Senate Proceeding on Jan 15th, 2009 :: 0:20:40 to 1:00:45
Total video length: 8 hours 59 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:1,032 Duration: 0:40:05 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

0:20:38 to 0:20:58( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: the very best in years ahead. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate shall proceed to a period of morning business until 12:00 noon. the senator from mr. biden: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to be able

0:20:40 to 1:00:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Joseph Biden

0:20:59 to 0:21:19( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: to proceed as if in morning the presiding officer: without objection. mr. biden: mr. president, let me begin by thanking the tphraoerdz their kind -- leaders for their kind comments. it is true i long time, i say to my friend fr as a matter of fact, as i prepared my remarks, i say to my friend from hawaii, i rember the first time i stood on the floor as a united states

0:21:20 to 0:21:40( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: senator. it was a desk directly to your left, senator, the top row here, second in. it was temporarily my desk. and i rember standing up and having been told that the desk on my right was the desk of henry clay's, on my left daniel webster, because the senior senator from the states got those desks.

0:21:41 to 0:22:02( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and i say to my friend from california, it was the only time i can rember being speechless, when i stood 30-year-old kid thinking god. well, i never thought i'd be standing here today. i never believed serving this chamber was my destiny, but it always was a big part of my dreams. you know, i rember vividly the

0:22:03 to 0:22:26( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: first time i walked in this chamber, i walked through those doors. i walked through those doors as a 21-year-old tourist. i had been down visiting some of my friends at georgetown university. i went to the university of delaware, and i was -- had a blind date with a young phraed

0:22:27 to 0:22:48( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: sr eu si, visitation -- a young lady from a school they used to call visi, visitation. after the evening, i got up -- i don't drink, not for morale reasons but i never had a drink there is nothing worse being a sober guy with a bunch of guys who have pa hangover the next morning.??

0:22:49 to 0:23:09( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i got up and deced i'd get in the car. it is a true story, senator carper, and i drove up to the capitol. i was fascinated with it. in those days you could literally drive right up to the front steps. i was 21 years old. this is 1963. and i say to my friend from iowa, i drove up to the steps

0:23:10 to 0:23:31( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and there was session that just ended. i walked up the steps and found myself in front of what we call the elevators. i walked to the right, the reception room, there was no one there. those glass tkaorbgs those french -- those glass doors, those french doors leading to the chamber, there was no sign there. i justalked in and came

0:23:32 to 0:23:53( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: through those doors. i walked into the chamber, the lights were still on, and i was awe-struck. literally awe-struck. and what in god's nam do it, but i walked up, i say to my friend from arkansas, and i sat in the presiding officer's chair. and i was mesmerized. and the next thing i know, i feel this hand on my shoulder,

0:23:54 to 0:24:15( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and a guy -- a capitol policeman picks me up you doing? and after a few moments, he realized i was just a dumb-struck kid and didn't armey or anything. but that was -- or anything. but that was the first time i walked on the senate floor. it is literally a true story.

0:24:16 to 0:24:36( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and, by the way, and just nine years later, ten years later, i walked as a united states and a capitol hill policeman stopped me walking in. he said you rember me? i said no, sir. he said i welcome you back to the senate. he was retired, a which capitol hill policeman retired.

0:24:37 to 0:24:57( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: he was traoeurg two weeks later. he -- he was retiring two later. he said welcome to the floor legally. it is sort of a fitting way i started my career here, and i may not be a young man anymore but i am still awe-struck, still awe-struck by this chamber.

0:24:58 to 0:25:18( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and i think it brings my career full cycle to know that while i was once detained for sitting in the presiding officer's chair, i will now occasionally detained in the presiding officer's chair as president of the united states of america. the united states senate has been my life, and that is now a hyperbole. it has been my life.

0:25:19 to 0:25:39( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i've been a united states senator considerably longer than i was alive before i was a united states senator. and i may be resigning from the senate be a senate man. except for the title "father," there is no title, including vice president, that i am more

0:25:40 to 0:26:01( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: proud to wear than that of united states senator. when i arrived here, giants -- giants -- loomed over the landscape of the senate. people with inouye, hubert humphrey, ed

0:26:02 to 0:26:25( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: muskie, william fulbright, jacob javits, mike mansfield, scoop jackson, john claiborne pell, another pern who stood there, bob byrd and the lion of the kennedy.

