you had leonid brezhnev to contend with, not combat again, on where sadat, jim callahan and margaret thatcher. those are some pretty hefty names in modern history. and omar tarihjos. that was somebody you had to deal with when figuring out how to settle the 100-year issue of the panama canal. >> that was the most political issue i ever faced her it was more difficult for me to get 67 votes to approve a very unpopular treaty that was to be elected president in the first place them not really? >> it was a right vote, i thought it was the most courageous vote in congress. of the 20 people who voted for the treaty in the senate in 1978, they were up for re- election that year, out of the 20, only seven came back to the senate in january. two years later, it was equal to that. it was the right thing to do ended alleviated tension that had been building up between the united states and the latin- american countries even since the late sessions of the eisenhower administration. >> it sounds like you feel that decision has aged well. >> people were saying they were drug addicts and incompete

but you had leonid fresh never, anwar sadat, jim callahan and then margaret thatcher. some pretty hefty names in modern history. >> a notable person. >> and omar that' hose, maybe not of some of the same heft as some of the people i named, but somebody you had to deal with when figuring out how to settle the 100-year-old challenge of the panama canal. >> that was the most difficult political issue i ever faced. it was more difficult for me to get 67 votes to approve a very up popular -- unpopular treaty than it was to be elected president in the first place. >> really? >> yes. and i think that the vote of the senate -- it was the right vote -- was the most courageous act that any member of the congress has ever taken. just one quick statistic, of the 20 people who voted for the treaty in the senate in 1978, they were up for re-election that year. out of 20, only seven came back to the senate next january, and the attrition rate two years later in 1980 was with almost equal to that. but it was the right thing to do, and it alleviated tension that had been building up be

jim rupert is a sport senator in my hometown newspaper in springfield. he was also dan callahan's brother-in-law. in his column the day after dan died he said when the official scorer in the sky makes his final ruling, he will say dan callahan lost his nearly five-year battle with cancer monday afternoon but the 52-year-old callahan was a baseball guy who went down swinging battling the dreaded disease to the bottom of the ninth inning. mr. president, dan callahan coached the sport he loved and it's a unique sport. it is one of the few sports, team sports that has no time clock. baseball is only over when it's over and that's the way life is too. at the end of his life, dan callahan still sits in that dugout and with a watchful coach's eye he scans the field and sees hundreds of young men whose lives he touched players and families who will never forget him. he taught them more than baseball. he taught them about life and courage, about themselves and their relationships with others. i have known dan all his life. i consider it a blessing to have counted him as a friend. lou gehri