SENATOR Ellender was a good friend, a fine Senator, and a splendid American. His elevation to the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee and the presidency pro tem of the Senate capped a long and distinguished career. In the course of his 35 years of service in the Senate, he left a deep imprint on the legislative history of this century--and he proved himself a representative not only of Louisiana but of the Nation, determined to do what he considered was right for America.
I often had the benefit of his counsel, and I valued the opportunity to talk with him before my recent visit to the Soviet Union about his own travels in that country.
Mrs. Nixon joins with me and with his many other official and unofficial friends in expressing our profound sorrow at his death and our sympathy to his family.
Note: Senator Ellender, 81, died of a heart attack at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
He served in the Louisiana State House of Representatives 1924-36, in the United States Senate from 1936, and as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations and president pro tempore of the Senate from 1971.
The President and Mrs. Nixon attended funeral services for the Senator in Houma, La., on July 31.
Richard Nixon, Statement on the Death of Senator Allen J. Ellender of Louisiana. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/254672