0:26:26 to 0:26:46( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: in those days, chairman dominated. literally if a chairman said he wanted a vote, without exception, every other chairman voted with that chairman on the vote on the floor of the united states senate in 1973. but the old ways of doing business and the old ways of thinking were at that very moment in the senate's history

0:26:47 to 0:27:07( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: beginning to change. as my colleagues know, there was a long standing tradition in the united states senate, i think honored in the breach now more than the rule. but when i got here in 1973, it was mandatory that a new senator would pay respects to the --

0:27:08 to 0:27:30( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: quote -- "old bulls of the senate." i never dreamed i'd be an old bull of the senate. but i rember the first appointment i made, it was to g see senator john stennis, chairman then of thermed services committee. i now have senator stennis' office. and i walked in, and senator

0:27:31 to 0:27:51( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: stennis had a great, mahogany conference table that was a gift from the philippines to vice president barkley for the liberation of the philippines. and he used it as his desk. there was no -- he had a blotter at one end of it and it seated -- i don't know how many people. 15 people. and it was his desk.

0:27:52 to 0:28:12( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and with a group of leather chairs around it. and i walked in -- and those of you who rember john stennis, when he talked, always put his hand up like this. and he looked at me and said "young man, sit down, sit down." and he patted the leather chair next to me. and i dutifully sat down.

0:28:13 to 0:28:34( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: he said congratulations. he said may i ask you a question? i said, yes, sir. he said what made you run for the united states senate? and being tactful as i always am, i answered honestly without thinking, i said civil rights, sir. as soon as i did, i could feel the beads of perspiration pop out of my head, and i thought, oh, my god.

0:28:35 to 0:28:55( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and he looked at me, and he said -- absolutely true story -- he said, "good, and that was the end of the conversation. well, that was in 1988, time had transpired, he had become my good friend, w

0:28:56 to 0:29:18( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: shared a hospital room, a hospital suite at walter reed for a had lost his leg to cancer. and it was during that period when president bush was coming into office. and as the tradition is, as all of my colleagues know, you

0:29:19 to 0:29:39( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: get to choose your offices based on seniority. as they come up, an office come up. we all think our offices are the finest. i always thought that his office, which had been the office of a man he never referred to by his first name, senator inouye, that i can remember, and the man after whom the russell building is named -- chairman russell.

0:29:40 to 0:30:00( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: it had been his office. so i walked down to look at his office. and it was that during that period of december when no one is around. and i walked in and think that his secretary of 30-some years was mable. my memory is not certain on that.

0:30:01 to 0:30:21( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i -- mable. and i walked into her office and all of these boxes were piled up. he was packing up 40-some years of service. and i said -- asi said, senator, welcome. you're going to come and take our office?

0:30:22 to 0:30:43( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i said, i don't know, mable, i'm going to check. i said is the chairman in. she said, no, you g the office. so i walked in the office. and without her knowing it senator stennis had come in the other door in the hallway and was sitting in his wheelchair this time in the exact same spot

0:30:44 to 0:31:04( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: with one leg, staring out at the office that overlooks the supreme court. and i sd, mr. chairman, i apologize for interrupting. he said, no, joe. come in. sit down.?? sit down. i sat down in that astounded me, senator boxer, he looked at me and he said, j, do you rember the first time

0:31:05 to 0:31:25( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: you came to see me? and i he said, i asked you, intold my friend from mississippi before as he walks to the floor about nator stennis, i asked him, asked me, he said, do you remember? and i said, no, i don't. i askedou why you ran for the senate. i said,

0:31:26 to 0:31:48( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i was a smart young wasn't i. he looked at me and he said you're going to take my office, aren't you, j he caressed that, that table that he loved so much, he caressed it as if it was an adamant object. he said you're going to take my office? i said, yes, i am. he said, i wanted to tell you

0:31:49 to 0:32:12( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: then wha tell you now. he said this table chair was the flagship of the con fed si. if you read "masters of senate" in johnson's turn, you will see a -- term, you will see this table in my office, chaired by senator russell and he said

0:32:13 to 0:32:36( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: this was the flagship of the confederacy. every tuesday we bared here under senator russell's direction to plan the demise of the civil rights movement from 1954 he said it's time this table passes from the man who was against civil rights into the hands of a man who was for civil rights.

