WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) in a floor speech yesterday paid tribute to his mentor and good friend, former U.S. Senator Bill Hathaway, who passed away on Monday at the age of 89. From 1973 to 1974, Senator King served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics under Senator Hathaway.

 The transcript of Senator King's remarks is as follows:

“Mr. President, I rise in sadness today because America and the State of Maine lost a friend yesterday: one of my predecessors in this office, Senator Bill Hathaway, who served 14 years in the Congress, eight in the House, and six in the Senate – in the Senate from 1973 to 1978.

“I knew him well because I worked for him as a staff member here in the Senate. In fact, I was sworn in as a United States Senator 40 years from the day that I entered Senate service on behalf of Bill Hathaway in January of 1973. So I had a chance, as all staff members do, to see him up close, to see him operate as a Senator and as a person. I was asked today several questions about him and what characterized Bill Hathaway, and the first thing I said was he always put people first. He really and truly didn’t pay much attention to politics. He always wanted to do what is right.

“And I remember being in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building and talking about the political ramifications of some bill or some vote, and he sat back his chair and said, ‘You know, it’s hard enough around here to figure out what the right thing to do is. When you add the politics on top of it, it becomes practically impossible.” That was the way he thought, and that was the way he acted. In fact, I once sent him a memo as a young staff member that had in it some political ramifications of a particular vote. I wish I had saved the memo because in his inimitable scrawl at the top of the page when it came back to me it said, ‘I pay you for policy, not political advice.’ And that was the kind of guy he was.

“And one of the things that I noticed about him, which was a tremendous influence on my life, was he was exactly same person in private as he was in public. There wasn’t a different Bill Hathaway on the stump or in Maine, or making speeches, or on television, than the one I saw behind closed doors, driving around Washington or around Maine, through the small towns, getting a haircut, spending time together. He was always the same person, with the same values, and the same concern for the people of Maine.

“If you haven’t gathered it already, Mr. President, Bill Hathaway taught me a lot about how to do this job. Next to my Dad, he was probably the most influential adult in my life when I was a young person. He was honest. He was smart. He was analytical, and he was motivated to do the right thing for the people of this country and the people of the State of Maine.

“And I have one personal story as well, because I think it speaks to the kind of person that he was. Unfortunately, when I was working here in 1974, I was stricken with a dangerous and unusual form of cancer. I ended up having significant surgery. I, again, was one of many staff members who worked for Bill Hathaway, but one of the most vivid memories of my life was waking up in the hospital after my surgery in the recovery room and looking up, and I saw my wife on one side of the bed, and standing at the end of the bed in hospital green scrubs was U.S. Senator Bill Hathaway. That was the kind of man he was.

“He was a politician, but in a good sense of the word. He was a man who really thought about the people and took so seriously the responsibilities of this office. We lost him yesterday. I think he was about 90 years old, but he never lost his interest in Maine or in people or in the issues of the country. I was fortunate to spend some time with him recently, and he hadn’t lost a step when it came to thinking about these kinds of questions. He was good-natured. He was funny, and he was genuine.

“Mr. President, as I said at the beginning, Maine and the United States of America lost a friend yesterday, and it’s one who I will miss terribly.”

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