WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) this evening spoke on the floor of the United States Senate to honor the centennial birthday of former Maine U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie. Senator Muskie would have turned 100 tomorrow, March 28^th, 2014.

“Ed Muskie is a true American hero, and there’s no way that my poor words or anybody else’s can really capture his career and the impact he made,” Senator King said. “I think perhaps the closest I could come is to recall Sir Christopher Wren’s epitaph, which is on his tomb in St. Paul’s Cathedral.…It says, ‘If you would see his memorial, look around you.’”

“If you see Ed Muskie’s memorial, look around you. Take a deep breath. Experience our great rivers. Experience the environment that we now have in this country that we treasure and is so much a part of who we are across the country – and in, of course, the state of Maine. Ed Muskie was a great man. He was a great member of this body, and it’s an honor for me…to be standing today in his seat – the seat that he held for those important years from 1958 to 1980 and served our country so, so well. Ed Muskie is a man who belongs to the ages, who we all miss, who made such a difference in all of our lives.”

Born in Rumford, Maine on March 28, 1914, Ed Muskie served as Governor of Maine from 1955-59 and as United States Senator for Maine from 1959-1980 before he was appointed U.S. Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter. During his time in the Senate, Muskie was a legislative giant, known for his role as the principal architect of the landmark Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, which to this day, continue to protect the integrity of America’s environment.

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