Remembering Wellstone

Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) was by all accounts a man of integrity, class and conviction. Throughout his 12 years in the Senate, both liberals and conservatives in Washington respected his principled approach to national politics. He was a senator who didn’t mind being on the losing side of 99-1 or 98-2 votes if he thought he was voting his conscience. In an era of combative politicking and bitter partisan feuds, Wellstone truly stood out amongst his Senate colleagues as a symbol of candor and sincerity; there was nothing phony or contrived about him.

For all of these reasons and more, we were disappointed to see politics enter Wellstone’s memorial service last Tuesday night. It began as a somber gathering, with heartfelt speeches from personal friends remembering the senator, his family and the other people who died in the plane crash. The organizers intentionally kept the focus on Wellstone as a person rather than as a politician. But unfortunately, the service ultimately degenerated into partisan rhetoric; the mourners cheered Democrats and booed Republicans who had come to pay their respects to one of the Senate’s most dedicated public servants.

Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party had agreed to a moratorium on political campaigning until after the service, yet this mattered little to several of the speakers. Rick Kahn, a close friend of Wellstone’s, delivered a speech that ideally would have been one of the night’s more touching moments. Unfortunately, Kahn injected partisan politics into the mix and actually made a campaign pitch to those in attendance. “We are begging you to help us win this Senate election for Paul Wellstone,” he said. Kahn even urged certain Republicans, by name, to stop supporting their party’s candidate and work for Wellstone’s replacement. He pleaded to U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.): “You know that Paul loved you. He needs you now. Help us win this race.”

More upsetting than the tone of some of the speakers was the cheering and jeering that accompanied the appearance of various political figures on the arena’s big-screen monitors. Former president Bill Clinton, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56 (D-Mass.) received raucous applause when they were shown on the screens, while Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), former Sen. Rod Grams (R-Minn.) and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura were jeered and booed. When Walter Mondale was shown, the crowd could be heard chanting “Fritz, Fritz, Fritz” amidst the loud cheering. Ventura and his wife walked out during the service; the governor later explained that he was incensed at the memorial’s politicization.

Some defended Kahn’s speech and the service’s political side as natural; Wellstone was a politician, after all, and he cared passionately about standing up for liberal values. And with an important election tomorrow, politics is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. But still, it is disturbing that the mourners could not put partisanship aside for four hours to pay their respects, and to allow others to do the same.

Regardless, Paul Wellstone’s legacy will not be weakened. We will all remember the senator as one of the few brave politicians in Washington, someone who wasn’t afraid to articulate his unique vision for a better world. One of the best examples of Wellstone’s principle and aversion to partisanship involves his relationship with Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). While he initially viewed Helms as representative of all that was “ugly and wrong and awful about politics,” Wellstone became friends with the conservative North Carolina senator after they met, and the two ultimately co-sponsored a piece of legislation supporting human rights in Tibet. That was quintessential Wellstone: putting personal conviction ahead of partisan bickering.

All who knew Paul Wellstone found him to be friendly and endearing, but his colleagues also respected him on a deep level. He will be sorely missed.

DISSENT: Respect Wellstone's Fighting Spirit

In criticizing Sen. Wellstone’s supporters for politicizing his memorial service, the Staff blatantly overlooks the greater context of this tragedy. Wellstone was one of the last remaining deeply principled, truly liberal members of the Senate who was dedicated to the plight of working-class individuals.

That his supporters—after two hours of heart-wrenching and somber speeches—burst into partisan chants is neither surprising nor unfortunate. It is simply an earnest reflection of the gravity of our current circumstances: the competitive and critical upcoming election coupled with the startling absence of leadership approaching Wellstone’s moral caliber. In a crowd of 20,000 mourners, it is unreasonable to expect that thoughts would not drift towards the political struggles to come.

The organizers of the memorial could do nothing to prevent such outbursts; in fact, despite the number of politicians in the crowd—including more than half the Senate—only the victims’ close friends and family members actually spoke. Compared to Sen. Mel Carnahan’s memorial in 2000, where then-President Bill Clinton spoke, this memorial at the outset contained even fewer political overtones. The spirit shown at Wellstone’s memorial was a product of the grassroots crowd in attendance. It in no way tarnishes the senator’s memory. On the contrary, the sentiments expressed exemplify that fighting spirit we will so surely miss.

—Phoebe M. W. Kosman ’05, Nicholas F. B. Smyth ’05

and Benjamin J. Toff ’05