00:00Thank you very much Vice President Vance members of the cabinet members of the House and Senate
00:08distinguished guests Darlene and the entire Graham family love you all today we gather in the deepest
00:21gratitude and profoundest sorrow to honor a beloved friend a devoted brother a respected
00:30statesman a giant of the United States Senate and a true American original who left us much too soon
00:41and that can only be the one and only Lindsey Graham by the strength of his steadfast conviction
00:50the force of his magnetic personality and the goodness of his noble soul Lindsey Rhodes from a
00:58small town in rural South Carolina place he loved so much to become a constant fixture of American
01:07politics at the highest level and a force to be reckoned with all over the world for more than 30
01:14years nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it
01:21nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having a view on it
01:28and no bill became law in the most exceptional republic in human history without Lindsey Graham having a say
01:36in it he was a man who gave America the full measure of his good and mighty heart until that
01:45heart itself
01:47just gave out but even though Lindsey's life was cut short while he was still so full of vim and
01:56vigor
01:57there can be no doubt that he lived absolutely to the fullest he died doing the work he was born
02:04to do
02:05he was truly a great politician serving the country he loved to serve so deeply he went out at the
02:15peak of his
02:16career the top of his game as a legend that every one of us many of us here today blessed
02:24to know him and a friend
02:26that none of us will ever forget there was truly nobody like Lindsey Graham it was
02:35his hometown of central South Carolina that Lindsey first learned the art of politics his parents ran a bar and
02:45pool hall on
02:46Main Street with a room in the back where the family spent and slept and did everything that you had
02:53to do as
02:55Lindsey said his father taught him the key to being a successful bar owner is that you have to be
03:01funny enough that people will keep
03:03coming back and that you have to be tough enough that you can stay in business and thrive a very
03:10difficult combination for his
03:13entire storied career that's exactly who Lindsey Graham was he was the first person to make you laugh and one
03:21of the last people that you've
03:23really ever wanted to fight these were the traits that made him into one of the great figures in Senate
03:31history
03:32few like him as a boy Lindsey also learned his first lessons in diplomacy when the wife of one regular
03:40patron called
03:41the bar asking for her husband she demanded to know where is he the man instructed Lindsey tell her I'm
03:50not here
03:50and young Lindsey nodded and said into the phone to the wife he said to tell you that he's not
03:58here that was Lindsey
04:02when Lindsey was just 20 years old he lost his mom to cancer 15 months later he lost his dad
04:08their deaths left his 13 year old
04:11sister Darlene an orphan but in God's mercy she had her wonderful brother to take care of her on top
04:20of it
04:20all Lindsey became her guardian while still in college and helped raise her he later said that for all his
04:27achievements and he had many his single proudest accomplishment in life was how well Darlene turned
04:35out he had total respect and love for Darlene nothing could be more fitting than that woman who was
04:46Lindsey's proudest legacy now continues his legacy of service in the US Senate a place that he cherished
04:54and I have no doubt that he's looking down today beaming with pride at his sister Senator Darlene Graham
05:03thank you senator Lindsey first stormed into Washington with the Republican revolution of 1994
05:12becoming the first Republican to win his house district in 120 years that was Lindsey in 2002 he ran for
05:22the
05:23Senate in what should have been a loss and he swept to an easy victory Lindsey quickly became a master
05:32at
05:32maneuvering in one of the world's great legislative bodies he secured record funding for our military
05:39as a budget committee chairman he delivered the largest investment in border security in history and
05:45last year he shepherded the passage of the largest tax cuts in American history the great big beautiful bill
05:54and a lot of Lindsey goodies in there too I can tell you and of course he was also a
06:01great champion of the
06:02United States Supreme Court his impassioned defense of a wonderful person a great gentleman
06:10Justice Kavanaugh ended a disgraceful attack on this very good man and gave us one of the greatest moments
06:19the Senate has ever seen it was a truly monumental moment in Senate history I believe it was Lindsey's perhaps
06:29finest hour
06:31but no matter how heated things got in Washington virtually everyone Republican or Democrat liked Lindsey
06:39well not everybody but it sounds good not everybody he was a tough cookie okay I have to be I
06:46have to veer
06:47from this for a second he was a tough cookie darling but he was beautiful but he was also ready
06:53with a joke
06:54and a gleam in his eye after being lectured on the excruciating details of patent law by a fellow senator
07:03during
07:04a flight Lindsey declared that he had discovered a new form of enhanced interrogation and torture for the Guantanamo Bay
07:15area
07:16he said this is really bad stuff and boring and while he was an incredibly hard worker he was not
