could make us once again a world leader. but if we don't take that
opportunity and instead concentrate on seeking to dilute the results of the referendum, and i am afraid we will fail the people of this country and this historic moment. host: a few days after, the secretary of state for exiting the eu made his debut in front of the committee in charge of scrutinizing his department. >> following last week's debate in the house of commons, the government is going to publish its plans for the negotiations before article 50 is triggered. when can we expect to see this? >> once all the policy is complete. the reason for setting the final possible date in march was a numerous, but the reason was to carry out the policy first. january, february, there is
still many decisions to be made. we are carrying out 57 analysis, each of which has analysis of different parts of the economy. there's still a number of things to do. it will be as soon as we are ready. host: just before christmas, parliament heard once more from a theresa may following a summit in december. she was excluded from parts of the meeting as other leaders approach to brexit. >> i appreciate there is a timing issue, but, do you not want to get on with this as soon as possible because the
certainty that comes from that, which the business community and other people in society want to reflect on the referendum as soon as possible? >> it is right that people want to reflect the outcome of the referendum. but for the government needs to take time to pair for these negotiations. before i became prime minister, i said we should not draw out article 50 until the end of this year. we looked at the timetable and the trick of it was giving up sufficient time to making this preparation and then to pair for their side of the negotiations. and also recognizing that the british public wanted us to get on with it. host: the big question is, where do we get from here and what can we expect in the next few months?
hannah white is here from the institute of government and simon fraser. the negotiation is not just about of, there are 27 people around the table. what are they making of what is going on? simon: when we trickled the article 50 negotiation and it begins, we have to understand what the priorities are of the e.u. we need to bear mind that they have said clearly that there top priority is maintaining the unity of the eu 27. and there should be a price attached to leaving the eu.
host: politically, that is going to be difficult because if the government finds that it has to continue to pay money to the eu, politically, they'll be difficult to sell to the public. hannah: there is a possibility that we will contribute to the eu budget. but the people who voted for brexit will say, hey, i did not vote for that. people voted for brexit for different reasons. part of the task of government will be to sell whatever they negotiate to the british people. there will be decisions about whether there is a specific benefit that the u.k. sees from being still part of some
mechanism within the eu. but they'll will have to sell that back to the public. host: how far will the government be able to go to keep its trade links going with the you and manage the public? simon: the government doesn't have to set out -- does it have to agree to the terms and conditions set out by the other party in the negotiation. there is a strong requirement on the government to get more control over immigration in this country. that may mean that we cannot accept all the conditions for access to the european single market and therefore trade often needs to be made. we need to get an outcome that people in this country think is the best outcome for this
country. that is brexit, but with the least possible damage to our trading relationship. host: does that make something like donald trump seem very attractive. he come along with the idea of some different relationship. for a government who wants to keep trade as much as possible, that could look very attractive indeed. simon: it is important to recognize that brexit is not just a risk, it is an opportunity. we should see opportunities. we have to take account of the fact that donald trump has been elected and we need to shift politics and geopolitics and how that will affect us. next year is going to be just as turbulent a year as 2016. they are going to have an important election in the netherlands, france, and germany. it will be a frantic situation and for the u.k., we need to work out our relationship with europe and the new
administration in the u.s. above all, i hope that the democracies in the western world stand together through the tough times. host: and this will be tricky for the u.k.'s internal relations. hannah: we've seen nicola sturgeon talking about what she would like to see for scotland after the deal. it remains to be seen the extent to which the nations can get what they want out of these talks. host: is the concept of the u.k. under real pressure? >> certainly the fact that scotland, when we already had one independence referendum, puts pressure on that relationship.
the nationalists in scotland have been saying there could well be, it could will push for another independence referendum if they don't like the deal the u.k. government goes for in terms of brexit. of course, they have to have an agreement from the u.k. government to have another referendum. host: let's go back to our negotiations with our friends in europe. what do you think the worst-case scenario is? how likely is it that the article 50 talks will break down? simon: that is my worst-case scenario that we will not take the article 50 negotiation seriously or that we end the negotiations and we don't have a clear way ahead of that. and then we resort to the wto option that is a bad option for our economic relationship.
i hope that we can avoid that and pursue a course that allows us to have continuity over the next few years. from the business perspective, that is hugely important. when we cut about interim arrangements, for businesses, not only do they know -- do they need to know there will be an arrangement, but they need to know early on what it will be. the timeline is quite tight. host: can you tell, what do you think is the mood around ministers and government? is that gloomy going forward into 2017? hannah: i don't think so. there are a lot of opportunities that brexit presents. there is the supreme court judgment on the article 50 case. it says if parliament will have a say if article 50 will be
triggered. i think that is a technicality. there are a series of obstacles, the triggering of article 50, the negotiations will be gone through and in the meantime whitehall will be planning to mitigate the risk. host: thank you both very much indeed for coming into the program. and that if it from us for now. you join us for our regular roundups of the day at westminster when parliament returns in january. for me, goodbye. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]
>> new year's night on "q&a" -- >> he was having these fancy parties in the white house, it was part of the image making for the poor people, and here is this rich man in washington. harrison, he had thousands of acres of the state, so he was very wealthy, but he was per trade as the champion of the poor. women came in way of handkerchiefs, son gave speeches. it was very shocking. they were criticized by the democrats who said they should be homemaking putting. author of "the carnival sunday night at
8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." >> next, in memoriam 2016 we remember some of the notable men and women who died this year, after that the westminster review looks at some of this year's event of the british parliament. then, a discussion on the state of cancer research. close,016 draws to a c-span notes the passing of important figures in politics and public affairs. our in memoriam program begins at portions of the funeral service held earlier this year for israeli prime minister shimon peres, and remarks from president obama and bill clinton. this is about 35 minutes. >> [speaking a foreign language]
president clinton: to the peres family, president netanyahu, the leader of the knesset and president obama and all the distinguished leaders who have come from around the world. yesterday the prime minister did something that was unthinkable back in the dark ages when i was president of the united states, he sent out a tweet. and the tweet reminded us of a simple fact. it was israel's first day without shimon peres. he was in the knesset for 48 years, but for more than 70 of his 93 years, in one way or the other, in and out of government, he was a public servant.
i was honored to share almost 25 of those years with him. first in our common efforts with prime minister rabin of blessed memory to forge a just and lasting peace between israel and palestinians. then just as his friend. someone who listened to, learned from, and laughed with him. and always was in awe of his endless capacity to move beyond even the most crushing setbacks in order to seize the possibilities of each new day. i am honored the family asked me to tell you what he meant to someone who is not a citizen of
this country i love so much. but who was never the less blessed and inspired i think in many ways is representative of millions more he touched though he never met. israel watched him grow first from sort of young genius during his days to build undefeatable defense forces. through a long life to become a wise champion of our common humanity. someone who wanted the best for all children. yes, the israeli children. but also the children of his neighbors and the larger world. the previous speakers have reminded me again of a clip i saw last night on television
where shimon was being interviewed by charlie rose, and he looked at him sort of saying i'm going to serve a softball up to you. and watch you hit a home run. what do you want your legacy to be? and he said, i'm more concerned about tomorrow than yesterday. our complicated, brilliant friend steered by a simple straightforward creed. perhaps in no small measure to his constant relentless urging. the tomorrows he envisions are already being lived here in israel. by many young people in spite of all the troubles.
