The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO LESTER S. JAYSON” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S642-S643 on Feb. 10, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO LESTER S. JAYSON
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a dedicated public servant and friend of the Congress for many years, Lester S. Jayson, former director of the Congressional Research Service, who died on December 30, 1999, in Orlando, Florida.
Mr. Jayson joined the staff of what was then the Legislative Reference Service in October 1960 as Senior Specialist in American Public Law and Chief of the American Law Division. He was promoted to Deputy Director of the Service in May 1962, and served as Director from February 1966 through September 1975.
Mr. Jayson was influential in helping to develop the modern Congressional Research Service during his tenure as director of CRS between 1971 and 1975, the years in which the Service began implementation of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970. This Act changed the name of the Service and fundamentally enhanced its role by emphasizing the provision of policy analysis in all services to Members and committees of the Congress. The staff of the Service more than doubled during this time, and Mr. Jayson helped guide CRS to fulfill its congressional mandate and continue the tradition of responding to congressional requests for comprehensive and reliable information, research, and analysis to the Congress at all stages of the legislative process.
A graduate of New York City College in 1936 and Harvard Law School in 1939, Mr. Jayson was admitted to the bar of the State of New York and practiced law in New York City until 1942, when he was appointed Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General to handle trial and appellate proceedings in civil cases in the New York field office of the Department of Justice. In 1950, he joined the Appellate Section of the Civil Division of the Justice Department, and in 1957, he became Assistant Chief of the Torts Section, Civil Division, and then was promoted to Chief of that division. Mr. Jayson was also a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and various other Federal courts. He served as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Federal Tort Claims Committee of the Federal Bar Association.
His 1,200-page book, Federal Tort Claims: Administrative and Judicial Remedies, was considered by many to be the preeminent volume on federal tort law. He wrote the volume as an extracurricular activity in 1964 and continued to update it regularly until several years ago.
On behalf of the Members of Congress who knew and worked with Mr. Jayson, I would like to thank his family for sharing him with us during the years he served the Congress and hope they are comforted by his legacy. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Evelyn, his daughters Jill and Diane, and his four grandchildren.
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