Memorial Addresses

Remarks by Representative Ludlow

Of Indiana

Mr. SPEAKER: The State of Indiana has produced its share of public men who have measured up to the true heights of statesmanship. Outstanding among these was FREDERICK VAN NUYS, to whom we today pay our tribute of respect and affection.

FRED VAN NUYS was an anomaly in our public life. The dictionary defines anomaly as "Deviation from rule, type, or form." His talent and energies before lie entered the public service were largely devoted to political organization. He served in many organizational capacities. He was chairman of our Indiana Democratic State Committee in the lean years and was an inspirational force of great influence in inculcating party discipline. Judging from his earlier background one would naturally have assumed that when he became United States Senator he would have been prone to resolve politically controverted questions by the yardstick of partisan advantage.

Yet, as the history of recent times shows, no man ever served in the Senate of the United States who was less moved by poltical considerations than he was. He always stood inflexibly for what he believed to be right. He was a fundamental Jeffersonian Democrat and was passionately devoted to the democracy of our fathers. He was willing to fight and die, if necessary, to protect those fundamental institutions. But when theories of government were proposed which seemed to him to be alien to our democratic philosophy and to impinge upon those fundamental concepts, he stood firm in

his tracks and defied the waves of criticism which would have overcome a less determined character.

It was inevitable that Senator VAN NUYS, because of his inherent and unshakable belief in the fundamental democratic tenet that ours is a tripartite system of government in which the three branches are independent of each other, would immediately object to any proposed legislation which he believed would infringe upon this basic theory of democracy. When the proposal to reorganize the Supreme Court so as to influence the tenor of its decisions made its appearance he immediately became the leader of the opposition. By unanimous choice of the Senators opposing this measure he was selected as chairman of the steering committee in the fight and was consulted assiduously as to strategy and procedure. Thus he helped in a great way to win a victory on what fundamentalists regarded as a most vital issue.

Senator VAN NUYS was a direct descendant of Johannes Van Nuys, who immigrated from Holland and settled on Long Island almost 300 yeares ago. There was something about him, perhaps it was the Dutch blood he inherited from his ancestors, that made him stubborn to the last degree in standing for what he believed to be right. As the political kaleidoscope changed and new measures were brought forward and proposed in place of old principles he found himself the target of fierce criticism which seemed to reflect the overwhelming public opinion, but he never swerved an inch. According to his way of thinking, God and the right comprise a majority and that was the majority with which he always sought to align himself. There may be a difference of opinion as to Senator VAN NUYS' attitude on some of the highly controverted questions. I am not attempting to say here and now whether in any particular instance of this character his judgment was right or wrong. This is not the time for a discussion of any such question, but I will say that there never was a critic of him who would not admit that he never failed

to take a position, openly and courageously, and that that position, whatever it was, reflected the honest judgment of an honest man.

So much for the Senator's political uprightness and consistency. As a human character he was one of the finest I have ever known. He was born in a dreamy little hamlet named Falmouth on the Rush-Fayette County line in Indiana a few months after I had been born in a log cabin 3 miles away. His father, Dr. David H. Van Nuys, was our family physician, and once when my left arm was dislocated by too much exuberance in play the elder Van Nuys set it back in place. I cite these facts merely by way of explanation that my acquaintanceship with the man we are eulogizing was not casual, but was intimate and of ancient vintage. I knew the wellsprings of his nature.

The Senator's rise from a poor country boy to a place of high distinction in the world's greatest law-making body shows what can be accomplished by individual initiative in this free country of ours. With such assistance as his father could give him, he worked his way through Earlham College and then through the Indiana Law School of Indianapolis where he received his LL.B. degree in 1900.

Forty-one years ago he went to Anderson, Ind., and opened a one-room law office in the Old Union Building, with three lawbooks and two chairs, one for himself and one for his creditors, as he used to tell the story. His industry, his determination, his faithfulness to his clients, made a favorable impression from the start, and he succeeded because the community soon came to recognize his worth. In later years he often referred to those days of hopes and aspirations and struggles, when he was "so happy and so poor." As he grew in popularity he was elected prosecuting attorney and was then sent to the State Senate of Indiana, where his ability was recognized by his election as Democratic leader. In 1920 President Wilson appointed him as United States attorney for Indiana, and 2 years later he resigned to join the Indi

anapolis law firm of which the late Senator Samuel M. Ralston was the senior member.

When the rank and file of the Democratic Party in Indiana in 1932 sought a candidate who could wrest the Senate seat from the veteran and formidable Senator James E. Watson, it turned to Mr. VAN NUYS as its practically unanimous choice, and he was elected by a large majority. In the Senate he soon arose to high position as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and as chairman of the powerful Committee on the Judiciary.

In his everyday relations with people FRED VAN NUYS was true and genuine, a delightful companion, whose devotion to his friends never faltered or failed. In his home, happiness reigned supreme. To his wife, the former Marie Krug, and their son Billy, he was an ideal husband and father, and today as we reverently pay our tribute to him who was the idol of their affections our hearts turn to them with sympathy and love.

To make a happy fireside clime to weans and wife,
That's the true pathos and sublime of human life.

I am sure that was the most important thing in the life of the man we mourn today. He had very fundamental convictions on theological matters, but was not ostentatious in his religion. Rather it should be said that he lived his religion in his daily life. He had a fascination for politics, but he played the game for what he could accomplish by it for the public and not for what he could get out of it for himself. While I doubt if anyone ever loved his party more, he unquestioningly chose the path where his conscience told him to walk, and he proceeded to walk in it, however thorny and stony it might be. For this all men who knew him admired him and respected him.

Less than a month before his sudden death, Senator VAN NUYS sent to Dr. William C. Dennis, president of Earlham College, a letter that succinctly expressed the philosophy that had guided him in his public career. He and Dr. Dennis

were boys together at Earlham, almost half a century ago. The Senator wrote:

I have no doubt made mistakes, but they have been mistakes of the head and not of the heart. My chief objective has been to guard and preserve our constitutional democracy and ways of life, and I am much encouraged over future prospects. My attitude has not made my 11 years of public service a bed of roses, but that is immaterial.

I was present in the Flanner & Buchanan mortuary at Indianapolis when Dr. Dennis preached the funeral sermon over our dead friend lying in the casket by his side, and I thought how this poem read by the preacher, described the nobility and strength of character of the deceased:

God give us men! A time like this demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

Men who possess opinions and a will;

Men who have honor; men who will not lie;

Men who can stand before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public duty and in private thinking.

Such a man was FREDERICK VAN NUYS. As Sharespeare said of one of similar mold:

The elements were so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, "This was a man!"

Mr. LUDLOW. Mr. Speaker, under leave granted to extend my remarks in the Record, I include the following address delivered by Hon. Samuel D. Jackson, of Indiana, on the life, character, and public service of Hon. FREDERICK VAN NUYS, late a Senator from the State of Indiana:

With the passing of Senator FREDERICK VAN NUYS, the Nation lost one of its most colorful characters and Indiana one of its greatest Senators.

Senator VAN NUYS at the time of his passing, January 25, 1944, was the senior Senator from Indiana and chairman of the Judiciary Committee and one of the Senate's most influential and beloved Members.