you heard the prime minister talk about the dedication of the new high tech park. he's been talking to me about that for 25 years. and there are young people now throughout the region who are trying to break both the mental and material chains that have held them in bondage perhaps in no small measure to the inspiration he provided. as has been said, his critics often claimed he was a naive, overly optimistic dreamer. they were only wrong about the naive part. he knew exactly what he was doing in being overly optimistic. he knew exactly what he was
doing with his dreams. he never gave up on anybody. i mean, anybody. you heard the prime minister talk about their beautiful friendship. it followed a very tough campaign. but shimon always kept the door open. we shared so many wonderful times but my personal favorite was sitting with him and his old personal friend ariel sharon at his 80th birthday party listening to the back and forth was a sight to behold. it was worth the price of admission as the saying goes. in addition it was a perfect peres night. the stage was full of young
people talking about what he had meant to their lives, including a young ethiopian member of your defense forces who had met as a very young child at the airport as part of the operation he supported. the night ended, however, with a choir of israeli jewish and arab children singing together john lennon's wonderful song "imagine." shimon actually could imagine all the people living in the world today. he imagined all the things the rest of us could do. he started off life as israel's brightest student, became its best teacher, and ended up its biggest dreamer. he lived 93 years in a state of
constant wonder. over the unbelievable potential of all the rest of us to rise above our wounds, our resentments, our fears, to make the most of today and claim the promise of tomorrow. it must have been hard for him to do this. it's easy to say things like this at a memorial service. it's hard to do. first he had to master his own demons, forgive himself for his own mistakes, and get over his own disappointments. the monumental effort required to do that grew his heart to be
bigger than his brain, which is really saying something. that effort also, i am convinced, is what made him forever young. now he is gone. leaving only a blessed memory and a powerful example. that's more than enough if those of us who loved him from near and far accept our duty to keep his gifts alive. for the rest our lives, whenever the road we travel comes to a dead end, or the good we seek to do hits a stone wall, or the
hand of friendship we extend meets only a cold stare, in his honor i ask that we remember shimon peres's luminous smile. and imagine. >> the honorable barack obama, president of the united states of america. [speaking foreign-language] >> the honorable barack obama, president of the united states of america. [speaking foreign-language]
president obama: generations of the peres family, prime minister netanyahu, members of the israeli government, and the knesset, heads of state, and government, and guests from around the world including president abbas whose presence here is a gesture and reminder of the unfinished business of peace. to the people of israel i could not be more honored to be in jerusalem to say farewell to my
friend, shimon peres, who showed us that justice and hope are at the heart of the zionist idea. a free life in a homeland regained. a secure life in a nation that can defend itself by itself. a full life in friendship with nations who can be counted on as allies. always a bountiful life driven by simple pleasures of family and by big dreams.
this was shimon peres's life. this is the state of israel. this is the story of the jewish people over the last century. it was made possible by a founding generation that counts shimon as one of its own. shimon once said the message of the jewish people to mankind is that faith and moral vision can triumph over all adversity. with shimon that moral vision was rooted in an honest reckoning of the world as it is. he said he felt surrounded by a sea of thick and threatening
force. when his family got the chance to go to palestine, his beloved grandfather's parting words were simple, shimon, stay a jew. propelled with that faith he found his home. he found his purpose. he found his life's work. but he was still a teenager when his grandfather was burned alive by the nazis in the town where shimon was born. the synagogue in which he prayed became an inferno, the railroad tracks that carried him toward the promised land also delivered so many of his people to death camps. and so from an early age shimon bore witness to the cruelty that human beings could inflict on each other.
the ways that one group of people could dehumanize another. the particular madness of anti-semitism, which has run like a stain through history. that understanding of man's ever present sinfulness would steel him against hardship and make him vigilant against threats to jewry around the world. but that understanding would never harden his heart. it would never extinguish his faith. instead, it broadened his moral imagination. and gave him the capacity to see all people as deserving of
dignity and respect. it helped him see not just the world as it is, but the world as it should be. what shimon did to shape the story of israel is well chronicled. starting in the kibbutz he founded with his love he began the work on building the model community. ben-gurion called him to serve at headquarters to make sure the jewish people had the armaments and organization to secure their freedom. after independence surrounded by
enemies who denied israel's existence and sought to drive it into the sea, the child who had wanted to be a poet of stars became a man who built israel's defense industry. who laid the foundation for the formidable armed forces that won israel's wars. his skill secured israel's strategic position, his boldness sent israeli commandos to rescue jews from ethiopia. his statesmanship built an unbreakable bond with the united states of america and so many other countries. his contributions didn't end there. shimon also showed what people can do when they harness reason and science to a common cause. he understood that a country without many natural resources could more than make up for it with the talents of its people. he made hard choices to roll back inflation and climb out
from a terrible economic crisis. he championed the promise of science and technology to make the desert bloom. and turned this tiny country into a central hub of the digital age. making life better not just for people here but for people around the world. indeed, shimon's contribution to this nation is so fundamental, so pervasive, that perhaps sometimes they can be overlooked. for a younger generation, shimon was probably remembered more for a peace process that never reached its end point.
they would listen to critics on the left who might argue that shimon did not fully acknowledge the failings of his nation, or perhaps more numerous critics on the right who argued that he refused to see the true wickedness of the world and called him naive. but whatever he shared with his family, his closest friends, to the world he brushed off the critics. and i know from my conversation with him that his pursuit of peace was never naive. every year he read the names of the family that he lost. as a young man he had fed his village by working the fields
during the day, but then defending it by carrying a rifle at night. he understood in this war torn region where too often arab youth are taught to hate israel from an early age, he understood just how hard peace would be. i'm sure he was alternately angry and bemused to hear the same critics who called him hopelessly naive depend on the defense architecture that he himself had helped to build. i don't believe he was naive. but he understood from hard-earned experience that true
security comes through making peace with your neighbors. we won them all, he said of israel's wars. but we did not win the greatest victory that we aspire to. release from the need to win victories. and just as he understood the practical necessity of peace, shimon believed that israel's exceptionalism was rooted not only in fidelity to the jewish people, but to the moral and ethical vision, the precepts of his jewish faith. "the jewish people weren't born to rule another people," he would say. "from the very first day, we are
against slaves and masters." out of the hardships of the diaspora, he found room in his heart for others who suffered. he came to hate prejudice with a passion of one who knows how it feels to be its target. even in the face of terrorist attacks, even after repeated disappointment at the negotiation table, he insisted that as human beings, palestinians must be seen as equal in dignity to jews and must therefore be equal in self-determination. because of his sense of justice, his analysis of israel's security, his understanding of
israel's meaning, he believed that the zionist idea would be best protected when palestinians, too, had a state of their own. of course, we gather here in the knowledge that shimon never saw his dream of peace fulfilled. the region is going through a chaotic time. threats are ever-present, and yet he did not stop dreaming, and he did not stop working. by the time that i came to work with shimon, he was in the twilight of his years, although he might not admit it. i would be the 10th u.s.
president since john f. kennedy, to sit down with shimon. the 10th to fall prey to his charms. i think of him sitting in the oval office, his final member of israel's founding generation, under the portrait of george washington, telling me stories from the past but more often talking with enthusiasm of the present. his most recent lecture, his next project, his plans for the future, the wonders of his grandchildren. in many ways, he reminded me of some other giants of the 20th century that i have had the
honor to meet, men like nelson mandela, women like her majesty, queen elizabeth. leaders who have seen so much, whose lives span such momentous epics that they find no need to posture or traffic in what's popular in the moment. people who speak with depth and knowledge, not in sound bites. they find no interest in polls or fads, and like these leaders, shimon could be true to his convictions even if they cut against the grain of current opinion. he knew better than the cynic, that if you look out over the arc of history, human beings should be filled not with fear
but with hope. i'm sure that's why he was so excited about technology, because for him, it symbolized the march of human progress, and it's why he loved so much to talk about young people, because he saw young people unburdened by the prejudices of the past. it's why he believed in miracles, because in israel, he saw a miracle come true. as americans and israelis, we often talk about the unbreakable bonds between our nations, and yes, these bonds encompass common interests, vital cooperation that makes both our
nations more secure, but today, we're reminded that the bonds which matter most run deeper. anchored in a judeo-christian tradition, we believe in the irreducible value of every human being. our nations were built on that idea. they were built in large part by stubborn idealists and striving immigrants, including those who had fled war and fled oppression. both our nations have flaws that we have not always fixed. corners of our history which dates back to our founding that we do not always squarely address, but because our founders planted not just flags in the internal soil -- eternal
soil, but also planted the seeds of democracy. we have the ability to always pursue a better world. we have the capacity to do what is right. as an american, as a christian, a person partly of african descent, born in hawaii, a place that could not be further than where shimon spent his youth, i took great pleasure in my friendship with this older, wiser man. we shared a love of words and books and history, and perhaps like most politicians, we shared too great a joy in hearing ourselves talk, but beyond that,
i think our friendship was rooted in the fact that i could somehow see myself in his story and maybe he could see himself in mine, because for all of our differences, both of us had lived such unlikely lives. it was so surprising to see the two of us where we had started, talking together in the white house, meeting here in israel. i think both of us understood that we were here only because, in some way, we reflected the magnificent story of our nations. shimon's story, the story of
israel, the experience of the jewish people. i believe it is universal. it's the story of a people who, over so many centuries in the wilderness, never gave up on that basic human longing to return home. it is the story of a people who suffered the boot of oppression and the shutting of the gas chamber's door, and yet never gave up on a belief in goodness. it's the story of a man who was counted on and then often counted out again and again and who never lost hope. shimon peres reminds us that the state of israel, like the united states of america, was not built by cynics.
we exist because people before us refuse to be constrained by the past or difficulties of the present, and shimon peres was never cynical. it is that faith, that optimism, that belief, even when all the evidence is to the contrary, that tomorrow can be better, that makes us not just honor shimon peres, but love him. the last of the founding generation is now gone. shimon accomplished enough things in his life for a thousand men, but he understood it is better to live to the very end of his time on earth with the longing not for the past but for the dreams that have not yet come true, an israel that is secure and a just and lasting peace with its neighbors.