0:32:37 to 0:32:59( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and i found it genuinely, without exaggeration, moving. we talked a few more minutes and i got up and i got to the door. and he turned to me in that wheelchair and he said, one more thing, joe. he said, the civil rights movement did more -- more to free the white man than the black man. and i looked at him.

0:33:00 to 0:33:22( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i said, mr. chairman, how's that? and p remember as well as i did, he said, it freed my it freed my soul. well, ladies and gentlemen of the senate, i can tell you that by his own account john stennis

0:33:23 to 0:33:45( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: was personally enlarged by shifs in the senat -- by his service in the senate. that's the power of this institution. men and women who come to washington, who come in contact with folks in different parts of the country that we represent, slightly different cultural backgrounds, different

0:33:46 to 0:34:09( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: religions, different about what makes this country great. all races. all religions. and it opens a door for change. i think it opens a door for personal growth. and in that comes the political progress this nation has made.

0:34:10 to 0:34:31( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i learned that lesson as a ver young senator. i got here in 1973 and one of the people, along with dan and others on this floor, who kept me here, were -- was mike mansfield, the majority leader. and he used to once a week have

0:34:32 to 0:34:54( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: me report to his is where the leader's office is on the other side. and he really was doing it, i know, in retrospect to take my pulse, see how i was doing. and i walked in one day through those doors on the republican side and a man who had became my friend, jesse helms;

0:34:55 to 0:35:16( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: wife dot, who is still my close friend, i keep in contact with. and i walked through the doors and jesse helms who came in 1972 with me, was in the back talking to bob dole about the with disabilitiy act. and i walked through the floor on my way to the meeting with senator mansfield and i sat down on the other side of his desk.

0:35:17 to 0:35:41( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: some of you rember, he smoke add pipe a lot of times when he was his -- in hoifs. he said, joe, it looks like so he said -- i said, mr. leader, i can't believe what i heardn the floor of the senate. i can't believe anyone could be so heartless and care so little about people with disabilities.

0:35:42 to 0:36:02( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i tell you, it makes me angry. he said, joe, what would you say if i ago, mbe five, dodd helms and -- dot helms an jesse -- and the local newspaper and they saw

0:36:03 to 0:36:24( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: a piece in the paper about a young man in braces who was handicapped at an he was in his early teens. and all the caption said was the young man wanted nothing more for christmas than to be part of a family. he said, what you would say if i

0:36:25 to 0:36:45( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: told you dot helms and jesse helms adopted that young mans their own child? i said i would feel like a fool. an absolute fool. he said, well, they did. he said, joe,very man and woman sent here is sent here because their state recognizes

0:36:46 to 0:37:07( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: something decent about them. he said it's easy find the parts you don't like. i think your job, joe, is to find out that part that caused him to be sent here. he said, joe, another man's motive. question his judgment, but never his motive.

0:37:08 to 0:37:30( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i think i can say without fear of couldn't diction -- contra diction, i never questioned anyone's motive. i learned that at the hands of iron mike mansfield who had more char than the vast majority of people that we know have in their whole bodies.

0:37:31 to 0:37:51( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: that advice has guided me, and hopefully well. and i hope it guides this congress. because those who are willing to look for the good in the other guy, the other woman, i think, become better people and become better and more able legislators. this approach allowed me to develop friendships i would have

0:37:52 to 0:38:13( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: never have expected would have occurred. i knew i'd be inouye who came to campaign for me. i knew i could be friends with ted kennedy and i knew i could be whom i shared a common view common philosophy.

