Transcripts For CSPAN3 Senator Mitch McConnell History Lectu

In the u. S. Senate between 1946 and 1973. He talks about coopers personal life and his impact on the state. This 55 Minute Program was hosted by Somerset Community college in somerset, kentucky. Senator mcconnell, president jill, distinguished guests. Joe marshall did a great job introducing me. Jill marshall did a great job introducing me. But like they say, too much of a good thing is simply wonderful. I was doing town meetings shortly after being arrested elected. We were doing 27 counties in 20 days. We would ask a local person to introduce me and one of the ladies that was so designated call the office to find out what to say. They told her to be brief. It was a really fastpaced tour. We need to keep it short. Besides that, this county is next to his counties of people already know. She said she was very pleased to present to you hal rogers. You all know him, so the less said, the better. [laughter] shell marshall has done a fantastic job at this school. Jill she now has six campuses throughout the region. She has done a fantastic job of building and growing and polishing this institution. Thank you for doing a great job. [applause] we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of this school. I was shocked a moment ago when we were talking about it backstage. I was here when the first show occurred 50 years ago. There could not be a better supporter of this lecture series van than the current holder of that office, senator mcconnell. Words fail me to describe the all awe and inspiration that senator cooper gave to all of us and still does. His legacy lives on. But you could not be better served van to have mitch deliver this address. I got to know him in a 60s as a young republican. A young lawyer in louisville who went on to serve as an intern. Later, as an assistant to the other u. S. Senator at the time. He also in that time not only was the intern for senator kirkland but he also later was Deputy Assistant attorney general under president ford. And then my friend from those days ran for county judge of jefferson county. Very few of us thought he had a prayer to win. But he did. And served with great distinction as the county judge of kentuckys largest most populous county. I think probably the signal event in his career was his election in 1984 to the u. S. Senate. He was the only republican challenger that year in the country to defeat the incumbent democrat. He was the first republican to win a statewide race since 1968. Ira member at the time i remember at the time we did not think he had a prayer to beat lee houston, and incumbent an incumbent, longterm or in the state. He told me later that he and his mother were the only two people that thought he could win. But do you remember the hound dog commercials deco commercials . I think they went a long way towards his election that year. There are six things that i think make them special. One, he is the majority leader of the United States senate. You are looking at the highest ranking republican in the United States. [applause] he is only the second kentuckian to serve as a majority leader. Before he was elected majority leader, he was the republican leader for eight years. Before that, i think four years as the republican whip in the senate. He has been elected by his colleagues in the u. S. Senate for a long time. He serves with greatest engine great distinction and had a great week this past week in passing the trade bill which the president signed yesterday. He is kentuckys longestserving senator. He beats henry clay, wendell ford, senator morton. He served longer as kentucky senator than anybody in our history. And then in 2014, his last year he won a resounding victory. That is no small achievement. I went with him a long time in my district at the coal mines and writing vehicles riding vehicle that could only get to some of those places. Never tiring, always on the hunt. A great campaign. Mitch is a graduate with honors from the university of louisville undergraduate school and u. K. s law school. As an omen for things to come, he was elected by his fellow students as student body president and president of the student bar association. The biggest and best thing about him is that he is married to elaine. What a gracious lady. And a great leader in her own right as you know. She was the former u. S. Secretary of labor, former president of the united way of america, director of the peace corps. He did well. He walks with kings and the rest of us. He is in the field doing the work and there is something that i cant say better than kipling says about mitch mcconnell. If he can talk with crowds and keep your if you cant talk with crowds and keep your virtue or walk with kings nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you if all men count with you but none too much, if you can fill the Unforgiving Minute with 60 minutes worth of distance run yours is the earth and everything thats in it. Which is more . You will be a man. Senator mitch mcconnell. [applause] sen. Mcconnell thank you very much. I kind of hated for help to stop hal to stop. Let me first thing thank you so much for that overly generous introduction and to remind all of you what you obviously already know which is what an extraordinary leader hal rogers is. You may or may not know he is a longestserving republican u. S. House member in kentucky history. [applause] he is no small powerhouse himself as a chairman of the House Appropriations committee. In addition to being a great friend and colleague for a very long time, he and i were both inspired by the subject of my talk today. Its great to see you again and thanks for the wonderful job you have done, jill. I think i was the first speaker of this series 10 years ago. How has been a speaker at