07:24exactly
07:25an early riser as many of you know when Senator Tim Scott a great gentleman in his own right I
07:33can tell you
07:33invited him to prayer breakfast at 8 30 a.m. Lindsey told him Tim if Jesus himself comes back before
07:4210 a.m. I ain't going
07:46to be a good one yet while he was always quick to laugh no one ever doubted the gravity of
07:51his mission above
07:52all Lindsey Graham believed in a strong America wanted a strong America he had unwavering faith in the
08:01righteousness of American power and prayer and he was extremely hawkish I will tell you he never saw war that
08:09he didn't like only his true friends would understand that but he wanted it for the good of our country
08:15he felt in his bones that our destiny is to win and that his job was to do everything he
08:21could to ensure
08:22our enemies would lose it was this conviction that led him to serve 33 years in uniform in the Air
08:32Force
08:32and Air Force Reserves and Air National Guard even while he was in office and it was this conviction
08:39that took him as a senator to almost every country on earth confronting America's adversaries and
08:45standing up for America's friends he had tremendous friendships all over the world it's a testament to his
08:53towering impact that among those mourning him here today our leaders presidents prime ministers from
09:00all over the globe sitting right here before you Lindsey met countless world leaders yet wherever he
09:08went he was always the same Lindsey Graham when he met Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a tent in the
09:17desert he told him I expected something out of the Arabian Nights this looks more like a Winnebago
09:23that was not a good statement to make at the time and when he met the Dalai Lama Lindsey looked
09:30him
09:31straight in the eyes and said so can you really levitate the Dalai Lama was not happy with that
09:39but no matter how high he rose he never forgot where he came from there's probably not a single
09:46town in South Carolina where Lindsey did not help repair a bridge expand a school improve a hospital
09:52or recover from a disaster he was a force of nature and I will miss him greatly as you remember
10:01Lindsey and I did not exactly get off to the best of starts running against each other back in 2016
10:11Lindsey
10:11said something rather nasty on his flight to becoming the next president of the United States so
10:19naturally I did something that I shouldn't have done I shared his personal cell phone number with the
10:26millions of people that happened to be watching that particular day as I made a speech a very important
10:31speech and I remember the number 202-228-0292 if anybody wants to give it a shot his phone exploded
10:40he said I had
10:42that number for 20 years his phone totally I don't know what he did with it but it exploded that
10:48was the
10:48beginning of a friendship in a way but it was Lindsey who had the last laugh because while I blew
10:54up his
10:55phone all for one day we became great friends and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10
11:02years it was not easy
11:05I always cherish the memories of our golf games and only because of his really and I will say this
11:14memorial
11:15service it's so hard to say a memorial service for Lindsey it's hard to say but I'll admit that one
11:20time
11:21Lindsey Graham and Annika Sorensen actually beat me and Gary player together can you believe that Annika played very well
11:30that day actually but right to the end Lindsey carried in his golf bag the putter that once belonged
11:38to his dad and he carried it with him with class and with a ring that was so beautiful of
11:45his mother and
11:47they were laying right at his bedside the night he died they were there had him with him at all
11:53times from
11:55that pool hall where his parents raised him to the halls of the United States Senate where he was
12:01respected and loved this son of South Carolina became one of the most important men in the most
12:07important country on earth in a city where politicians often become jaded and cynical Lindsey Graham never
12:14lost the old-fashioned American idealism that brought him to the highest levels of government and
12:22life he took his duty seriously without taking himself too seriously he was unwavering in his
12:29principles but always willing to listen he always wanted to listen and one thing about Lindsey that
12:36we all know he never quit you wanted him to quit you waited for him to quit but he would
12:43never quit
12:47and the American people if you shared that view you had a friend in Lindsey if you didn't share it
12:54there was no fiercer or more constant opponent our nation needs more men and women like that great
13:05person sitting laying wherever he may be I think I know where he is and I think he's up there
13:11I think he's
13:12watching us I'm pretty sure of it scripture tells us that blessed is the man who remains steadfast
13:21under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life for 71 years Lindsey
13:31Graham was
13:31strong and steadfast as a brother a senator a warrior and a patriot he was stood every last test every
13:41single
13:42test that you can go through and every trial and now he wears the crown of life in heaven
13:47reunited with his parents and we're united with his Lord I end by saying something very very special
13:58Lindsey we love you God bless you we will always be with you and you were very very special thank
14:06you
14:07thank you very much
