Franzese, Paula A.

English

Seton Hall University eRepository

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In Memory of Congressman Peter W. Rodino, Jr.
1909–2005
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Keep That Good Heart: The Life and Legacy
of Congressman Peter W. Rodino, Jr.
Paula A. Franzese*
The last words spoken to me by my beloved mentor and
friend, Congressman Peter W. Rodino, just days before his passing,
were: “Keep that good heart.”  In those four words we find the mea-
sure of the man and the magnitude of his legacy.  Keep that good
heart, mindful that there will be many temptations to do otherwise.
This life can be a vessel of sadness, but even in the face of all dis-
enchantment, cynicism and disappointment, keep that good heart.
Peter Rodino asked us to be relentless in our capacity to
anchor ourselves in love, in compassion, in humility and in virtue,
no matter the naysayers.  We live in a world that finds itself preoc-
cupied with glamour and status and fortune and fame.  Yet, here is
this iconic public figure, who walked with kings and held the hand
of a nation as he navigated the way out of a constitutional crisis of
unparalleled dimension, who valued, above all else, goodness of
heart.  He respected intelligence, and he was brilliant, but he
respected kindness even more.
And so it was, with great love, that this humble boy from New-
ark, the son of a carpenter and the child of Italian immigrants,
moved mountains.  His illustrious career in the House of Repre-
sentatives began in 1948, and spanned four decades.  Always, he
ran on his own terms, never beholden to anyone or anything.  He
sought public office as a politician in the highest and best sense of
the word.  He was a champion of the underdog and a spokesman
for those without a voice.  It has been said that the principal cause
of human suffering is forgetfulness.  Peter never forgot who he was,
what he stood for or where he came from.
John Henry Newman wrote, “I sought to hear the voice of
God, and climbed the topmost steeple.  But God declared, ‘Go
down again.  I dwell among the people.’”  Peter Rodino heard the
voice of God in the voices of the people.  And there, he found the
courage to do what needed to be done.  He came to the House to
* Peter W. Rodino Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law.  Prof.
Franzese delivered this eulogy at Congressman Rodino’s funeral at St. Lucy’s Church
in Newark, New Jersey, on May 16, 2005.
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accomplish civil rights reform, to redress the inequities of the na-
tion’s immigration laws and to promote equal access to justice for
all.  And so he did.
Quietly, during a time when such an agenda for reform was
fiercely unpopular, he worked relentlessly, securing a seat on the
House Judiciary Committee and serving as a key lieutenant whose
work in the trenches, on the floor of the House, helped to secure
the passage of virtually every major civil rights bill, including the
watershed Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The Civil Rights Museum in
Birmingham, Alabama contains the historic photograph of Presi-
dent Lyndon B. Johnson signing that landmark legislation into law,
flanked by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to his left and Con-
gressman Peter Rodino to his right.
Congressman Rodino was a champion for the cause of civil
rights and civil liberties because he chose to be a man for all peo-
ple, irrespective of race, class, gender or ethnic origin.  It is no acci-
dent that, until his last days, he carried in his pocket a tattered
copy of the Preamble to the United States Constitution.  The Pre-
amble begins with the words, “We the people.”  It holds out the
promise that the blessings of liberty belong not just to some of us,
but to all of us.
In 1974, this great patriot had a date with destiny.  As a coun-
try on the brink of a constitutional impasse waited (and this four-
teen year old sat transfixed in front of the television set), the
Watergate hearings began.  In Peter Rodino, humility met prepara-
tion, and the boy from Barringer High School, who had dedicated
a lifetime to the cause of fundamental fairness and equal justice
under law, accepted the challenge.
We watched as the gentleman from Newark, carrying the
weight of a nation’s suffering on his shoulders, stood firm and dig-
nified and tall, never wavering from his reverence for the office of
the presidency and never departing from his conviction that our
great democracy would withstand, indeed, transcend, this greatest
test.
Because of him, it did.  And because of him, we did.  In the
process, Peter Rodino gave us something that we desperately
needed.  He gave us hope.  Timothy White wrote, “Historically, cer-
tain figures emerge from despairing cultures to reinterpret old
symbols and beliefs and invest them with new meaning.  An indi-
vidual’s decision to play such a role may be purely unconscious, but
it can sometimes evolve into an acute awareness that he or she may
indeed have the gift, as well as the burden, of prophecy.”  Peter
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Rodino was such a figure.  Senator Ted Kennedy, in sending his
condolences, said: “Many of us felt as we watched the Watergate
hearings that we were seeing a founding father in action, living the
highest ideals of the Constitution.  I’m sure my brother would have
called him a profile in courage.  I feel the same way, and I’ll never
forget him.”
When all is said and done, none of us will ever forget Peter
Rodino, because of the way that he made us feel.  His life bears
living witness to the greatness of our nation.  His story reminds us
that we live in a world of infinite possibilities, and that there is a
force that meets good with good.  We watched, and we knew.  Here
was a gifted leader who was, first and foremost, a good person.  It is
a testament to the man that, when the vote to impeach was ren-
dered, rather than grandstand or resort to petty partisanship, Peter
Rodino retreated to his private chambers and wept.  Always, he
kept that good heart.
Congressman Rodino spoke to our community last October, at
the Rodino Society Dinner, and urged us to live a life that matters.
What will matter, he said, is not your success, but your significance;
not what you bought, but what you built. A life that matters is a life
lived with great love.
Congressman Rodino, we bask in the glow of your magnificent
heart.  And although our own hearts ache because your days on
Earth have come to an end, we know that the angels rejoiced as
they welcomed you home.  We know that you must have received
the most extraordinary standing ovation of all time, amidst the re-
sounding cheers and the tears of joy, all proclaiming: “Well done,
Mr. Chairman, well done.”
(xi)


Keep that Good Heart: The Life and Legacy of Congressman Peter W. Rodino, Jr.

https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1166&amp;context=shlr

Keep that Good Heart: The Life and Legacy of Congressman Peter W. Rodino, Jr.

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