Two hundred and eighty-eight days have passed since the tragic news reached us here in Washington of the disappearance of NICK BEGICH and our majority leader, Hale Boggs, on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska. There have been days in which all of us, who knew both so well, have had time to measure the full loss this House has sustained by their untimely departure.

The majority leader had flown to Alaska after many long sessions leading to the adjournment of the 92d Congress last year. Nick had invited him to attend two dinners in Anchorage and Juneau and both of them joined in this trip with great fervor and enthusiasm. From reports we have heard of that tremendously successful first dinner at the Anchorage Westward Hotel on Sunday night, October 15, it was an evening long to be remembered. The friendship and camaraderie between these two men spread to the audience and created a radiant effect among the NICK BEGICH supporters gathered to pay respects to Hale and NICK.

Both of them were in their usual good humor and both were engaged in, what was for them, a consuming love-politics. The next morning, October 16, 1972 there was more of this good humor as they departed on a private plane with NICK's special assistant, Russ Brown, for the 700-mile flight to Juneau.

It was typical of NICK's thoughtfulness that he had arranged this flight so that his guest would have a longer time to rest for NICK knew that it had been a long session prior to their departure and an even more tedious trip to Alaska. NICK was used to these weekend sorties to Alaska, 10,000 miles round trip, but for Hale it was a tremendously tiring experience. He was, however, as good as his word and knew NICK was counting on him to be there for the occasion. The commercial flight had departed at 6 a.m. that Monday morning for Juneau and NICK felt that a couple of more hours of sleep would help Hale adjust to the time differences and the trip. It was this kind of thoughtfulness and concern which impressed many of us with NICK as a new Member of the 92d Congress in January 1971.

Born in Eveleth, Minn., of immigrant parents, NICK early in life gained a tremendous respect for government from his parents. Mr. and Mrs. John Begich, still living in Eveleth, came to see their youngest son sworn into the Congress on January 21, 1971. It was a day of unbelievable pride for the Begiches and a day of real achievement for NICK-for this had been a goal Nick had worked for all of his

life. In fact, every step NICK had made in his life seems, in retrospect, to have been a step which brought him closer to that goal as a Member of the Congress. His parents, so proud of their son, knew the work and sacrifice which had gone into NICK's plans. It was a magnificent day for them and for NICK's beautiful wife, Pegge, and their six children. All were there to share the success which they had helped NICK achieve.

NICK was torn between two loves early in life-the love of government and the love of teaching. It was, therefore, a happy combination when he became a student at St. Cloud State College majoring in history, government and education. Typical of NICK's desire to do everything in a hurry and to excel at the same time, he completed a four-year course at St. Cloud in 22 years and when he graduated cum laude in 1952, just having turned 20 years of age, he was selected to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and had been invited to join two honor societies.

For the next 4 years he taught at St. Cloud High School and it was here that he became more and more active in the Democratic Party. He was selected as the 2d vice president of the Minnesota Young Democrats when, now U.S. Senator Walter Mondale, was elected' as the 1st vice president, and he was very active throughout Minnesota on behalf of Senator Hubert Humphrey in his first campaign for reelection in 1954.

Although St. Cloud High School was notable for his first encounter in teaching and politics, it is even more notable as the setting of NICK and Pegge Begich's meeting. Pegge was NICK's student at the high school and it was here the paths of these two remarkable people joined. Pegge graduated in 1956 and NICK headed for Alaska to work for the U.S. Department of Labor that summer and, in the fall, he became Boys' Counselor at Anchorage West High School in Anchorage. Alaska beckoned to NICK as a new frontier where he could really become involved in the political and educational arena as a real pioneer. At Christmas time of that year he went back to Minnesota, married Pegge, and they honeymooned along the Alaska Highway in that late December of 1956. Thus, the NICK and Pegge Begich team began and Alaska gained two of its most ardent and energetic adopted citizens.

From that point on education and politics was the consuming interest of both of them. While NICK's educational career blossomed

from counselor to director of student personnel to principal and then to superintendent of schools in the next 2 years, his political career also made steady progress, culminating with his election to the Alaska State Senate in the same period. His indefatigable industry was as broad as his senatorial district which extended from the Canadian border to the Pribilof Islands, some 1,500 miles east to west, and from the tip of the Aleutian chain to Mount McKinley, another 1,500 miles south to north.

NICK soon became known as "Mr. Education” and it was a title he held throughout his political career, particularly in the rural areas of Alaska. His work in the Alaska State Senate on behalf of educators and education marked him early as a leader. Much of his landmark legislation, passed years ago in Alaska, is just now being introduced in the "lower 48" States. Selected as chairman of the Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee when he first assumed office in 1963, he remained a member of this important committee for his 8 years in the Alaska Senate. Reapportioned into a smaller area, the city of Anchorage, after his first 4-year term, NICK was reelected resoundingly in 1966 and became minority whip of the Alaska Senate for the next 4 years.