0:38:14 to 0:38:35( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: but i never thought i would develop deep, persona relationships with men whose position played an extremely large part in my desire to come to the senate in the first place to change what they believed in. eastland, ste

0:38:36 to 0:38:57( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: of these men became my friends. as senator hatch will rember, i used to go over after every executive session of the united states senate judiciary committee and go into jim visch's ask him all of the dumb questions that a young kid would want to ask. who is the most powerful man you ever met, senator? what is the most significant

0:38:58 to 0:39:18( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: thing that ever occurred since you have been here? i asked him that air conditioning. i said, i beg he said that the most significant thing that happened since i got here is air conditioning. i thought, wow, that's kind of change. he said, well, he said, joe, he said before we had air

0:39:19 to 0:39:39( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: conditioning, he said, all of those these used to be great big pieces of glass, like in showers, he said, come around may, that sun -- he used t a little bit of profanity, which i will not use for appropriate reasons, he said that darn sun would beat down on the dome and

0:39:40 to 0:40:01( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: hit that magnifying glass and heat up like a chairman -- heat up the chamber and he said then we had the air conditioner and stayed year round and ruined america. senator stennis friend and supporter,ut one of

0:40:02 to 0:40:23( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: the most unlikely, unlikely friendships was strom thurmond. some of you knew my relationship with symptom. -- strom. did i that i would become friends with strom he stood for everything. everything. i got started because of civil

0:40:24 to 0:40:44( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: rights. yet on his 100th birthday shortly thereafter, on his deathbed, i got a phone call from his wife, nancy. she said, i'm standing here at the nurse's station, joe, with the doctor. i just left strom. he asked me to call you. he wants a favor.

0:40:45 to 0:41:06( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i said, of course, nancy, whatever he wants. he said he would like you to do his eulogy. well, i never thought -- i never thought in my wildest dreams

0:41:07 to 0:41:27( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: that this place, the honor that resides would put me in a position where a man whose career was one of the most interesting in modern american history asked me to be his eulogist. i never worked so hard on a eulogy in my whole life.

0:41:28 to 0:41:48( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i think i was completely truth full. truthful to the best of my knowledge. as i pointed out, he's a man who reflected the ages. he lived in three different ages. three different parts of american history. i remind people with -- remind people, which some only remember, at the time that he resided he had the highest

0:41:49 to 0:42:09( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: number of african-americans w worked in his office than any other senator. he had, in my view, i believe, changed. this is an incredible place i say to my colleagues. an incredible place. and it has left me with the

0:42:10 to 0:42:31( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: conviction that personal relationship are the one thing that unlock the true potential of this every good thing i have seen happen here. every bold step taken in the 36-plus years i have been here, came not from the application of

0:42:32 to 0:42:52( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: pressure by interest groups, but through the maturation of personal relationships. pressure groups can and are strong and important advocates. but they're not often -- they're not often vehicles for compromise. a personal relationship is what

0:42:53 to 0:43:14( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: allows you to go after someone hammering on one issue and still found common ground on the next. it is the grease that liewb this incredible system that we have. it is what allows you to see the world from another person's perspective and allows them to

0:43:15 to 0:43:37( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: take the time to see it from yours. i'm sure this was not just my experience alone. in a sense i'm probably preachin very men and women sitting on the floor who have experienced similar things. one of the most moving things i have ever saw in my life was on

0:43:38 to 0:43:58( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: the floor of the united states senate. the year was 1977. we were about to adjourn for the year. there was a vote cast and as we all do, we assembled in the well to vote. and one of my personal heroes, hubert humphrey was literally ridden with cancer.

0:43:59 to 0:44:19( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: he died very shortly thereafter. but he showed up like bartlett of oklahoma. he sewed up every single day knowing he literally had days to live. and he walke down this aisle -- because i was standing back there. i

0:44:20 to 0:44:40( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: years with my good friend fritz hollings for 34 years. and he walked down the aisle. and as he did, barry came in through the doors and coming down the aisle to vote. barry goldwater and hubert humphrey vtually shared nothing in common philosophically.

0:44:41 to 0:45:02( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: they had a pretty tough campaign in 1964. it got pretty rough. barry goldwater saw hubert and walked up and gave him a big bear hug and kissed him, and hurt humphrey kissed him back. and they stood there in a tight

0:45:03 to 0:45:23( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: embrace for minutes, both crying. it brought the entire senate to tears. but, to me -- to me -- it the mark of a story of the history of this place. hubert loved it here.

