Remarks Honoring the Late Senator Richard Brevard Russell in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ladies and gentlemen:

I have just had the very great honor to represent the people of the United States in paying a tribute to Senator Russell.

I have laid a wreath on the casket in the State Capitol of Georgia, and then I have met with members of his family, a very large family and a very devoted family, and spoke to them about what Senator Russell has meant to this country.

Last night on national television in the State of the Union, I asked the Members of the House and the Senate to rise in a silent tribute of prayer to Senator Russell. I said then that he was a great Senator and that he was a good friend for all of those who had the privilege to know him.

I think that my feelings today, as I stand here at the Capitol in the State of Georgia, go really to things more fundamental than friendship or service in the United States Senate. They go to the character of this man.

Richard Russell was certainly one of the most intelligent men ever to serve in the United States Senate. I have often heard it said that no new Member of the Senate should ever dare try to tangle with him. In fact, no older Members of the Senate would dare to do so with hope of coming out ahead.

He was one of the hardest working Members of the Senate. He was one who, of course, served in the Senate so many years that he had high seniority. But what really set him apart was what we call character--character which grew up over a period of years, character that came from his native soil of his native State, character that came from his family, character that came from his deep religious belief, and character which came from a sense of patriotism that enabled him to serve six Presidents with equal devotion.

The way I summarize Senator Russell's place in history very briefly is this: Had he been born 10 years later and served in the Senate 10 years later, he would probably have been President of the United States. All of those who knew him put him in that league.

But not having been President of the United States, he did something else that perhaps could have meant just as much. For five Presidents of the United States-for President Roosevelt, President Truman, President Johnson, President Eisenhower, President Kennedy--and then President Nixon, he was an adviser and a tower of strength in all areas of foreign policy and in national defense.

I would remember Senator Russell as a President's Senator, one that a President could always turn to when there was a hard fight, a close vote; one that he could always turn to and confide any information that was extremely confidential, knowing that it would never go beyond that room.

And I also remember one other thing that I think summarizes it all. I mentioned last night that I called on the Senator before his death, shortly, at Walter Reed Hospital, and what impressed me about him was that here was this man suffering in the last days of his life and never for one moment during about 45 minutes that we were there in the room did he talk about himself. He just talked about the country that he loved so much. And he talked about the national defense of this country and the need to keep it strong.

When the conversation was over, and as we left the room, I will never forget the last words that he spoke. As I recall, this is what he said, "I only wish I could get down there and help."

I think that summarizes Richard Russell's life. He always wanted to be wherever he could be to help, and he has set an example for all of us as Americans to be proud of, an example for all of us to emulate, a selfless service to America.

We rather throw the word "great" around rather loosely these days, and every man who serves in the United States Senate or the Congress is, in a sense, a great man to have achieved that place of honor. But when we use the word "great" with Senator Russell, all of us who know him, all of us who had the opportunity to serve with him, know in our hearts that if we had to pick one Senator that we felt stood out above all the rest in times of crisis, that a President could rely on, it would be Richard Russell of Georgia.

That is why he was not just this President's Senator, but every President's Senator. He is going to be missed by this State. He is going to be missed by this country. But he is particularly going to be missed by Presidents of the United States in the future.