MBB: What do you consider to be your best speech? Did you feel the speech accomplished what you set out to do?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 453.

TSL: I wouldn't say I have a best speech, but one of the most challenging to write was a eulogy for Senator Joe Biden to deliver at the funeral of Senator Strom Thurmond. Neither Senator Biden nor I agreed with Strom's politics, but, for many years, Senator Biden had served closely with Strom on the Judiciary Committee and they became friends. Strom occupied the offices adjacent to Biden's in the Russell Senate Office Building, the oldest Senate office building just north of the Capitol on Constitution Avenue. In fact, Strom's personal office was directly adjacent to mine. He had been a staunch segregationist early in his career and ran for president in 1948 as a Dixiecrat. He was a drafter of the 1956 Southern Manifesto against Brown vs. Board of Education. In 1957 he filibustered against the Civil Rights Act for twenty-four hours and eighteen minutes, the longest filibuster in Senate history. But over the years, Strom's views had mellowed. When Senator Biden was asked to deliver the eulogy, he called me into his office and we looked at each other and wondered exactly how he could fashion a fitting tribute to a good friend with whom he so fundamentally disagreed. The final result was one of our best collaborative efforts. The theme was redemption, based on a story I will tell you later. Senator Biden spoke movingly about redemption and the power of one man to change.