so now, this work is in the hand of israel's next generation, in the hands of israel's next generation and its friends. like joshua, we feel the weight of responsibility that shimon seemed to wear so lightly, but we draw strength from his example and the fact that he believed in us even when we doubted ourselves. scripture tells us that before his death, moses said, "i call upon heaven and earth to bear witness, this day, that i have set before you life and death, blessing and curse, therefore choose life that you and your offspring may live." [speaking in a foreign language]
pres. obama: "choose life." for shimon, let us choose life as he always did. let us make his work our own. may god bless his memory and may god bless this country and this world that he loved so dearly. shimon -- [speaking a foreign language] [applause]
this holiday weekend n c-span, our featured rograms, at 7:30 p.m. eastern, carla hayden, david and david on preservation of our national treasures. smithson in his bequest wrote he wanted the institution called toward what he the increase and diffusion of knowledge. that's what the smithsonian has
be.ned out to announcer: at 9:00 p.m. astern, the inaugural women's leadership summit at the ronald ragan library. 9:40, federal appeals court circuit andthe d.c. senior federal judge from the circuit discuss the bill rights. > applying those words to the varying factual circumstances and disputes that confront a country over the course of 200 is what is challenging. announcer: on sunday at 6:30 p.m., author jean epstein, law professor richard epstein and cato institute's christopher prebble debate the involvement in foreign wars. >> force is always a difficult question. judgment is the essential have to n the way we start to deal with things. if you start with the frame and turns very funny, it
ka time it's going to be a ambty than if you don't use force. announcer: remarks by alifornia democratic congressman, actor george takei, muslim gold star father. >> what we were trying to do is highlight the values of the constitution of the united of freedom oflues speech, freedom of practice of equal dignity, equal protection of law and due of law and those values are challenged today. announcer: watch on c-span and c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. the new congress starts tuesday. watch all of the opening day
c-span.nd activities on we are live from the u.s. capitol starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern. you'll meet new representatives and hear from returning members, noon.use gavels in at opening day business includes the election of the house peaker, his address to the whole house and later debate and a vote on rules for the new congress. particular is getting attention, a proposal to ine members who live stream video from the house floor. it's in response to last that 's democratic sittin was streamed by several democrats. on c-span 2, our live coverage starts at noon eastern and includes the swearing in of senators. day continues on c-span 3 with live coverage of the membersal swearingin of of congress. at 1:00 p.m. eastern, vice presides joe biden ver the swearingin of individual seven tros. a full replay of opening day at
eastern on c-span and c-span 2. continues.yum 2016 oble law yacht, peace activist died early this year at the age of 87. in 1993, he spoke at the ceremony for the u.s. holocaust memorial museum in included a plea to then president bill clinton to intervene in the bosnian war.l this is about 10 minutes. mr. wiesel: 50 years ago in the mountains, the young jewish woman, they would read the hungarian newspaper about the ghetto uprising.
she wondered aloud, why she said, are our jewish brothers doing that? why are they fighting? couldn't they wait, quietly? the word was quietly until the end of the war. birkenau, she had never heard of such places. one year later, together with the entire family, she was already in a cattle car, settling through the black hole in time, the black hole in history, mainly, auschwitz. but mr. president and distinguished guests, these
names and others were known to officials in washington and london and moscow and stockholm and geneva and the vatican. by 1943, nearly 4 million jews from surrounding countries had already vanished. had already perished. the state department knew. the state department knew. the white house knew. only the victims did not know about the painful, disturbing questions. why weren't hungarian jews in 1944, they were the last remnants of eastern european jews, why were they not even warned about the impending doom?
for one year later in 1944, three weeks before d-day, that young women -- woman and husband, all of them, were already turned into ashes. jews from everywhere, young and old, military men, diplomats, students, children, they were all entering the shadow of flames. an italian philosopher, theologian said, life is the shadow of god. no, it is not. it is fire that is the shadow of god. that fire, that consumed a third
of my people. inside the kingdom of night, we who were there try to understand and could not. we found ourselves in an unfamiliar world, a creation with its own hierarchy. with its own henchmen, laws, customs. there were only two categories. those who were there to kill and those who were there to be killed. the officers used jewish infants for target practice. the only a motion they ever showed was anger when they missed. in kiev, an officer beheaded two jewish children in front of their mother. the anguish, the mystical madness. she held them close to her bosom and began to dance.
the mania, the iron guard, hanged jews on meat hooks and displayed them in butcher shops with signs, "kosher meat." as you walk from this museum, magnificently perceived and built, illustrates in a way particularly -- looking in those exhibits, into the eyes of the killers and victims, ask yourself, how could murderers do what they did and go on living? why was berlin in the belief that it could decree with impunity that humiliation, persecution, of an entire people?
why burden the railways leading to birkenau -- as long as i live i will not understand that. and why was there no public outcry? of indignation, outrage? more questions. there were fighters in every ghetto, jewish fighters, resistant members in every city and town. why weren't they helped? help came to the resistance movement from every single occupied country -- the only ones who never received any help, where the jewish fighters in the warsaw ghetto and other ghettos. as for me, a man who grew up in a religion, the jewish religion,
a man who, his entire life, thought that god is everywhere, how is it that man's silence was met by god's? i do not believe there are answers. there are no answers. and this museum is not an answer. it is a question mark. if there is a response, it is a response of responsibility. in one of my tales, and ss officer says to a young student, you want to live, they laugh at you. others try to redeem themselves through you. people refuse to believe you. you will present the truth, that it will be the truth of the madman.
in 1942 a jew escaped, he came to a rabbi and in yiddish he said, rabbi, they are killing our people. the rabbi looked at him, the jew says rabbi, you think i am crazy. i am not crazy. we're not crazy. we are not crazy because we still believe in human beings. we still believe. and we still have faith. you who came from israel, we are so grateful to you from coming. you know that you are part of that belief. it comes from the passion we have a for israel, we as a jews. and decent people in america
that have faith in humanity and in america. we also believe in the absolute necessity to communicate the tale. we know we cannot. we never will explain. my good friends, it is not because i cannot explain that you will not understand. it is because you will not understand that i cannot explain. how can one understand that human beings could do such inhumanity? how can one understand that in spite of everything there is goodness? in individuals. there were good people, even in occupied countries, and there was kindness and tenderness and love inside the camps. amongst the victims. what have we learned?
we have learned some lessons. minor lessons, perhaps. that we are all responsible. that in instances of sin and punishment we have learned that when people suffer we cannot remain in different. and mr. president, i cannot not tell you something. i have been in the former yugoslavia last fall. i cannot sleep since from what i have seen. we must do something to stop the bloodshed in that country. [applause] mr. wiesel: people fight each other and children died. why? something, anything must be done. this is a lesson among other lessons, that we shall learn together.
and in closing to the president and distinguished guests, just one more remark. the mountains of whom i spoke to you -- the woman disappeared. she was my mother. announcer: c-span's "washington journal" live every day with ews and policy issues that impact you. oming up saturday morning, editor-in-chief terry jeff cry and american prospect senior paul waldman whether discuss their pick for the top ews stories of 2016 and make predictions for the year ahead. watch c-span's "washington live at 7:00 a.m. eastern saturday morning. former u.s. senator and
john glenn died earlier this month at the age of 95. funeral was held at ohio columbus.versity in this is about an hour and 15 minutes. ♪ ♪
>> when i came back from korea, had to go through test pilot training and was accepted for that. of s able to work out some the bugs on the new air plains would be just about the element flighting. >> major john glenn begins an transcontinental 3:23:8.4 apsed time, seconds. broke the record by 20 minutes or so. john's rue source of remarkable strength for their together, to david an lynn who shared their father grateful nation, i'm honored to be here today to celebrate the life of a man i'm
have called both a hero and a friend. only a handful of people in history have been called upon to publicly embody the ideals of an entire nation. fewer still have stood to the task in both wartime and peace. none of answer the call more perfectly than john glenn. he became my hero early in my career as a marine, and still is today. he defined an age of american history in three storied institutions, but whether he was orbiting the earth or the senate floor, he was always a marine. on his way to attend annie's organ recital one day, john heard on the radio that pearl harbor had been attacked. anyone who knows annie understands what a sacrifice it was for john to put their marriage plans on hold, leave college, and join the fight. anyone who knew john understands that he did not see a choice.