0:45:24 to 0:45:46( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: "the senate is a place filled with good will and good intentions. and if the road to hell is paved with them, then this is a pretty good detour." friendship and equalizers. death will seek all of u at some point, but we must choose

0:45:47 to 0:46:10( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: to seek friendship. our ability to work together with people with whom we have a real and deep and abiding disagreements, especially in these consequential times, i believe is going to determine whether or not we succeed in restoring america. i think it is

0:46:11 to 0:46:31( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: fundamentally basic things have changed a great deal since i first arrived here. there were no women in the senate. margaret chase smith had just retired and it was going to be six years until the next woman elected arrived. that was nancyassebaum. today there are 16 women in the

0:46:32 to 0:46:52( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: senate. we need many more. but that's progress. our proceedings in those days with not televised. they didn't have fax ma shaoerpbgs let alone -- -- fax machines, let alone e-mail.

0:46:53 to 0:47:16( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i rember the fights on whether or not we would spend money on computers. some of the older guys thought computers? why are we going to waste the taxpayers' money and put computers in our offices? i'm almost embarrassed to acknowledge that. that makes m a pretty old dude, as the kids would

0:47:17 to 0:47:38( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i often hear senators lament today that the 24-hour news cycle, the need to go back home every weekend -- or in my case, every night -- makes it harder than it used to be to know one another, to share a meal. when i first got here, had -- there was an accident in

0:47:39 to 0:47:59( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: my family, i didn't want to stay. and senator humry and kennedy and mans -- senator humphrey and kennedy and others said just stay six months. it used to be, which is not unusual in those days, there used to be groups of senators who with their spouses would take turns once a month having

0:48:00 to 0:48:21( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: dinner for the rest of t senators. and i, senator eagleton of missouri who recently passed away, and a good friend; senator gay lord nelson and his wife, who was incredible who recently as well passed away; senator

0:48:22 to 0:48:44( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: hollings and my friend -- and he is my friend -- senator ted stevens from alaska, they had one of those groups, along with a guy named saxby from ohio who became attorney general. and i never stayed, ever stayed in washington, particularly in those days.

0:48:45 to 0:49:06( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: they insisted i come, and i'd go to those dinners. i was t only -- i was a kid, i was single, and they included me. the truth of the matter is they went a long way towards saving my life. changing my life. you know, for the first time in

0:49:07 to 0:49:28( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: 36 years i'm going to have a home in washington. public housing. and i hope -- i hope -- that jill and i can use it to help bring us together a little bit. i hope it can be used to foster and deepen the relationships we

0:49:29 to 0:49:50( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: all are so busy in our own careers, it's awful hard to do it i've seen this assassination attack it. that is -- who have come to this institution attack it.

0:49:51 to 0:50:11( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: they have at hraoudz like that -- attitudes like that can sometimes become self-fulfilling prophecies. but if you come here with a dedication to hard work, an open mind, some good faith, you want to make progress, that too can become a self-fulfilling

0:50:12 to 0:50:34( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: prophecy. in 1837, ralph waldo emerson in his lecture to -- heave the phi beta kappa address at harvard. and he said meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views

0:50:35 to 0:50:55( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: which cicero, which locke and which bacon have given, forgetful that cicero, locke and bacon were only young men in libraries works. i'm told today by the senate his attorney that there have been over 1,900 united states

0:50:56 to 0:51:19( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: senators who have served and that i've served with more than 320 and i've learned something from every one as a matter of fact, he also told me a piece of discouraging information as well. only 19 senators in the history of the united states of america

0:51:20 to 0:51:40( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: have ever served as long as i have, one of whom is in this chamber. as them. and i can tell you from experience, most of them are

0:51:41 to 0:52:01( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: only seen as giants in the hindsight of history. at the time there were legislators trying to do their best. i look in names carved in the drawer. maybe the public doesn't know how much like kids we are.

0:52:02 to 0:52:22( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: we get here, we after the senate's we sit there somewhat carve our names in the drawers of the desk, in the bottom. it's a tradition. i don't know of anyone -- maybe there's someone who didn't it, but i don't know of any, the

0:52:23 to 0:52:44( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: most sophisticated among us. i look in the desk drawer that i have and i see names of famous delawareans. like t longest-serving family in the history of delaware, the six have been united states senators.