it as well and you have had a number of other distinguished folks along the way. I am here today to talk about one of my favorite subjects. One of my very favorite subjects. The man we are going to talk about today is truly unique. You have seen his family here my good friend Cornelia Cooper who was already introduced whose late husband dick was here at the first lecture 10 years ago. Neil and derek i have been friends with for decades and other family members. Any time i put together one of these speeches on former kentucky senators, we obviously have some help from others. A professor at georgetown who is sort of the kentucky historian laureate these days. Retired or current professors at various places who steep themselves in kentucky history and we wanted to make sure they had we had all of our facts correct. The 50th anniversary of this Great College is something to celebrate as well. As i indicated this afternoonss speech will continue a series of talks i have made on prominent u. S. Senators from kentucky. Our commonwealth has a Rich Heritage and has contributed much to the nations development. As such, i hope to convey a bit of that political history through the lives of some of the individuals who have served as senators from our state. 66 individuals have been chosen as senators from kentucky going back to 1792 when we came into the union. Some are more distinguished than others shall i say. Some and enjoyed really outstanding careers. Calvin barkley, the other majority leader from our state. But there are two to me and i have looked at a lot of these folks over the years, to that really stand out for me. The first wont surprise you henry clay. Many would argue he was the greatest lawmaker in American History. His body of work continues to set the standard for achievement in congress today. The second is the subject of todays speech. The man rightly termed by one biographer as the global kentuckian. He is a man whose bus sits in the state capital in franklin and whose portrait sits downtown. Cooper had a profound and personal impact on my life, and i know i am not alone in that regard. There are others in the room who had a similar experience. Those he touched in kentucky and in congress will all long remember his strength of character and his kindness. As i have said many times before, he was my hero in all my years of public life. There has been no one from whom i learned more. In fact, to this very day, this picture hangs above my desk in the Senate Majority Leaders Office in the u. S. Capital. Today, i would like to discuss the life and career of this most remarkable man. He was born right here in somerset on august 23, 1901. His father also named john sherman was an attorney, county judge, and political appointee of president theodore roosevelt. And head of the county Republican Party. He was among somersets most prominent citizens. Young John Sherman Cooper inherited much of his generous. From his father. Gas generous spirit from his father. His mother, helen carter, was an educator. According to his siblings, john was their mothers favorite. One of johns brothers said there were three sons in the family, john, john, and john. [laughter] his mothers family boasted a vape political pedigree boasted of a political pedigree. As a boy growing up on harveys hill, cooper was an avid reader reflecting the influence of both parents and he was an outstanding student. He attended Center College and then at his fathers suggestion transferred to yale where he compiled an exemplary academic record and captained the basketball team. He graduated from yell in 19 yale in 1923 and then began law school at harvard here it everything seemed to be going his way. In 1924, tragedy struck the cooper household. His father suffered a stroke and died. The death of a father is never an easy thing for any family. But besides the personal loss to the coopers, john seniors passing also revealed that the family was in dire financial straits. As the oldest son responsibility fell to john. He dropped out of law school and assumed leadership of the household, helping support his younger brothers and sisters. John went even further, assuming liability for his fathers death. For john, it was a matter of principle to pay back his fathers creditors. It would take him a quarter of a century to finally pay off what his father owed. But he considered it a matter of honor that this be done. This sense of duty would prove to be a hallmark of coopers life and career. Even though he had to leave harvard after his second year and return home, he continued legal studies on his own and was soon admitted to the kentucky bar. The young mans law practice started rather slowly. He waited in vain for clients. Finally, a longtime friend visited his office. The man had recently been in an automobile crash with the other party conceding they were to blame. At long last cooper had a client. After some initial hesitation, his friend began to pose his first questions. In anticipation, cooper leaned forward, prepare to bring all of his newly acquired skills to bear on his friends query. His friend finally asked, we have been friends for years, tell me straight, where can i find myself a good lawyer . [laughter] despite the slow progress of his law practice, cooper made rapid strides in politics. He was aided by his maternal uncle, roscoe compline carter who had been the alaska county judge. In 1927, John Sherman Cooper was elected to the kentucky General Assembly. In 1929, he followed a Family Tradition and was elected a county judge, serving until 1938. He was sworn in by his uncle and was the seventh member of his family to hold this position. It was his tenure as county judge that perhaps had the most Significant Impact on his outlook on public life. As county judge during the depths of the