he saw his duty to serve. he tried to join the army air corps, but they could not take him fast enough. army air corps but they cannot take him fast enough. instead, he entered the military through the naval aviation cadet program, where he met his lifelong friend tom miller. he chose the marine corps for the same reason many of us do, because we have the best looking uniforms. [laughter] gen. dailey: after he earned his wings, he and his buddy, tom, were first assigned to a transport squadron. this was not in their plan. here we see one of the first examples of what he calls "selective opportunity." this is where you see an opportunity, and you position yourself to be competitive for the position. on this occasion, it backfired.
he and his pal, tom, heard that the marine corps was going to get p-38's, a fighter being flown by the army air corps. while they were still in flight training, they reasoned that if they got trained as engine pilots, they would have a leg up on being competitive for this twin-engine fire. the marine corps did not get the p-38, but they got multiengine squadron, and not the fighters they maneuvered so skillfully to get. but just across the field were two fighter squadrons, so he and pal tom walked over and asked for a transfer. that story sounds simple now, but john's version involved being chewed out by his colonel like something from a movie. this would not be the last time john paid the price for positioning himself for an assignment. on another occasion, john, only a lieutenant at this time, talked charles lindbergh into
letting him his demonstration fighter, which lindbergh was touring around the country. this audacity led to another pointed conversation with his squadron commander. even then, the country was having to hustle to keep up with john glenn. we admired the determination he brought to the work, but he was not in it for himself. service to the nation was personal for him. he lost his wingman on his very first combat mission. he understood the risk. he knew firsthand the heavy task of gathering a friend's personal effects and writing a letter to the next of kin. john went on to fly 149 combat missions in two wars. he never shirked from danger. he drew enemy fire like a magnet, giving rise to one of his more infamous nicknames, which i cannot repeat here. [laughter] gen. dailey: he shot down three, and he landed with more than 250 bullet holes in his airplane, but the man himself was bulletproof.
john's exemplary service in two wars earned him a slot as a test pilot. his most memorable mission was to fly supersonic across the country and set the world speed record. it was the test of durability of engines and continuous afterburner. it is important to note the limit on those engines was five minutes. he crossed the country in three hours, 23 minutes and proved that the engine was a lot better than we thought it was. but he called it project build a bullet because he was going to be flying faster than a .45-caliber pistol bullet. it turned out during this flight, unbeknownst to him, conditions were perfect over a part of the country for sonic booms, which he drove from his indianapolis to his home town of new concord, rattling windows
the whole way. it was not the last america was to hear from the world's fastest marine. the motto of his school in quantico is, lead by example. and john led by example for us all. his wingman in korea, ted williams, once called him "one of the calmest men i have ever met, no matter how perilous the situation." he might have been referring to an occasion where williams was hit by antiaircraft fire, and his plane was ablaze. john pulled alongside, pointed to hire out climbed to do, and with the lack of oxygen, the flames were extinguished and williams made it back to base. of all the war stories, this one perhaps best illustrates what john meant to us. he invited us up to his level, where we discovered what an american could do. he once said he had been a
marine for 23 years and it just was not enough. we had john for 95 great years, and it still was not enough. a long, full life is a gift, and john made his a gift to us all. today we say thank you, for the service and sacrifice, for the faith and the friendship, and for always leading us higher. even though the marines hymn was written over 200 years ago, they had john glenn in mind when they wrote the lines "first to fight for right and freedom and to keep our honor clean. we are proud to claim the title of united states marines." colonel john glenn has made his last takeoff, and he will be missed, but never forgotten.
>> 7, 6, 5, 4 -- >> godspeed, john glenn. >> 3, 2, 1. ignition. liftoff. john: the word "astronaut" was not even known when i was -- mr. glenn: the word "astronaut" was not even known when i was growing up. that came along later. ♪
mr. glenn: i loved it. i liked to go up every day. mr. bolden: this week, our nation has been mourning the loss of one of its greatest heroes, john glenn. his passing has affected me deeply, but in the spirit of optimism that he has always mediated, i would also like us to remember his many achievements and the pioneering spirit that he exemplified. i also want to thank annie, lyn, and david, and the entire glenn family for sharing their husband, father, grandfather with the world. every one of us on planet earth has benefited from having him on our team. annie, you and john exemplified, for all of us, what it means to be united as a couple.
your love and friendship over 73 years is unlike anything i have ever seen. i'm glad and incredibly blessed that i was able to witness your devotion. i hope that jackie and i can emulate your lifetime of love. i was so moved and humored when i called john and annie earlier this year to congratulate them on their 73rd anniversary. when john put annie on the phone, she said, and i quote, "charlie, you know, i think this is going to work." [laughter] mr. bolden: john glenn always said yes. yes to his country's call in the united states marine corps, yes to being the first american to orbit earth as one of mercury 7, yes to his state's nomination to
serve in the senate, and yes to the ongoing call of his nation to help it forge a path through a new millennium. it was courage, grace, and humility john displayed throughout his life that lifted him above the stars. as the current head of nasa, i can say unequivocally that we are standing on john glenn's shoulders as we pursue a human journey to mars, a journey that would not be possible without his bravery and selfless dedication. i know that, and countless other astronauts who had the privilege of following senator glenn into space can pinpoint his remarkable accomplishment as the first american to orbit earth as the seed of our aspirations. even in his 70's, he continued to break barriers as he took to space again in the space
shuttle. i was so proud to see this american legend soar again on the discovery 1995 mission. just as with his first flight, he planted a seed, that someday americans from all walks of life might experience space and the wonder of our planet from orbit and see it as a unified whole. kennedy space director bob cabana, another marine, recalled at the time just how excited john was to once again be "one of the guys," and how happy and blessed he felt to continue his role in the space program he loved and valued so much. steve lindsey, who is with us today, flew with john glenn as the pilot of sts 95 on discovery. steve said, and i quote, "what i learned about john through that experience is that he was authentic. every bit the hero the world and our nation holds him to be. john was, at his core, a man of
integrity, humility, and kindness, someone who put others ahead of himself, a team player, and someone you could always count on." john glenn always represented the best of our american ideals. his personal popularity was enormous, perhaps because he was so approachable, so genuine. people felt as though he could sit down in their parlor for a chat and be right at home, or like steve lindsey says, that he would be a great neighbor. john glenn was deeply compassionate. he valued everyone, no matter his race or gender. he was ahead of his time in many ways. it was he who personally requested that katherine johnson, a black woman from west
virginia, working as a human computer at the langley research center, he requested that katherine johnson do the verifying of the calculations for his historic flight as a backup to the ibm electric computer. john was just like that. john made us look up, not only to the sky, thinking we might actually be able to see him up there, but toward the higher purpose that we as a country are always striving to achieve. he represented innovation and bravery, and with that infectious grin, he made us all feel good about ourselves. john first flew to space aboard friendship 7, and he was truly a friend of humanity. a daring pilot who risked his life in world war ii and korea, and worked tirelessly to advance the field of aviation long before he took to space.
he dared the utmost on behalf of us all. it is fitting that this day also marks the 113th anniversary of the wright brothers' first powered flight. just as john advanced the frontiers of aviation, so, too, we will follow his legacy to us, to travel farther in space. john glenn received many accolades, but his true measure is taken not in awards, but in the respect he still commands on both ends of the political spectrum, by the large shadow he cast on our entire endeavor to travel farther into the solar system, and by the bright flame of his inspiration, which continues to illuminate our way. godspeed john glenn, and thank
you. we will never forget you. [chatter] ♪ mr. glenn: i decided it was time to do other things. i thought about politics and government work sometime, but i had no idea that i would be able to do that myself. i had been thinking about this since i was a kid. i was proud of my combat service , being able to contribute to the inaugural flight. and if i was to continue in that area, we would do the best for the country. that is when i decided to run for public office. interest in the senate was
across the depth of everything in this country. >> excuse me. >> when john glenn was 10 years old, his father, his hero, a veteran of world war i, taught him how to play taps on the bugle. they played together in new concord, next to gravesites, gravestones of the fallen. john would recall that time and feeling when he said where love of country was a given, defense of its ideals was an obligation, and the opportunity to join in its conquest was a challenge, not only to fulfill a sacred duty, but to join a joyous adventure. with john, all the years i knew him and worked with him was
always a joyous adventure. annie, what a joyous adventure you and john had together, on display for your children and the whole world to see. you all know it, you can tell when a couple genuinely loves and enjoys one another. it was infectious. on behalf of president obama and the first lady, and on behalf of the american people, jill and i are here because we love you, annie, and we love john. alltogether, you taught us how to love. that is not something you usually talk about when you talk about heroes, especially heroes like john glenn, who lived a life that was rigorous, but tinged with just a little bit of magic. just a little bit of magic. we talk about a daring spirit, poise under pressure, mental and
physical toughness, but for all heroismorism that -- that history will remember in war and space and public life, you felt something deeper with john. annie, on the way to air force 2, i got a call from john kerry. somewhere over the atlantic on the way to another mission in the middle east. and he told me about his time he got to spend with you a couple of days ago and the family. theaid, joe, john is only ninth person -- only the in history to lie in state that was not a governor. and he talked about how much it meant to him and to be with you. and he gave spontaneously what i think is the best description of
john glenn, and i knew john for over 40 years. he said, john came out of the heart of the country like you kids do, and he stole america's heart. he came out of the heart of the country and stole america's heart. and he did. he stole america's heart. i remember as a kid, a freshman in college, and john's historic flight. and you and john and jill and i have been friends for over 40 years. i know others have had longer relationships, but what a 40 years it has been. we served in the senate together side-by-side for 25 years, and we traveled around the world together. john was one of the happiest people i ever knew. think about it. one of the happiest people i ever knew.
