European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 6, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday june 6, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 2t Case one David s. Broder in 1987, when Harold Washington was finishing his first term As mayor of Chicago rep. Dan Rostenkowski d-ili., came under Strong pressure to run against him. It came from Rostenkowski s allies leaders of the democratic machine eager to reclaim City Hall from the Reform minded Black mayor who had ousted them in 1983. As a product of the machine and a proud chicagoan Rostenkowski knew that being mayor was 10 times More important in the eyes of his family his friends and his constituents than being chairman of the House ways and Means committee. When i went on one of my periodic visits to his spacious chairman a office Rosty made it Clear that he too thought being mayor would be a great Way to wind up his career in Public office. The republicans were in the White House a new generation was taking Over the House of representatives his wife and daughters were in Chicago Why. Not go Home All this he imparted in the same direct profane Way he always talked with reporters he knew. And he said one other thing. A i think i could win the primary Over Washington and then withstand whatever Challenge a Republican   the hesitancy then what was holding him Back from running for mayor when he could do so in the midst of a congressional term with no risk to his seniority or chairmanship he Shook his big head and waved his hand dismissively. A i could win a he said. A but i   if he beat the first Black mayor in Chicago history he said the resulting bitterness would make the next four years a Nightmare in terms of running the City and attacking its problems. That 7-year-old conversation has been returning to mind As in be pondered the source of the genuine sadness that has affected almost everyone in official Wash Brigton at the stinging 17-count indictment a Federal prosecutor has brought against the 66-year-old Rostenkowski. The indictment is a chamber of horrors of alleged kickbacks chicanery fraud and embezzlement of Public funds totalling the government says at least half a million dollars. After Reading it you could see Why Rostenkowski Sace criminal attorney urged him to plea bargain. The ways and Means chairman says he is innocent and will fight the Case in court As he should Given his belief in the propriety of his own actions. Outside Washington and perhaps Chicago the reaction As conveyed by news reports is that one More Capitol Hill sleaze has gotten his comeuppance. But Here in Washington where Rostenkowski worked for the last 35 years the reaction is one More of tears than of anger. Maybe that a just a reflection of the stunted moral character Many citizens impute to the capital. I prefer to think that it is Washington a appreciation of Sunset ror Danny the rarity of people like Rostenkowski with a passion not just to win elections but to govern. Whatever else Rosty May be he is not one of those blow dried Media Wise political mannequins who does no to know what he thinks about an Issue until he stalked to his pollster. As a Public official he loves heavy lifting. Since becoming chairman of ways and Means in 1981, Rostenkowski has helped three presidents do their Best work on behalf of the country he was vital in passing the tax Reform act of 1986, the landmark achievement of Ronald Reagan a second term and maybe the Best tax Bill of modern times. Four years later his speeches saying that both tax Dikcis and spending cuts were necessary to curb runaway deficits erod Dea George Bush into serious negotiations on a budget Deal. Although Bush later repudiated the agreement for political reasons it was an effective act of statesmanship. A with Bill Clinton in the White House Rostenkowski was his lieutenant in both of the big successful fights of the first year a the budget arid co nomic plan and the approval of Naftal the North american free Trade agreement. He was busting his Tail trying to get Clinton a health care Bill out of ways and Means Semi intact when the indictment came Down and forced him under democratic caucus rules to step aside As chairman of the committee. It did not matter to him that two of the presidents were republicans he liked them both personally and even if he Hadnot the needs of the country would have impelled him to do what he did. None of this excuses or condones the actions for which he has been indicted a if they occurred. In time a jury will determine his guilt or innocence on these charges. What his colleagues know and affirm is that in the part of his Public life they observed Rostenkowski lived by a code As strict As any you could wish. He told you what he was going to do he did not dissemble. He kept his word if he promised something he delivered. He was always upfront even when he knew you would disagree with him. Phrases like these arc All Over my interviews with ways and Means members Republican and democratic even after they knew the government was Corning Down hard on him. No capital Ever has a surplus of politicians with those qualities. Rosty is a Warrior someone who is willing to Lake on Tough fights who knows when to Compromise and How to win. Seeing him brought Down a even by what arc alleged to be his own weaknesses a is a citywide sorrow. C Washington Post. Strains of this Gritty a love song not forgotten Normandy France a a old men forget a said Shakespeare a Henry v before the Battle of Agincourt during an invasion of Normandy. But not the old men who As Young men stormed the beaches Here half a Century ago. By june 6, 1944 a two Days after . Forces reached Rome the first Axis capital to fall a the Cream of the went Macht 2 million men had been killed in Russia. And still the Normandy invasion was a hard won Success. If Adolf Hitler had not been a habitual late Sleeper if that morning he had unleashed the Panzer divisions North of Paris which German Field marshal Erwin Rommel might have got him to do if Rommel had not been in Germany for his wife a birthday the War could have been even longer. But even before a Day the defeat of Germany was certain. A most americans say the War began dec. 7, 1941. Actually that is the Day the War that began sept. 1, 1939, began to end because of two events 7,000 Miles apart. One was the attack on Pearl Harbor which brought . Industry into the War. British prime minister Winston Churchill whose greatness included a gift for seeing the sweep of things said he slept a the sleep of the saved that night knowing the wars outcome a so we had won after All a also on dec. 7, a soviet counterattack drove Back German forces that had advanced to the outskirts of Moser w. That night Hitler drafted directive 39 a the severe Winter weather which has come surprisingly Early in the East and the consequent difficulties in bringing up supplies compel us to abandon immediately All major offensive operations and to go Over to the  the easy drive to Paris in 1940 convinced Hitler that his offensive revolution in arms a tanks motorized infantry with radio coordination dive bombers functioning As flying artillery a could negate the manufacturing weight of the democracies. He was wrong. In 1939, the . Army of 170,000 was smaller than George f. Will those of 15 other nations including Romania. On a Day that Many Allied soldiers crossed the Channel. In 1939, America manufactured 800 aircraft civilian and military. In 1940, it manufactured 40,000. _ hitlers racialist theories told him that America enervated by Prosperity and do. Graded by a polyglot population could not produce worthy warriors. Wron again. Stephen Ambrose president Eisenhower a biographer and president of the a Day museum being developed in new Orleans Calls a Day a a love song to democracy Quot German soldiers were magnificently obedient to orders us befitted Young men socialized by 11 years of totalitarianism. But americans with the Talent for spontaneous self organization that French statesman Alexis de Tocque Ville considered a National characteristic adapted to the chaos of combat in a confined coastal strip. Bold in Conception and heroic in execution the invasion was an astounding exercise not Only of logistics but also of secrecy. Germany misled by Allied intelligence services did not know on which part of the coast the blow would fall even though in May 1944, a gust of wind blew 12 copies of invasion plans out of a window of the British War office in London. Eleven copies were quickly recovered by scrambling aides two at a hours later a civilian never identifier returned the 12th to a military sentry and walked away. A Day came 30 years into the 75-year crisis that began in june 1914 with pistol shots in Sarajevo and ended in Berlin nov. 9, 1989, when the Wall crumbled. Arguably the invasion was the third of the three most consequential Battles in american history a Saratoga which saved the revolution Gettysburg where the confederacy crested and Normandy where the United states stepped Forward As the Leader of the West. The invasion hastened the end of the War and hence of the holocaust. So let there also be remembrance of something else that happened june 6, 1944. That Day germans on Crete packed 400 greek hostages 300 italian pos and 260 jews on a boat sent it to sea and scuttled it killing All. Such murderous Ness writ Large across a continent was Why they went ashore that Day those Young men now grown old and those who did not get to grow old. A c wishing Lon pest