Address by Senator Willis
Of Indiana

Mr. PRESIDENT: It is now 1 year and 5 months to the day since our heads were bowed under unsupportable sorrow in the loss of my late colleague from Indiana, the Honorable FREDERICK VAN NUYS.

On this occasion, when our hearts are as one in paying tribute to our fellow men who have fallen on the highway of life, there come to my mind the immortal words of Alfred Tennyson, who wrote:

Break, break, break,

On thy cold gray stones, O sea!

And I would that my tongue could utter,

The thoughts that arise in me.

O, well for the fisherman's boy,

That he shouts with his sister at play!

O, well for the sailor lad,

That he sings in his boats on the bay!

And the stately ships go on,

To their haven under the hill;

But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

Since the untimely passing of FRED VAN NUYS, many pages of history have been written in this room, where he served with such distinction. Our country, which he loved so well, has achieved, has rejoiced, and has sorrowed again. Yet those of us who knew this true and steadfast character well remember with sadness the bleak January day that brought us the news of our colleague's death. He was born on April 16, 1874, and so the sands of three score and ten years had not yet run out on January 25, 1944, when his Creator took him away to the larger life.

This son of Dr. David H. and Katherine (Custer) Van Nuys was born in the little village of Falmouth, in Indiana. He attended the public school there, and then went on to Earlham College, reeciving the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1898.

Years later, in 1938, as an honored Member of the Senate, he returned to be rewarded by his alma mater for great public service, with the degree of doctor of laws. His schoolmate and friend of college days, Dr. William C. Dennis, who presided on that occasion as president of the college from which they had graduated, quotes a remark by Senator VAN NUYS which sheds revealing light upon the character of our departed friend:

I may have made many mistakes, but I assure you they were mistakes of the head, not of the heart.

Born of sturdy, conscientious Quaker stock, his formative mind nurtured in the atmosphere and ideals of that splendid Quaker college, FREDERICK VAN NUYS faithfully projected his early background upon the screen of State and National service. In 1900 he became a graduate of Indiana Law School, in Indianapolis, and immediately began the practice of his profession in nearby Shelbyville. From 1906 through 1910 he was prosecuting attorney of Madison County, Ind., at Anderson; and from 1913 through 1916 he was a member of the Indiana State Assembly serving in the year 1915 as president pro tempore in the senate of that body.

The law firm of which our later colleague was a member has given other illustrious names to history. They are those of the late Honorable Samuel B. Ralston, Governor of Indiana and United States Senator; the late Raymond Walker, an able and distinguished attorney, and Hon. George M. Barnard, now a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

FREDERICK VAN NUYS first served his Nation as United States Attorney for the district of Indiana, from 1920 through 1922, under the judgeship of the late Albert B. Anderson, of high fame in the annals of Federal judiciary. Ten

years later, in an effort to mend its fortunes, the Democratic Party sought a widely respected and capable man to nominate for the high office of United States Senator. It was natural that the mantle should fall upon FRED VAN NUYS. In the historical Democratic landslide of November 8, 1932, he was elected to the Senate by a majority of 208,303, popularly believed to be the largest vote ever given an Indiana Senator. He took his seat in this Chamber on March 3, 1933, and was reelected to the United States Senate in 1938. He had served 5 years of his second term when death overtook him in the night, at his suburban Washington home in Vienna, Va.

During his lifetime in Indiana, and in the 11 years of his exemplary service in this body, Senator VAN NUYS was noted for his integrity and impartiality. This independence of judgment, Mr. President, revealed to his political friends and to his political opponents that this man, nurtured in the soil and traditions of the great Middle West, could never put personal advantage above political principle. It reIvealed that he had within him that hard core of Americanism which has been our Nation's bulwark against tyranny in every generation, and which again will save us from the trials peculiar to these times.

FREDERICK VAN NUYS made a memorable record in the United States Senate. At the time of his unexpected death he was chairman of the important Judiciary Committee, and he was serving with distinction on the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments. As chairman and as committee member, his colleagues testify today, as they did at his death, that he was utterly impartial, showed extraordinary judgment, and withal, carried out to the highest degree the noblest traditions of his office.

Indiana's legislators-Republicans and Democrats alike— who came to Washington to serve during FREDERICK VAN

NUYS' tenure, remember the impartiality he showed in his friendships and in his service to the people of the great State of Indiana. On his death, Congressman after Congressman testified to the many services that he had rendered to his people in carrying out his duties as a United States Senator.

Senator VAN NUYS was what we call nowadays a fundamental Democrat, because he always firmly supported the basic tenets upon which his party was founded and the fundamental principles of integrity. For no reason would he swerve from that course. He firmly and steadfastly believed in the principles of Jefferson, of Jackson, of Cleveland, and of Woodrow Wilson. It was never difficult to foretell his stand on any of the questions which have challenged and confused his party in late years. In 1937, when an effort was made to enlarge the membership of the Supreme Court, with the evident intention of liberalizing its interpretations of basic law, Senator VAN NUYs took his political life in his hands and fought courageously and unequivocally for the fundamental protection which he cherished for the Constitution. Neither the lash of party whip nor the threats of party bosses swayed his decision. His reelection in 1938 was saved because that course met with the approval of thinking people in the State of Indiana.

How well those who knew him best recall that then, and on many another occasion when his principles were tested, a tiny twinkle would creep into his eyes and he would say, "I guess I'm just a simple old horse-and-buggy Democrat.” In spite of Senator VAN NUYS' virtual austerity of purpose when affairs of Government were concerned, he had a saving sense of humor. His repartee as a toastmaster or afterdinner speaker was delicious. He had a large fund of good wholesome stories. This sense of humor was a bulwark for him in times when political and legal storms raged about him.

My personal acquaintance with the man who was to become my colleague began in 1940, when I came to Washington. Although I was his opponent in the hard-fought campaign of 1938, in which charges of political corruption were freely made, it was with great satisfaction that I realized then, and recall now, that no thought or charge of criminal knowledge of any such alleged irregularity was ever recorded in connection with FREDERICK VAN NUYS.

My associations with him were always pleasant. From our first meeting until the end, I had no better friend. He was helpful during my freshman days in this body, and a high degree of cooperation existed between our offices which were situated as close neighbors. I think there could be no more practical tribute today than my happy recollection of this pleasant fraternity which we enjoyed, and to which I strove, of course, to contribute a share. We worked together as friends whenever our principles permitted it, and each honored the other's convictions when the inevitable divisions of opinion arose.

FREDERICK VAN NUYS was a worthy successor in this body of Senators, which has contained in its membership at various times such men as Senators Hendricks, Fairbanks, New, Beveridge, Ralston, Watson, and other illustrious Hoosiers.

Now, Mr. President, FREDERICK VAN NUYS is gone. He is with us no more in the flesh. But his spirit is not dead, Mr. President. The very fact that we here today remember him-his smile, his manly bearing, his firm handclasp, his senatorial elegance—makes it apparent that his spirit is not dead and that it shall not die. He is alive not only in the hearts of his family, his friends, and his colleagues, but his influence is alive in this great American. We are all better men for having known him in the flesh, and because he lives on, with us.