he had that infectious smile. even when things looked like everything was crashing down, john would walk in my office or walking to a caucus with that big smile on his face, and i would wonder, where the hell has he been? [laughter] hear biden: did he not just here what i just heard? you think i'm kidding. the world knew and respected john, from columbus to cambodia, to washington to beijing. he loved being a senator, he loved his constituents and his colleagues. he loved his staff, many of whom are here today, and boy, did they love him back. and you could feel his love for his country and his state, and for the marine corps. but most especially, he felt
and davidou, annie, and lyn, and his grandchildren. all you had to do was see john and annie walk together, just the way they looked at each other, and you knew that is what it was supposed to be like. i said that to annie today. she said, that is like you and jill. and i said no, that is different. everyone knows i love jill more than she loves me. [laughter] v.p. biden: i think you love to him just as much. the last time we were together, when jill and i had annie and john over to the vice president's residence, i was looking at the picture this morning of you walking down the steps and joe and i behind you, and the words of the poet christopher marlowe came to mind
, and i had to rewrite this on the way to the plane. christopher marlowe said, come with me and be my love and all the pleasures we shall prove. together, annie -- excuse me, you and john proved all the pleasures. you not only had a magical love affair, the other thing about you, you were partners. together, you bore the weight of fame and responsibility with enormous humility. and a sense of duty that defined you as the greatest of america's greatest generation. i think john defined what it meant to be american, what we were about.
just by how he acted. it was always about promise. we were a country about possibilities, opportunity, always a belief in tomorrow. tomorrow. when john was in the house a couple of years ago, that is all he kept talking about. what are we going to do now, joe? what are we going to do tomorrow? we have all these opportunities. together, you and john taught us that a good life is built not on a single historic act or multiple acts of heroism, but the thousand little things, the thousand little things that built character. treating everyone with dignity and respect. john was one of the few of my colleagues where we could go in the restroom where the shoeshine guy was, john would always pat him on the shoulder and give him a hug.
understanding that, despite fame in position, everybody was john's equal. everybody was john's equal in his mind. and it all comes down to being personal. the president always kids me, because i am getting older now and i could even try to improve on tip o'neill's observation about how all politics are local. i don't think john would agree with that. i think he thought all politics is personal. it is all personal. it all comes down to being personal, to being there for family, and being there for friends, in good times and bad times, like when you were there for me and jill when i was in the hospital. like when you were there for us
when our son was deployed, and you were there when we buried him. it was all about being personal. annie, you and john, as was mentioned earlier, were with ethyl. i happened to be with ethel kennedy at an awards ceremony in new york, the ripple hope ceremony, and i was, ironically, the fellow who runs my office who was an ohio guy said john wasn't doing well, you should call him. i had a brief discussion with ethel. the story is well known about him talking to the kids and being sent back to hickory hill. what struck me was i was told that when you and john went to hickory hill, john walked into senator kennedy's private study.
and saw that robert kennedy, the only political hero i've had in my life, had out a book of ralph waldo emerson's poetry. and it was opened up to a leaf in the book. there in the margins were comments made by robert kennedy. , i'mhe passage that john told, remembered was, or emerson said, this time, like all times, is a very good one, if we know what to do with it. the thing i like most about john was he knew from his upbringing that ordinary americans could do extraordinary things. ordinary americans could do extraordinary things.
and he believed, i believe, he was confident that every successive generation would know what to do with it. that is the charge i think john left us, annie. to join our nation's conquests as a challenges not only to fulfill a sacred duty, but to join in this joyous adventure. so when the marine plays taps on the bugle at arlington for our friend, we can look deep into the heavens and know with certitude that john believed, and was right, that future generations of americans will also look deep within the heavens and understand how to explore, how to serve, how to
love. they will come to understand that they're looking for a message to send about our time here on earth, for what it means to be an american. it is the life of john glenn, and that is not hyperbole. god bless you, john, god bless you, annie, and may god protect our troops. ♪ mr. glenn: going back to new
concorde days and what i experienced there and some of what i am trying to pass on to others with our school here. how do you inspire citizenship? how do you make our young people have a feeling of pride and community and state and country to where they are willing to go and engage in political activity? those are the kinds of things i hope we can instill in people not only here in ohio, but maybe across the country. ♪ david glenn: this is quite a
crowd. to all of you who came here today, thank you so very, very much. it means a lot to our family. we really were not yet ready to say goodbye to him yet. his mind was sharp as a tack, but his body was failing him and this had to be. i'm going to speak about my father from the perspective of being his son, but i have a huge amount of difficulty deciding what to say about him. in the end, i decided to go with the things i decided to tell you about today because they are really stuck in my head and my heart. i'll start off talking about his memories, and then i will share some of my memories of him.
i can't really say for sure what made him the way he was, but he was born in a happy home with two parents that loved him deeply. and he grew up in a classic american town, new concorde, ohio, where he could adventure and explore to his heart's content. there was a terrific community spirit there. focused around church and school and town activities. and he told us lots of stories about his friends and my mother, annie. in particular, he never forgot the effect of the great depression on new concorde. when he was a kid, late one night, he overheard his parents talking about how they were going to lose their home if the -- they couldn't make any more of the payments on their mortgage. then one of fdr's new public
works programs to improve rural helped my father -- my grandfathers struggling plumbing business get off the ground. and my dad workeded in that business as a teenager cutting pipes. he was really proud to be hyped -- a pipe cutter. there are more memories from this early. of his life that he shared with us many times. as a little kid, he would load some rhubarb from his family's rhubarb patch and sell them to neighbors. he did the same with horseradish and he liked to eat them both. [laughter] he had a paper route and he played trumpet in the town land.
my grandmother loved poetry and she had him learn poems that he would recite until the end of his life. he also wrote some of his own poems. all the stories he told now feel like gifts that he left us. so now, here are some things i remember about my life with my father. he loved science and as a kid i remember him drawing me diagrams -- bear with me -- i remember him drawing me diagrams to explain how the shape of an airplane's wing would create lift the allows the airplane to fly. and the space program of course was a huge passion. when i was a teenager, he spent a lot of time before the mercury flight going through the manuals with me and explaining the back
up systems that would hopefully keep him alive if something went wrong. he also learned how to identify a lot of stars while he worked at nasa and he talked about the -- top goes to us as kids. those to us as kids. we would lay down blankets at night and pointed them out. i was in my middle 20's back in 1971 and it went to visit my parents. i had hair all around my shoulders, different from now, bellbottoms and the whole bit. i had not seen them for a wild. i walked into the house and i remember, maybe he blinked twice or his face twitched or something of that sort. [laughter] david glenn: but that was it. and he was only five years from -- retired from being a colonel in the marine corps. he might have made some wisecracks at the time, but it was clear he accepted me as i
was. he really gave me freedom to find myself in life. to learn my lessons and to make my own mistakes. he loved being outdoors, especially in the colorado rockies. he loved taking his jeep up really crummy back roads and bouncing around for hours. the rest of us found that a little less enjoyable. i would get car sick. once, i was with him on a backpack trip in wyoming, sitting on a glassy smooth lake. and along came trumpeter swans were flying low on the lake. and they were so low that they made ripples on the water. this is a golden memory that i have of growing up with him. he was a lifelong jogger.
