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Senate Speeches
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“He just had something to say and he went down and said it."
Richard A. Arenberg: Staff to Senators Paul Tsongas, George Mitchell and Carl Levin
Arenberg describes how Senator Paul Tsongas' unconventional maiden Senate speech upset his senior colleague from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy.
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“'Well, the one thing we do know about is that undelivered speech of yours from November 1963.'"
Richard A. Baker: Senate Historian
Baker recalls how Senator Mike Mansfield finally came to deliver his classic 1963 Senate speech.
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“'Senator, I'll tell you when to speak. This is not the time.'"
Stewart E. McClure: Chief Clerk, Senate Committee on Labor, Education, and Public Welfare
McClure recalls how his boss, freshman Democrat Guy Gillette, was instructed by Republican senator Hiram Johnson on when to make his maiden speech.
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William F. Hildenbrand: Secretary of the Senate
Interviewed in 1985, Hildenbrand recalls the bygone Senate custom of new senators refraining from speechmaking during their first year in office.