Senator
Thurmond Quits Irish National Caucus
Because of
Clinton Support
Washington, D.C., October 1, 1998 -- The oldest
member of the U.S. Senate has resigned as a Congressional
Friend of the Capitol Hill-based Irish lobby, the Irish
National Caucus. 95-year-old
Strom Thurmond, Republican from South Carolina, has asked
that his name be taken of the list of Congressional
Friends that appears on the Caucus'
official letterhead. (81 names of U.S. Senators and
Representatives, Republican and Democrat, appear on the
stationery).
What caused the Senator to withdraw his name was
the letter Fr. Sean McManus, President of the Irish
National Caucus, sent to all Members of Congress
protesting the unfair and partisan attempts to drive
President Clinton from office.
Fr. McManus wrote,
"The President sinned sexually and tried to conceal it.
That — and that alone — is what this sorry issue is about.
To try to impeach the President for that
would be to trivialize and demean the impeachment
process. Jefferson, Madison, and
Mason would be turning in their graves at such an absurd
prospect. The
President did
not use his Office to subvert the Constitution or to
destroy the The President has confessed his sin and has asked for forgiveness.
Let those in Congress without sin cast the first
stone.
History and the voters will render a decisive
judgment on Members of
Congress who for their own selfish, self-righteous,
or partisan reasons try to destroy the Presidency of Bill
Clinton."
Duke Short, Sen. Thurmond's Chief of Staff, called
Fr. McManus on Thursday, October 1, 1998.
"Mr. Short was concerned that people would
think Senator Thurmond was in agreement with my
letter," said Fr. McManus.
"I expressed my surprise at that and told him
that I did not think that anybody could possibly think
that the individuals listed on our letterhead as
Congressional Friends would be seen
as agreeing with or endorsing every letter we wrote
That clearly is not the role of our Congressional
Friends, nor would we ever accept that our
Congressional Friends would or could
have a veto on any letter we send out.
But Mr. Short explained that the Senator had not
publicly said anything about the Clinton issue because it
may be coming before the Senate, and he therefore did not
want the Senator to remain on our stationery.
He asked us to remove the Senator's name from our
letterhead, and of course we shall.
His name will not appear on the new stationery we
print up for the new Congress in 1999," said Fr.
McManus.
Strom Thurmond had given permission to the Caucus
to list him as a Congressional Friend in a letter dated
September 22, 1982. He
wrote,
"Dear Fr. McManus,
Thank you for your recent letter asking for a
photograph and statement of support. I hope the
attached photo and the quotation below will meet your
needs.
Throughout history, countries in all parts of the
world have experienced some form of internal division.
Fortunately, for many, these differences were
resolved in
time. It is my sincere hope, and prayer, that peace and unity will
soon come to Ireland, and that a mutually beneficial arrangement may be
reached for the good
of all its citizens.
I commend the Irish National Caucus for its
unceasing efforts to
make this dream a reality."
END