and when it became hard on his knees, he would go on daily walks. he didn't until the last few months. often walking back and forth in the condo when he became too weak. he loved to ski. the last time he skied he was about 85. if you can imagine that. i was there. he was with my wife and i and he made the best turns i have ever seen him make. i have never been able to figure that out. but he aggravated some arthritis in one of his knees and he had to give it up after that. one of our most beloved family traditions over the last 40 years was to gather together in the mountains during christmas time, we would bundle up, get a permit from the forest service,
take an -- taken ask -- axe and to drive out into the national forest and find a christmas tree. after we had the tree, we built a fire with the careful instructions of creating little chimneys, i heard that a thousand times, for the flames to follow. pretty soon we had a roaring make smaller's. 's.smore sometimes it wasn't much above zero, but he loved those times huddled around a campfire. other things he loved, cooking around a barbecue pit. he liked it medium rare. and making hot buttered rum on special occasion, corn on the contrary been with butter. on basicallychoice everything. [laughter]
singing, barbershop quartets, teaching my son's how to drive the riding lawnmower. reading everything. he had piles of magazines on every subject. roundtables. he loved roundtables because he thought it brought everybody into the conversation. watching westerns with his grandkids. and he had a special weakness for chipmunks and especially hummingbirds. he loved hummingbirds. he and my mom loved to travel. in the summer of 2000 -- 2013, they decided to , go on a huge road trip. only knew was they were heading west. a few days after starting this trip, they called up to say hello and said they were sitting in their car, which had been loaded onto a flatbed aaa truck.
because they had a flat tire and their spare car -- tire was defective. their car was being transported off to the town 25 miles away. it turned out that they were somewhere in the texas panhandle and it was 105 degrees. this is the punchline of this story for them. it was roasting hot. they were sitting in their car with the engine running in the car, so they could have the air-conditioning running the whole time and not roast themselves. they were excited about this adventure. they got the tire fixed and continued on. this was 2013. not very long ago. later in the trip, they called us again and they just finished a hike using walking sticks. this was right at the end of the starmer -- summer. they called up again from a little town in colorado where they were sitting in a restaurant and there was a freak thunderstorm going on that had
caused a flash flood and water was coming under the front door of the restaurant. [laughter] adventure. am i right, mom? they loved that trip. i could go on. but what struck me as most important, is he cared not only about his family and friends, but about people in general. he was enormously considerate. he loved and cared for other people and they sent that love and care back to him. he treated everybody with the same respect and interest. of all the experiences of his life, nothing was more important to him than having been in a band of brothers. being in a group of people like the marine corps with people who are more worried about failing their comrades than losing their
own lives. in his very first mission in world war ii, as jack daly told us earlier this afternoon -- and then again over the years, he lost a whole group of friends, some in combat and some in accidents. and he never got over those losses. it choked him up to talk about. i will finish with one very recent memory. and this really happened. my wife and i were visiting my parents this last october. we had just finished eating dinner and we were sitting at the dinner table in their condo here in columbus. there round dinner table. and we were all talking and somehow got on the subject of neil armstrong, the astronaut. remember being at neil's 80th birthday party. and he described neil sitting down at his 80th birthday party
and playing a song. and then sitting at the table with us, my father began to quietly sing and he sang that whole song to us. it felt like he was really singing missed everyone in his life that he cared about. this is what he sang to us. a long while from may to december and the days grow short. when you reach september. turnshe autumn weather leaves to flame, one hasn't got time for the waiting game. while the days dwindle down to a precious few. september, november, and these few precious days i will spend with you. my precious days i will spend with you.
lyn glenn: like my brother said, we are so grateful to all of you are here. when dave and i were planning this time for our father, what -- one thing we wanted was for there to be friends. not the people who didn't know dad, but the people who really knew him. -- i hope, that you are able to hear that president drake, charlie, jack, that these people are our friends.
and have known dad in all the different parts of his life. and mr. bolden, of -- of course. and somebody has been mentioned a couple of times. i would be remiss if i didn't say this that our lives were intertwined with a wonderful family, the kennedy family. when ethel and robert wanted to come today, it had tremendous meaning for us. thank you, thank you, thank you ethel and bobby. those memories are beyond heart ache and enjoy. -- and joy. thank you so much for being here for dad and mother. i would also be remiss if i did not think -- thank -- dad died
nine days ago, and during that . bang time from his death today, there has been a group of people to come together with unbelievable love, strength, support and energy to celebrate him. they knew him well and they absolutely made this day possible, this time possible. when we were going to the funeral home to see dad's body, i knew i wanted to write something to put in the casket. i started writing my letter to him. and as i wrote it, i realized i was actually writing what i wanted to say to all of you.
so this is a letter, the letter you will hear, so me refer to him as my father. many people have mentioned, of course, february 20, 1962. from that day to this, people have come up to me and said, --, what is like -- i mean, john glenn is your father, he is a hero, what is it like to have a hero for a father? and from the very first time i was asked that, i thought about it and i said, he is just my dad. you have been my teacher, my nemesis, yes. [laughter] my singing partner, you tenor, -- you harmony, mean melody.
you taught me to parallel park a car, tie a knot, tie a necktie, and slide a car on ice. you recommended i memorize my social security number and i learned that westerns are the highest form of entertainment and that the white hats always win. and you had two of them. and when you married mother, you told her, i can't promise you much, but i can promise that life won't be boring. [laughter] oft repeated in our family, what have you done for your country today? you were teaching me that our country is more important than
any individual and our country is stronger when we each do our part. although i admit, as an eight year old, i wanted a bit more girl and aat a little less god bless america. [laughter] in your heart dad, you remained a small town boy and though you met presidents, ceos, kings and queens, you had a common touch with people at a gas station. or at a bob evans, where you and mother would stop for fried mush and scrambled aches. the son of a small-town plumber, as dave mentioned, you kept one of grandpas wrenches on your desk as a reminder of where you came from. andy gifted a wrench to my dave andtoday's -- to
to me. naturally shy, you often wore a ball cap so you wouldn't be recognized, but your civility and small-town manners would take over when you entered a building. cap, people would recognize you and autograph would commence. and you did it with grace and willingness, and joy. only once did i see you refuse to sign an autograph. you were running to make a vote on the senate floor and you asked the person to wait. they did and you signed the autograph on the way back to the office. [laughter] another simple gesture you made was to pick up buckeyes as he walked across the capitol grounds on the way to your office. you put them in a bowl of the waiting room -- in your waiting room of your office of people could take a little piece of
ohio with them. and you never allowed in your name or your picture to make money, because you said it -- you were a government employee and it wouldn't be right to make money for government service. in 1962, after friendship seven, however, general mills offered you a million dollars, and we were told it could reach $5 million, to be on a wheaties box. [laughter] this was an unimaginable amount of money for our family, living on a marine pilot pay. even with flight pay. you turned the offer down. you remained true to your small-town nature, dad, and your heart remained true to the values of the marine corps. this is to your very burial, dad. dad, you chose a marine issued
one mostike the marines ask for, you asked that marines carry you to your grave, and you wore marine green to go to your grave, too. i love that after taps is played at your burial, you want "revelry" to be played because you said, i will be getting up in a whole new dimension, and you said it with a grin. [laughter] remembrance is , said you were a teacher. and you taught me more than just trying to tie a knot, or memorizing my social security number. during the life you shared with mother, you were tendered with cash tender with and supportive of her, especially with her stuttering.
when mother gave her very first speech, you did not go with her. you listened on a phone and cried. you knew she had to stand alone and not in your shadow. and you were an elder in the presbyterian church, but i think i learned more about religious practice watching how you lived your life. you treated other people as you wanted to be treated. you were true to your word with a handshake. you gave to the salvation army and lift -- lived with humility and gratitude. once, i asked for your insight and guidance when i thought i had a good idea for an investment. after we talked for a while, you thought, and you said, yes, but
how much is enough? in today's world, your words almost seem quaint, but they should be a standard -- how much is enough? you were more self educated by your natural curiosity than any degree might have bestowed. and google and safari gave room for your imagination and curious nature to explore the universe. i learned from you that age is not just a number. that aging can be full and meaningful. the glenn institute became the glenn school and is now the glenn college. i am so grateful that you lived to know your legacy of public service and meaningful policy will endure.
you challenged another assumption about aging, you flew baron,essurized beech referred to as "any air" until you were 90. you renewed your pilots license every year and endured a weekend of testing, provided by the beach aircraft. but degeneration caught up with you in one of the saddest consequences of the daisies -- disease. it compromised your ability to see the sunset. it was heartbreaking for you and a heart ache for me. now here we are, your funeral. folks from around the world and all walks of life remember and honor you, dad.
you lived many lives in one life with honesty, grace, belief in our country, and the honor of public service. i am proud and so grateful to say you are just my dad. thank you, dad. i love you. godspeed, dad. [applause] ♪ >> we have been together ever since we were in junior high school. our parents used to kid us that we were in play pens together. from then on, it was the two of us together.
