Sen. J. W. Fulbright's final speech in the United States Senate

              LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING
AHEAD

Mr. FULBRIGHT. Mr. President, in 
these final hours of my 32-year career 
in the U.S. Congress, I wisii to express 
my gratitude and esteem, both to 
Members of this body with whom it lias been 
my privilege to work:, and to the 
institution itself.
I have participated in many vigorous 
debates over these years in the Senate, 
but with rare exceptions these have been 
free of rancor and personal recrimination. 
We have engaged here in a practice 
the British used to call "government by 
discussion." It has not by any means 
been an exercise in pure reason, but 
neither in general are human affairs, and 
we politicians—contrary to rumor—are 
members of the human race. However 
much I have agreed or disagreed with 
my, colleagues over the years, I have 
always been deeply impressed with the
ability of Senators past and present—
to represent the people who sent them 
here. For my own part, I take pride and 
satisfaction that, as part of the team of 
Congressmen and Senators representing 
the State of Arkansas, I have been able 
to make a contribution to the remarkable 
progress which has brought the 
people of my State from comparative poverty 
and underdevelopment 30 years ago 
to their present vibrant prosperity.
Wrote Walter Baghehot:
A constitutional statesman is in general a 
man of common opinions and -uncommon 
abilities.
Having been privileged to know a great 
many Members of this body over three 
decades, I can testify to the accuracy of 
that statement. The Senate as I have 
known it is a representative, democratic 
institution composed of some of the most 
gifted individuals in our society.