Tuesday, Apr 26, 2005

    WALLA, Wash.—Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton, who served on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission), told an audience of students and town people Monday, April 25, in Whitman’s Maxey Auditorium that a failure of imagination led to the tragedy of 9/11.

    Gorton reported on the commission’s findings and recommendations in the context of presenting the college’s inaugural Governor Arthur B. Langlie Lecture in Northwest History, Politics and Public Service. Gorton, who said he was inspired to enter Washington politics by the example set by Gov. Langlie at the 1952 Republican convention, said the most important part of the commission’s report is the 80 percent that is a precise history of the 9/11 terrorist attack. The other 20 percent, recommendations on what to do and how to do it, may or may not be implemented, he said, but the history will stand.

    “We produced a factual, dispassionate complete history of 9/11” in the commission report, said Gorton with never a partisan vote among the five Democratic and five Republican committee members. “All 10 of us were in agreement down to the last footnote.”     

    In a follow-up discussion with students over coffee the next morning, Gorton reflected on his life as a politician and public servant, and fielded questions about his career and politics in general. Asked whether an elected public official should vote according to his own best judgment or to reflect the views of his constituency, Gorton said that it is up to a politician, whose “full time job” it is to make these decisions, to make choices based on best information and best judgement, and then be able to justify his decision to constituents when they call.

CONTACT: Lenel Parish, Whitman College News Service, (509) 527-5156; Email: parishlj@whitman.edu