♪ mr. glenn: there were things that i thought were important for the country and things she thought were important for the country too. so we have been in this as a team together. ♪
>> by any measure, accomplishment, service, courage, john glenn was a great man. when i think of the john glenn, i think of a good man. my first taste of john glenn the good man was on march 4, 1968 in the madison theater in mansfield, ohio. 50 teenage boys had gathered for our eagle scout dinner. colonel glenn was the speaker. john glenn, national hero, shook hands with each one of us. john glenn, the most famous man of his generation, took pictures with us, one at a time. he always made time for you no matter your station in life. that lesson has stuck with me. 39 years later, former senator john glenn walked me down the center aisle of the u.s. senate to be sworn in.
and of course, like the eagle scouts of four decades earlier, all the new senators wanted to meet their american hero. and he was kind to the senators too. [laughter] sherrod brown: i have been honored to see john glenn up close. at work and at play. with family and with strangers. every presidential year, ohio's most prominent democrat would board a bus with our vice presidential or presidential nominee to campaign around ohio. i watched him reconnect with senator kerry in 2004 and with senator biden in 2008. i saw him for the first time meet the young senator from illinois and the immediate connection that the american icon and the future president made. at one stop, this is a decade
after his retirement from the senate, john glenn got off the bus, jumped over a ditch and shook the outstretched hand of an appreciative farmer. he was there -- john was there a in nonpresidential years for ohio democrats too. we boarded a winnebago to campaign in small-town ohio. as we traveled up and down and over the hills of john's beloved south east ohio, the rest of us began to get car sick. but of course not the 85-year-old astronaut, who simply smiled at us. i saw the older statesman get off the bus and speak to one of roaring crowd after the other, transferring some of his magic to us. john was an fdr democrat. roosevelt saved america after all, john said.
a democrat who cared about justice and cared about opportunity for people with less privilege than most of us in this room have. he never forgot, as dave talked about, he never forgot the terror that struck his 10 or 11-year-old heart when he heard his parents talk about their home being foreclosed upon. it was a new deal government-backed loan that allowed them to stay in their home. howrote in his memoir government can change people's lives for the better. some say that john's brand of patriotic optimism is a throwback to a bygone era, but we need it now more than ever. john believed in an activist government and an active citizenship. he warned that cynicism and apathy were a threat to democracy itself. john's friend robert kennedy, who helped convince him to run for the senate, said that
politics was a calling almost like the ministry. presbyterian john liked those words. the happiest and most fulfilled people i have known are those who devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than their own self interests. net drove john's activism and public service and drove him to create the glen college to inspire the next generation of active, engaged citizens. a friend who worked for john 30 years ago in his senate office told me this week, john glenn took such joy in helping others and was so proud of his staff, even when you left, you were still family. john glenn was the only ohio and -- ohioan elected four times to the u.s. senate. he was a workhorse, never a show
horse. he labored over the details of nonproliferation and environmental cleanup of nuclear disposal sites. grunt work to some, but he spent his time achieving lasting results better than -- that would leave the world better than he had found it. he helped create the independent watchdog we know as the inspectors general. he had the foresight to found the great lakes task force, which continues to play such an important role to protect the health of our great lake. the night before the 50th anniversary of colonel glenn's space launch, connie and i had -- withn german bill them. as the evening wound down, we headed to the door together and the valet pulled up in front of the restaurant with john's
cadillac. the 91-year-old astronaut jumped in the drivers seat, any in the annie in the front seat and the kids, all now on the other side of 60, piled into the back. some things never change. [laughter] and how they were in love. i spoke with them on their wedding anniversary and they said that they waited to get married until after he finished his flight training. we wanted to get married in high school, but our parents wouldn't let us because they said it would never last. [laughter] and how they loved david and lyn. john had a way of making everyone around him feel important. from the teenage eagle scouts to the farmers in the field. he lived his life by matthew 25, where jesus admonished his followers. it, no matterid
how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me. john glenn, a great man. john glenn, such a good man. >> ok. he is still handy that way, annie. four years ago, john and annie entered the hotel suite we had reserved for election night and were in -- were immediately swarmed with awestruck admirers. it is how it has been always. that never known them to be anything but gracious with strangers. in the wake of my essay for the plain dealer on john, i have been on the receiving end of stories about random encounters with john and annie. everyone of those stories have a happy ending.
on that night in 2012, our four-year-old grandson clayton was with us. he had spent most of the day rehearsing a question he wanted to ask john. i introduced them and told john that clayton had something on his mind. immediately tall, lanky john leaned in so he could talk face-to-face with our little boy. what is your question, john said. clayton did not hesitate. how do astronauts go to the bathroom in space? [laughter] john smiled, well now, that is an interesting question. clayton nodded and everybody in earshot gathered round for astronaut john glenn's 10 minute tutorial on the machinations of urination in space. [laughter] >> after he finished, clayton thanked him and shook his hand and started making the rounds to share his new expertise.
i hugged john and thanked him for treating our son with such respect. why wouldn't i, he said. kids have sincere questions as -- and they deserve sincere answers. clayton is eight years old then and recently visited us and one of the first things he said to me is, i'm sorry you lost your friend, grandma. he was my friend too. last week, we heard that are beloved friend was a dying. we will never forget the kindness you showed us by asking us to send you text messages that you could redo your father. thank you for that. -- read to her father.
i was in austin and i just landed in texas. in my message, i reminded john of that conversation he had with our grandson and i told him i had one count of the number of times i had shared that story. as an illustration of what we gained when we engaged with civility. if american icon john glenn could take the time to treat a child with such respect, then surely we could find ways to listen to one another. one of my most enduring memories of john, as a friend and mentor, involves his two pronged sense of empathy and timing. when his opponent in the 2012 campaign called him a liar, he pressed on my shoulders to keep me in my seat. [laughter] he leaned in and he whispered, me too, but not now. [laughter] john was a man who kept up with the times. never was that more obvious to me than when he encouraged me to
keep writing and sharing my opinions. flunkedoked that i political life training. they didn't laugh. instead, he said listen to me, he said in a stern voice, you are who you are and that is why we love you. annie squeezed my hand and said, never stop speaking your mind. i will never forget how he turned and looked at annie. he said, listen to my annie, i always do. that is the part of john glenn we must not lose. he loved his wife. he loved his annie and he never tired of letting anyone know. we stopped to visit martin sheen and john was as excited to see president bartlett as he was to
meet astronaut john glenn, who had recently won the presidential medal of freedom. when it was time to leave for a fundraising event, john held out his hand for annie. she had other plans. martin said to annie, can i escort you? annie smiled at john and said, we will see you when you get there. [laughter] john turned to me in mock horror and said, did you see that? she just dumped me. [laughter] he stood in the doorway and watched her walk the length of the hallway, fuming like a boyfriend. the last time we spent time with john and annie was in their apartment in columbus. as soon as i sat down on the couch, john pointed to where i ,as seated and said to annie she is sitting where hillary sat. we talked about the presidential
race and the future of our country. we talked about the future of our country. but we also swapped stories about our children and grandchildren. john was a bit slower, but only in movement. his mind was sharper than ever. as we prepare to leave, he made clear to us in his engineers voice that he knew time was running out. you can only replace the parts so long, he said, putting a hand on each of our shoulders. eventually, you need a new chassis. elevatoruiet on the ride back to the lottery -- lobby. one last time my john glenn was leading the way. annie, i'm here as your friend too. and as a fellow political wife.
how you and i have laughed over the years at that silly definition of who we are. we didn't marry politics, we married the men we love. you once told me that john was reasonso two, but for far too personal and meaningful than the public could ever know. but john knew. once, over dinner, in a room packed with his admirers, i mentioned to john how inspiring your marriage is to me. he leaned in and with the softest sigh he said, i am who i am because of annie. we love you, annie. in memoriam 2016 takes a look at former house financial services committee chairman michael oxley of ohio. he died in january at the age of 71. congressman oxley is best known of 2002.xley act
it addressed corporate accounting standards in the wake of the enron and worldcom scandals. legislationut the at a dinner honoring the financial services committee. when we started this process, it became known as oxley, it started in the house and we were the first committee to have a hearing on the enron scandal. enron, the seventh-largest corporation in america. newsmagazines, leaders of the best, it was voted the company to work for, the company of the 20, on and on and on. a lot of people bought stock. as a matter of fact, most people who were selling stock or brokers didn't recommend enron, they would be sued for
malpractice in those days. it was a very popular company 2001, they came out with what they call -- came out with what they called the strongest code of ethics in the history of america. by that summer, they had filed a restatement of earnings and december, filed bankruptcy. our committee -- we were in a lame-duck session, had that first hearing on enron. 2002, theck early corporate accountability and transparency act, something clever the staff thought of, magna carta -- anyway, the way it caught off. we got past that legislation. we later had hearing, as you itall, on will come --
really blew the lid off. because enron was the story for a long time and then this was four times larger than enron. ceo, the only time i had signed a subpoena was for bernie elders and scott sullivan to appear before my committee. they took the fifth amendment and i remember being bailed out of a ticklish situation when bernie evers started to give his ,peech, claiming his innocence and then decided his fifth amendment rights. a lot of members on the committee were very furious as i was, and some were going to challenge him that he had waived that fifth amendment right. i think we both felt that under the circumstances, we were going to keep our eye on the ball and not get into a sideshow over whether bernie evers had violated his fifth amendment right. but anyway, we had those
hearings and it was quite remarkable. i finally got the chance to work with paul. paul had just taken over the shirt -- chairmanship of the banking committee with the jeffordsanged and jim became an independent. paul ended up as chairman of the banking committee. and so, when the bill went over -- the legislation would over the paul, they dealt with it over there and that is how we ended up working together on this legislation. a lot of people say, passed in haste, overnight -- it was eight months. you can ask the staffers who worked on it. it was a long eight months that we work on legislation. admittedly that is fast. periodicals said it was rushed through. but we have a lot of fun with it.
