If you are wondering how an old politician from Mississippi gets himself caught in this situation, sandwiched between an introduction by Tom Farer and a major speech by Hardy Dillard, I am even more puzzled than you are.

I deeply appreciate the warmth of the introduction and have been trying to think of appropriate replies to all the kind things Tom has said. As to Tom’s reference to my modesty, I recall that when Winston Churchill was told that Clement Attlee was a modest man, his retort was: “What does he have to be modest about?”