00:00Today, we gather in the deepest gratitude and profoundest sorrow to honor a beloved friend,
00:08a devoted brother, a respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate,
00:16and a true American original who left us much too soon.
00:23And that can only be the one and only Lindsey Graham.
00:29By the strength of his steadfast convictions, the force of his magnetic personality,
00:35and the goodness of his noble soul, Lindsey Rhodes, from a small town in rural South Carolina,
00:43a place he loves so much, to become a constant fixture of American politics at the highest level.
00:50Thank you very much.
00:52Vice President Vance, members of the Cabinet, members of the House and Senate,
01:00distinguished guests, Darlene, and the entire Graham family.
01:07We love you all.
01:08Today, we gather in the deepest gratitude and profoundest sorrow to honor a beloved friend,
01:18a devoted brother, a respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate,
01:26and a true American original who left us much too soon.
01:33And that can only be the one and only Lindsey Graham.
01:38By the strength of his steadfast convictions, the force of his magnetic personality,
01:45and the goodness of his noble soul, Lindsey Rhodes, from a small town in rural South Carolina,
01:52a place he loves so much, to become a constant fixture of American politics at the highest level,
02:00and a force to be reckoned with all over the world.
02:04For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this Capitol without Lindsey Graham knowing about it.
02:19And no bill became law in the most exceptional republic in human history without Lindsey Graham having a say in
02:28it.
02:29He was a man who gave America the full measure of his good and mighty heart until that heart itself
02:37just gave out.
02:40But even though Lindsey's life was cut short, while he was still so full of vim and vigor,
02:48there can be no doubt that he lived absolutely to the fullest.
02:53He died doing the work he was born to do.
02:56He was truly a great politician, serving the country he loved to serve so deeply.
03:05He went out at the peak of his career, at the top of his game, as a legend that every
03:10one of us, many of us here today,
03:14blessed to know him and a friend that none of us will ever forget.
03:20There was truly nobody like Lindsey Graham.
03:25It was his hometown of Central South Carolina that Lindsey first learned the art of politics.
03:33His parents ran a bar and pool hall on Main Street with a room in the back where the family
03:40spent and slept and did everything that you had to do.
03:45As Lindsey said, his father taught him, the key to being a successful bar owner is that you have to
03:52be funny enough that people will keep coming back
03:55and that you have to be tough enough that you can stay in business and thrive.
04:00A very difficult combination.
04:03For his entire storied career, that's exactly who Lindsey Graham was.
04:08He was the first person to make you laugh and one of the last people that you've really ever wanted
04:15to fight.
04:17These were the traits that made him into one of the great figures in Senate history.
04:23Few like him.
04:25As a boy, Lindsey also learned his first lessons in diplomacy when the wife of one regular patron called the
04:32bar asking for her husband.
04:35She demanded to know, where is he?
04:37The man instructed Lindsey, tell her I'm not here.
04:42And young Lindsey nodded and said into the phone to the wife, he said to tell you that he's not
04:49here.
04:50That was Lindsey.
04:53When Lindsey was just 20 years old, he lost his mom to cancer.
04:5715 months later, he lost his dad.
04:59Their deaths left his 13-year-old sister, Darlene, an orphan.
05:05But in God's mercy, she had her wonderful brother to take care of her.
05:10On top of it all, Lindsey became her guardian while still in college and helped raise her.
05:16He later said that for all his achievements, and he had many,
05:20his single proudest accomplishment in life was how well Darlene turned out.
05:27He had total respect and love for Darlene.
05:32Nothing could be more fitting than that woman who was Lindsey's proudest legacy,
05:39now continues his legacy of service in the U.S. Senate, a place that he cherished.
05:45And I have no doubt that he is looking down today, beaming with pride at his sister, Senator Darlene Graham.
05:54Thank you, Senator.
05:58Lindsey first stormed into Washington with the Republican Revolution of 1994,
06:03becoming the first Republican to win his House District in 120 years.
06:09That was Lindsey.
06:10In 2002, he ran for the Senate in what should have been a loss,
06:17and he swept to an easy victory.
06:20Lindsey quickly became a master at maneuvering in one of the world's great legislative bodies.
06:27He secured record funding for our military as a budget committee chairman.
06:32He delivered the largest investment in border security in history.
06:36And last year, he shepherded the passage of the largest tax cuts in American history,
06:42the great, big, beautiful bill.
06:45Had a lot of Lindsey goodies in there, too, I can tell you.
06:50And, of course, he was also a great champion of the United States Supreme Court.
