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.
“Remembering William vanden Heuvel (Executive Calendar)” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S4883-S4884 on July 14.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Remembering William vanden Heuvel
Mr. President, last month, the Nation lost a great patriot, and I lost a great friend, William vanden Heuvel, and I come to the floor today to honor his impressive legacy.
Bill vanden Heuvel grew up in a working-class family during the Great Depression, and his call to public service came early in his life. As a child, he listened to President Roosevelt's fireside chats, and he became obsessed with the idea that regular people can band together and build a just and compassionate country.
So upon learning of FDR's death, Bill hitchhiked alone to the Roosevelt estate to try to attend the funeral. He was 14 years old. Now, he was unsurprisingly, initially, turned away, but somehow he found his way to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was so impressed with the young man's passion for her husband's legacy that she welcomed the 14-year-
old in.
In many ways, it is a story that is emblematic of Bill's life. He grew close to several prominent American leaders--from the Kennedys to Jimmy Carter, to diplomats and officials the world over--not by accident or thanks to any privilege that he was born into, but just because of his effectiveness; his tenacity; and his unbridled, infectious, contagious love for his country.
As a young attorney in the Kennedy Justice Department, Bill was given a really difficult task: help integrate Prince Edward County, which at the time was blatantly flouting Brown v. Board of Education requirements. Robert Kennedy, then-Attorney General, personally tracked Bill's work, noticed his record of success in integrating Maryland's schools, and the two became close friends.
There was another leader, Jimmy Carter, who had asked Bill to represent America abroad as Ambassador to the European Office of the United Nations, which kicked off Bill's storied diplomatic career. His diplomatic accomplishments are too long to go through in one speech, but through his work, he became a vocal and prominent advocate for the United Nations and the work that it does to address pressing global issues.
Bill also remained committed to solving problems at home. He was a renaissance man, a true polymath, and a staunch civil rights advocate. For years, he helped lead the charge in New York City to reform its prisons. He became a crusader in the city. He tackled the squalid conditions of confinement, and he feared no one in his efforts to speak for the voiceless and make sure that even the most hardened criminals were treated like human beings. It is a big part of his legacy as well.
And in his later life, when I got to know him, he returned to his first love. Bill vanden Heuvel started and led the Franklin Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, and he championed the long fight to establish the Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island. That park will stand forever as a testament to both the majesty of Franklin Roosevelt and the patriotism of Bill vanden Heuvel.
Finally, though an obituary of a great man like Bill is filled with public accomplishment, for his friends and family, it is his private accomplishment which defined his true greatness. His wife Melinda and his daughters, Katrina and Wendy, and his stepchildren, Ashley and John, know him as a kind and loving husband and father. And the literally thousands of young public servants and reformers and diplomats that he mentored over the years, they are grateful for the time he took to midwife the hopes and dreams of others.
I am one of these people. Bill took me under his wing early in my public service career. It is his advice I turned to over and over, especially in my early years in Congress, as I set my own course and picked my own battles. So, above all, Bill's family and friends will miss him dearly.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