great depression, he regularly encountered in populist constituents who desperately needed help and had nowhere else to turn. Coopers generosity of spirit knew no bounds. He would find lodging for the homeless and food for the hungry. His sister described his office as functioning like a hotel and a cafe. He would write notes for his impoverished constituents to take to nearby diners. They served as chistysts chits for meals paid for by cooper. The strain of trying to help so many was exhausting. As a result, he suffered a serious prolonged bout of depression. Characteristically, he persevered. After his two terms as county judge, his standing in the state Republican Party had grown to the point where he was able to pursue the gop nomination for governor in 1939. He mounted a spirited race in the primary but in the end, he came up short. Swope took the nomination so he lost the general election. Fate would soon intervene, however, and take cooper in a totally different direction. In december 1941, the japanese attacked pearl harbor, throwing the United States into world war ii. He again showed the premium he placed on duty this time in the army at age 41 and he did so as a private. Soon, he was sent to officers candidate school and became an officer. He served four years, much of it in general George Pattons third army, first as a courier in a military police unit and later as a legal advisor. One mission involved his trying to find the whereabouts of a missing italian princess who was the daughter of italian King Victor Emmanuel the third. This mission not only did not have a happy ending, cooper later learned the princess had perished in an air attack, but caused the future senator to witness the work of humanity at its very worst. During his search for the princess, he was told she may have been taken to buchenwald the concentration camp. There, he went and saw firsthand the unspeakable images of the holocaust. Seeing scores of its victims in camp, it was a moment feared seared into his memory forever. After the war he stayed in europe, working to establish a revamped judicial system in the german province of bavaria. He was also responsible for helping to carry out ally treaty obligations by returning refugees to their countries of origin. During the war, numerous refugees had married individuals from other countries. As the allies tried to repatriate refugees, the soviet union cruelly interpreted its treaty obligations to mean that soviet citizens and only soviet citizens could be accepted back into the ussr. This meant that scores of Refugee Families would be permanently divided. Cooper elevated the issue all the way to general pattons executive officer and helped get the soviet posture revised sparing scores of families from being broken up. If any experience rivaled that of his tenure as county judge, it was his service in europe during and immediately following world war ii. It it reinforced his humanitarian instincts and taught him the importance of active american influence overseas and the folly of isolationism. At the end of world war ii, his status was such that he was elected circuit judge while he was still serving overseas. Imagine that. Upon returning stateside, he took up his judicial duties with typical gusto, but soon one issue became his top priority and subsequently a defining aspect of his legacy. Civil rights. As judge cooper insisted that africanamericans be permitted to sit on juries. Its hard to imagine today, but this was groundbreaking at the time. In 1946, not long into his judgeship, he decided to run for the u. S. Senate to complete the term of Happy Chandler who had left the senate to become commissioner of major league baseball. Cooper aided in the race by a dispute between chandler and an opposing faction of the Democratic Party was elected. Thus began his memorable Senate Career. To say that John Sherman Cooper enjoyed an unorthodox Senate Career would be an understatement. After two years completing chandlers partial term, he was defeated for reelection in 1948 which was a strong democratic year. Truman was at the top of the ticket and Berkeley Barkley was running for Vice President. Senator cooper was swept out in 1948. He never wanted to give up. He was elected to another unexpired term in 1952. His campaign in 1952 was run by future senator run by a future senator. Then he was up for reelection in 1954. That year, it was a clash of the titans. John Sherman Cooper squared off against former majority leader and former Vice President Alben Barkley. He did not like private life. He went out of office as Vice President after the end of the Truman Administration and wanted to get back in. Senator cooper became ambassador to india. A couple years later, Alben Barkley died. Setting up another race for a partial term. Here are three partial terms to begin his Senate Career. That was the last time he had to serve a partial term. He was elected in 1956 for a term ending in 1960. He was there continuously until 1973. He at last had found his footing , finally landed in the senate in a way that he would be there for a while. He even ran for Republican Party leader in the senate in 1958. He was defeated by Everett Dirksen from illinois. I have often wondered given the constraints that are often in post on those in Party Leadership positions such as the one i have, one wonders how the trajectory of coopers career might have been different had he become republican leader. Despite being rebuffed by Senate Colleagues the people of kentucky reelected senator cooper to a fourth term in 1960 and then again in 1966. He would be reelected by a very large margin in 1966 and then retired in 1972. In all, senator cooper spent 20 years of frequently interrupted service in the senate representing the commonwealth. Throughout his time in the s