0:52:45 to 0:53:07( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: but i also see names in my drawer: scoop jackson, john f. kennedy, and others. look in your desk, and see names you recognize as well. you all know them. 40 years from now, when someone opens your desk and looks at

0:53:08 to 0:53:30( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: your name, you the way i think of these men? to me, that's the test which you're going to have to meet. the gravity of our challenges we

0:53:31 to 0:53:53( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: face today come like every moment, similar moment in our history. theost significant opportunity for the most significant opportunity for progress. i firmly believe that this too

0:53:54 to 0:54:15( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: can be an era giants. for this much i know: our nation desperately needs it to be. during my first term in the senate, when i spoke out in favor of campaign finance reform at a democratic caucus -- nator inouye may rember this.

0:54:16 to 0:54:36( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: he was then the secretary of the senate. the senate pro tempore, jim eastland, listened intently in what's now called the mansfield room. i got finished with this impassioned speh about the need for public financing, and eastland stood up -- and he hardly ever spoke at the caucuses.

0:54:37 to 0:54:57( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: senator inouye will rember, always wore a glenn plaid suit and always had a stkpwaeurg in his mouth about as big as a rubber hose. he leaned up on that -- he never stood completely straight. he was at the table in the front and sought recognition. he leaned halfway up, took the cigar out and said, "joe, they

0:54:58 to 0:55:18( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: tell me you're the youngest man in the history of to get elected to this august body." i wasn't. there was one younger than me, but i didn't dare correct him. he said, "let me tell you something, joe. if y'all make many speeches like you did today, you're going to be the youngest one-term

0:55:19 to 0:55:39( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: senator." i walked out of that conference and said leader reid, we used to have those booths by the phone. and warren phag news pulled the -- magnus said, biden, come here. he said stop this stuff.

0:55:40 to 0:56:01( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i didn't work this darned hard -- a little language difference. "i didn't work this hard the last 30 years to have some sniveling little competitor get the same amount of money as me. stop it. stop it." i just walked away as and quickly as i could. i never dreamed -- i never

0:56:02 to 0:56:25( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: dreamed -- that nearly four decades later i'd be elected to the seventh term of the united states senate. never, ever dreamed it. 36 years ago the people of delaware gave me, as they've given you in your states, a rare

0:56:26 to 0:56:47( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: and sacred opportunity as i said, after the accident i was prepared to walk away, in 1973, from that opportunity. but men like ted kennedy and mike mansfield and hubert humphrey and fritz hollings, dan inouye, they convinced me to

0:56:48 to 0:57:10( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: stay, to stay six months, joe. remember that? just stay six months. and one of the true giants of the senate, who thank god is still with us -- robert c. byrd -- without any fanfare in late december in a cold, driving rain, drove to wilmington, delaware, stood outside a

0:57:11 to 0:57:32( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: memorial service at a catholic church for my deceased wife and daughter, soaking wet in that cold rain, never once came to see me s-rbs -- never once came to see me; just to show his respect, got in a car and drove back to washington, d.c.

0:57:33 to 0:57:53( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: it is a remarkable place, gentlemen and ladies. and became my second family. more than i suspect it is for most, i needed it. and for that, i will be forever grateful. forever grateful.

0:57:54 to 0:58:14( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: so to the paoefpl delaware -- to the people of delare, who have given me the honor of serving them, there is no way i could ever, ever much it's meant to me. to my staff past and present and all those here on the floor past and present dedicated to making

0:58:15 to 0:58:36( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: this institution run, including theoung pages who come wide eyed and hopefully go home wanting to come back som our spots, i thank you for everything you've done for me. and i suspect you've done for me more than you've done for most.

0:58:37 to 0:58:59( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: to my children, hunter and ashley and bo, if i was nothing else, i'd be content to be the father of such wonderful people. to my grandchildren who constantly remind me why the decisions we make in this august

0:59:00 to 0:59:22( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: body are so jill, you once saved my life. you are my lifeoday. i thank all of you. i thank all of my colleagues for making my senateervice possible and this next chapter in my career and life so hopeful.

0:59:23 to 0:59:45( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i came here to fight for civil rights. in my office now sits that grand conference table that once was used to fight against civil rights. and i leave here today to begin my service to our african-american president

0:59:46 to 1:00:08( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: le afer receiver krferle refer -- the arch of the universe is long, but it does indeed bend toward justice and the united states senate has been an incredible instrument in assures that justice. so although you've not seen the last of me, i say for the last

1:00:09 to 1:00:23( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: time, and with confidence in all of you, off the mitch in our -- optimism in our future and a heart with more gratitude that i