we worked very hard and the outcome has been that we haven't had major accounting scandals in nine years since the act was passed and signed by president bush, and we are really proud of what we were able to achieve with more transparency and accountability. i've got to tell this story first. paul tells the story when the senate, the greatest body in the world. they do it very well. and paul was very meticulous about holding hearings and he held a number of hearings on the issue of accounting fraud. one of the hearings was on accounting principles and he had like, three panels talking about accounting all day long. any witness or member sitting in knows what i'm
talking about. it is the closest thing to hell .s you were going to find paul tells the story about this last hearing droning on and people are talking about these arcane accounting principles. and one of the senators forgot his microphone was life any kind and said thished was the most boring hearing he had ever been involved with. at which point mike dansby, a freshman and the only cpa in the senate, came to his microphone and said, i beg your pardon, this is the most fun i have had since i have been in the u.s. senate. [laughter] so i guess where you stand is where you said. and then i had the chance to go --o the world economic forum about 2003. the winter of 2003. and i was speaking at a dinner and we had a reception ahead of
time. we all had our nametags on. this young fellow came over, he kept staring at my name tag. he finally came over and offered his hand, and said -- i want to oxley.ands with well, why do you want to shake hands with him? well, i never got to shake cans with glass-steagall. startsnew congress tuesday. we are live from the u.s. capitol, starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern. he will meet new representatives and hear from returning numbers. the house gavels in at noon. it includes the election of the house speaker, his address to the whole house, and debate and a vote on rules for the news congress. one rule in particular is getting attention. a proposal to find members who
live stream video from the house floor. it is in response to last summer's democratic city and that was streamed by several democrats. ofc-span2, our live coverage the senate starts at noon eastern and includes the swearing in of senators. opening day continues on c-span3 with live coverage of the ceremonial swearing-in of members of congress at 1:00 p.m. eastern, vice president joe swearingsides over the in of senator and a 3:00, speaker paul ryan swears and members of the house. we will have a full replay of opening day at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span two. this holiday weekend on c-span2 book tv. saturday night at 10:00 eastern on afterwards, wall street editor joanne loveland looks at top women leaders in corporate america and at 11:00, cnn
political contributors talk about journalist thomas lake's book, "unprecedented" the election that changed everything. and a look back at the 20 16 presidential campaign. sunday afternoon, a little after 5:00, brent -- blanche wising cook talks about the final book to her eleanor roosevelt series. , price on thern steel industry and its effect on a working-class town seen through the lens of high school for all in his book "playing through the whistle." for our complete schedule, go to book tv.org. an interfaith memorial service for mohammed ali was held in his hometown of louisville, kentucky. he died in june at the age of 74. speakers included sportscaster bryant gumbel and comedian billy crystal. former president bill clinton and mohammed ali's widow and daughters. his is about 40 minutes.
ladies and gentlemen, representing the president of the united states and mrs. obama am a miss valerie jarrett. [applause] >> good afternoon. on behalf of president obama and mrs. obama, i wish to express to you their deepest regrets that they couldn't be here with us today as we celebrate the extraordinary life of mohammed ali. i first met mohammed ali over 45 years ago through his friendship with my uncle, and my uncle would be so touched that his son is a pallbearer here today. thank you. [applause] because of my family's
connection, the president and asked if i would redistribute to you, penned by president obama. , an epic career was in its twilight. everybody knew it, probably including the champ himself. ali went into one of his final fights, an underdog. all of the smart money was on the new champ, larry holmes, and in the end, the oddsmakers were right. a few hours later at 4:00 p.m. after the loss, after the fans had gone home and the sportswriters were writing a final takes, a sports writer asked a restroom attendant if he had bet on the fight. the man, black, and getting on in years, said he put his money on all the.
-- ali. the man asked why. why, the man said. it is he is mohammed ali. that is why. [applause] old and i/o years the man for giving me my dignity. [applause] to the ali family, president clinton and an arena full of distinguished guests, you are amazing. [applause] manly celebrate today is not just a boxer or a poet, foreign agitator or man of peace, he was not just a muslim or black man, or a louisville kid, though i -- this wonderful
city. he wasn't just the greatest of all time. he was mohammed ali. whole far greater than the sum of his parts. he was more influential than just about anyone of his era. [applause] up.couldn't have made him and yes, he was pretty too. he had fans in every city, every village, every ghetto on the planet. foreign heads of state, the beatles, british invasion. it seemed sometimes but the chances were too big for america. -- the champ was too big for america. but i think the world flocked to
him in wonder, precisely because, as he once put it, mohammed ali was america. [applause] brass, defiance, pioneering, joyful. test theed, always odds. he was our most it -- basic freedoms, religion, speech, spirit. he embodied our ability to invent ourselves. in life spoke to our origins slavery and discrimination and the journey he traveled, helped to shock our consciousness and lead us on a path towards salvation. alwayse america, he was very much a work in progress. we do him a disservice to cause up his story and talk only of floating like butterflies and
stinging like these. he was a radical, a loud and proud and unabashedly black voice in a jim crow world. [applause] jabs knocked some sense into us. yes they did. pushing us to expand our imaginations and bring others into our understanding. now there were times when he swung a bit wildly, that's right , wound up and accidentally may have wronged the wrong opponent, as he was first to admit. but through all of his triumphs to failures, ali seemed achieve the sort of enlightenment and inner peace that we are all striving towards. when other young men his age were leaving the
jail, heo avoid war or was asked why he didn't join them. he got angry. he said he'd never leave. his people, in his words, are here. the millions struggling for freedom and justice andy holiday. i can do a lot of help in jail or not, right here in america. [applause] he had everything stripped from him. his title, his standing, is money, his passion. very nearly his freedom. but ali still chose america. i imagine he knew that only here in this country could he win it all back. so he chose to help perfect the union where a descendent of slaves could become the king of the world. [applause]
and in the process, in the process, lend some dignity to all of us. students ands, , andly bathroom attendants help inspire a young mixed kid with a funny name to have the audacity to believe he could be anything, even the president of the united states. [applause] mohammed ali was america. mohammed ali will always be america. what a man. what a spirit. champion.ous god bless the greatness of all the. god bless his family and god bless this nation we love.
thank you very much. [applause] you, everyoneth here. and on behalf of the ali family. i just want to say thank you to louisville, kentucky. all the love you have shown us in our lives has been unbelievable. also, i want to thank the entire globe. our father was left all over. processional today was overwhelming but so beautiful. i just want to say, we love you like you love us. take you very much. [applause] as you know, my father loved -- he had poems of heart. spiritual poems, poems to promote. i just wrote a piece in honor of him, on behalf of my sisters and brothers of everyone who loved
my father. it is called "thank you my dear father." soar when you're sick spirit soared. your physical my mind tells different tales of what you told me, your family and the masses. was importantly, the belief in willho created humanity thrive in quality. labprinciple that we as a divine -- we as a people have divine human rights. your beautiful complexion, your god-given skills and independent will, and the freedom of your faith. as your daughter,
<div class="tv-ttl"><a href="http://www.c-span.org/">Politics and Public Policy Today</a><div>CSPAN December 31, 2016 12:00am-3:01am EST</div></div>
The day's major public affairs and political events presented without interruption.
John Glenn 37, John 31, Israel 27, Annie 8, Shimon Peres 8, Eu 7, Clayton 6, Enron 6, Scotland 5, Washington 5, Ohio 5, Mr. Glenn 5, Russia 4, Mr. Bolden 3, Bill Clinton 3, Glenn 3, Louisville 3, Korea 3, Lyn 3, Mohammed Ali 3
Uploaded by TV Archive on December 31, 2016