NICK's pride in his wife and six children was well known. It can truly be said that he had no hobbies or other interests except politics and his family. They took every minute of his time and his total dedication was to both of them.

Pegge and NICK soon became favorites here in Washington and they were often in attendance at two or three different evening or weekend events, always representing Alaska in their open and unpretentious way. On those weekends when NICK was flying 5,000 miles off to Alaska and 5,000 miles back on a Sunday night to be here for Monday sessions, Pegge would fill in for him when Alaska needed to be represented. It was a real partnership in every sense of the word and their six remarkable children, ranging in age from 15 years down to 5 years of age, were also participating members in the close-knit family group.

There were many things that could be said about NICK BEGICH. We all knew him for his inexhaustible energy; his outging personality; his skill as a legislator; his devotion to the House of Representatives which he loved so much. He soon became legendary and the halls of the Longworth Building were often danger zones when NICK

came running down the corridor from room 1210 to the subway or up to the stairs to the Interior Committee, or to the Public Works Committee rooms. Indeed, he became known as the Congressman who was everywhere at once, a habit he first developed at St. Cloud State when he oftentimes took more than one class at the same time so he could graduate sooner. This ability to move quickly was a prerequisite for a Congressman from Alaska which is one-fifth the size of the United States for he had to be everywhere and at once there,

too.

As chairman of the Democratic Study Group during the 92d Congress, I worked closely with NICK. In addition to all his other duties, he served as vice chairman of the DSG's Indian Education Task Force. NICK was recognized as an effective legislator among his colleagues in the 92d Congress. He was elected as the first freshman representative to serve on the DSG Executive Committee.

To Pegge Begich and those six children; to Mr. and Mrs. Begich and NICK's family in Minnesota; to the staff who worked so closely with him in Washington and in Alaska, and to his many friends in Alaska and Washington—we know that your loss has been a terribly tragic one. For we knew NICK as a man of integrity. We knew him as a man of compassion. We knew him as a man with a deep and inquiring intellect. He was a genuine, though gentle, human being. To have known him was to have touched greatness; and we are the better for it. Unfortunately, we were able to have walked along his pathway for too short a time.

Although Minnesota was his birthplace and Alaska was his home, it was here in Washington as a Member of the 92d Congress, that NICK really found that niche which really fitted his abilities-that of the all-encompassing, all-consuming, and totally dedicated Congressman representing Alaska, which he was for so brief a time.

We shall miss him greatly.

Mr. MOORHEAD of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my sorrow about the tragedy to Alaska, to the Congress, and to this great Nation arising from the loss of our beloved colleague, NICK BEGICH.

At a time when certain people are saying that young people should not enter public service, I hope that these magnificent contributions of NICK BEGICH are an inspiring record of idealism, and his outstanding

record of contributions to his beloved State of Alaska will inspire young people to help us to serve our country.

To his courageous wife. Pegge, with whom I spoke very shortly after the report of the loss of the airplane, and to his family, I extend my deepest sympathy. I can only say, may the memory of his inspired life of public service be of some comfort to them.

Mr. HUNGATE. Mr. Speaker:

Somehow life is not what I thought it
and somehow the gold isn't all.
No! There's the land-Have you seen it?)
It's the cussedest land that I know.
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it
To the deep, death-like valleys below
Some say God was tired when he made it;
Some say it's a fine land to shun;

Maybe: but there's some as would trade it

Today we pay our respects to our late colleague, NICK BEGICH, Alaska's third Congressman since Statehood. This House sustained a great loss with his disappearance on that flight of October 16, 1972. For Nick loved this House and he took to Congress like a hummingbird to a flowerbed." He was, indeed, a young man who seemed to be on top of everything whether it pertained to Alaska or concerned other issues of national or parochial interest. Not only that, but he seemed to be everywhere.

Nick spent long hours on the floor of this House listening to the debate, meeting other Members and learning every legislative procedure. He spent hundreds of hours in committee sessions and was so skilled in understanding issues and concepts, he was able to get to the core of an issue with ease. Nick believed in talking to other Members to determine their problems, for he knew he would need their equal compassion when it came time for the biggest battle of all, the passage of the Alaska Native Land Claims. His understanding of this House showed his remarkable perception. How well he was able to work within the, sometimes difficult, rules of this House was obvious when, in his first year, he was able to bring about the passage of the Alaska native land claims legislation almost singlehandedly.

Majority Leader Hale Boggs, on the night of October 15 in Anchorage, told those assembled at the Anchorage Westward Hotel to