When Giants Walked

When I learned on Saturday that three prominent political families had each lost someone--the Kennedys, the Mondales, and the Percys--I found myself transported to 1971, when I was in 9th grade. Our history teachers took us to Washington, D. C., that year, and we were on the lookout for famous senators. I remember the thrill at seeing Hubert Humphrey, Charles Percy, and Jacob Javits.

Imagine any ninth graders now being excited by the sight of a U. S. Senator. Max Baucus, Mary Landrieu, Harry Reid, Orrin Hatch? The list of senators from the 92nd Congress, 1971 - 1973, however, is filled with distinguished names: J. William Fulbright, Margaret Chase Smith, Mike Mansfield, Sam Ervin, Frank Church, Edmund Muskie, Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, Birch Bayh, Walter Mondale, Howard Baker, Mark Hatfield, Barry Goldwater, and Alan Cranston. I could list more.

What's happened? A lot, of course. The money in politics, the 24-hour news cycle, our polarized parties, widespread cynicism, not to mention my own yearning for the past. Still, the senators from the 92nd Congress loomed large in ways that I miss. They represented all of us, not just the narrow interests of their own states. They were public servants of the United States of America, even when we disagreed with them.

Maybe they weren't giants, and surely they had their warts. But they held our respect, they took seriously the issues of the day, and they worked on our behalf. They did the job we paid them to do. I don't think we can say the same of our senators today.