Gerald R. Ford: Remarks at a Reception Honoring Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield.

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21 - Remarks at a Reception Honoring Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield.
August 20, 1974

Gerald R. Ford
1974

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District of Columbia
Washington

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LET ME say that it is great to be back up on Capitol Hill and to see Senator Mansfield and the Democratic and Republican leadership in this end of the Capitol and also great to see the Speaker and the others from the other end of the Capitol.

But I am here primarily, in fact exclusively, to pay tribute to a person that I have known all of my almost 26 years in Washington, 25 of them being in the Congress--Mike Mansfield.

When I came in January of 1949, Mike had been here 4 or 6 years, and I quickly developed a great respect and admiration for him as a Member of the House. And when he went to the Senate, that admiration and respect increased.

Anybody that can be a leader, particularly in the majority, for 13 years, I think deserves the greatest congratulations and compliments. I think it proves a couple of things: that bullies don't always prevail. You have to have some of that very fine quality of working with people without twisting their arm. I think it proves that people who can negotiate survive better than those who take a flat, adamant attitude.

But I think you can sum it up better than any way by going along in opposition to a statement that Leo Durocher is alleged to have said, that good guys always finish last. Mike Mansfield is a good guy and he has finished first for a long, long time.

Note: The President spoke at 4:50 p.m. in the Senators' conference room at the Capitol. Senator Mansfield was being honored for having served longer than any other Senator as majority leader. He was elected to the position on January 3, 1961.

Citation: John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=4532.

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