06:55His impassioned defense of a wonderful person, a great gentleman, Justice Kavanaugh,
07:03ended a disgraceful attack on this very good man
07:06and gave us one of the greatest moments the Senate has ever seen.
07:11It was a truly monumental moment in Senate history.
07:17I believe it was Lindsey's perhaps finest hour.
07:22But no matter how heated things got in Washington,
07:25virtually everyone, Republican or Democrat, liked Lindsey.
07:30Well, not everybody, but it sounds good.
07:33Not everybody.
07:34He was a tough cookie.
07:36Okay, I have to be.
07:37I have to veer from this first.
07:39He was a tough cookie, darling.
07:41But he was beautiful.
07:43But he was also ready with a joke and a gleam in his eye.
07:48After being lectured on the excruciating details of patent law
07:52by a fellow senator during a flight,
07:57Lindsey declared that he had discovered a new form of enhanced interrogation and torture
08:03for the Guantanamo Bay area.
08:07He said, this is really bad stuff and boring.
08:11And while he was an incredibly hard worker,
08:14he was not exactly an early riser, as many of you know.
08:19When Senator Tim Scott, a great gentleman in his own right, I can tell you,
08:25invited him to prayer breakfast at 8.30 a.m.,
08:28Lindsey told him,
08:29Tim, if Jesus himself comes back before 10 a.m., I ain't going.
08:37Yet, while he was always quick to laugh,
08:40and no one ever doubted the gravity of his mission,
08:42above all, Lindsey Graham believed in a strong America.
08:47He wanted a strong America.
08:49He had unwavering faith in the righteousness of American power and prayer.
08:56And he was extremely hawkish.
08:58I will tell you, he never saw a war that he didn't like.
09:01Only his true friends would understand that.
09:04But he wanted it for the good of our country.
09:06He felt in his bones that our destiny is to win
09:09and that his job was to do everything he could
09:12to ensure our enemies would lose.
09:15It was this conviction that led him to serve 33 years in uniform
09:22in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves and Air National Guard,
09:27even while he was in office.
09:29And it was this conviction that took him as a senator
09:32to almost every country on Earth,
09:34confronting America's adversaries
09:36and standing up for America's friends.
09:39He had tremendous friendships all over the world.
09:42It's a testament to his towering impact
09:44that among those mourning him here today
09:47are leaders, presidents, prime ministers
09:50from all over the globe.
09:52They're sitting right here before you.
09:55Lindsey met countless world leaders,
09:57yet wherever he went, he was always the same Lindsey Graham
10:02when he met Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi
10:07in a tent in the desert.
10:08He told him, I expected something out of the Arabian Nights.
10:12This looks more like a Winnebago.
10:14That was not a good statement to make at the time.
10:17And when he met the Dalai Lama, Lindsey looked him straight in the eyes
10:22and said, so, can you really levitate?
10:27The Dalai Lama was not happy with that.
10:30But no matter how high he rose,
10:32he never forgot where he came from.
10:35There's probably not a single town in South Carolina
10:38where Lindsey did not help repair a bridge,
10:41expand a school, improve a hospital,
10:43or recover from a disaster.
10:46He was a force of nature,
10:48and I will miss him greatly.
10:51As you remember, Lindsey and I
10:53did not exactly get off to the best of starts,
10:57running against each other.
11:00Back in 2016, Lindsey said something rather nasty
11:05on his flight to becoming the next president
11:08of the United States.
11:10So, naturally, I did something that I shouldn't have done.
11:13I shared his personal cell phone number
11:16with the millions of people
11:18that happened to be watching that particular day
11:20as I made a speech, a very important speech.
11:23And I remember the number 202-228-0292,
11:27if anybody wants to give it a shot.
11:30His phone exploded.
11:32He said, I had that number for 20 years.
11:34His phone totally, I don't know what he did with it.
11:37But it exploded.
11:39That was the beginning of a friendship, in a way.
11:42But it was Lindsey who had the last laugh,
11:44because while I blew up his phone
11:47for one day,
11:49we became great friends,
11:50and Lindsey did not stop calling me
11:53for the next 10 years.
11:54It was not easy.
11:56I always cherish the memories of our golf games,
12:00and only because of his really,
12:04and I will say, this memorial service,
12:06it's so hard to say.
12:07Memorial service for Lindsey?
12:09It's hard to say.
12:10But I'll admit that one time,
12:12Lindsey Graham and Annika Sorensen
12:14actually beat me and Gary Player together.
12:19Can you believe that?
12:20Annika played very well that day, actually.
12:24But right to the end,
12:25Lindsey carried in his golf bag
12:27the putter that once belonged to his dad,
12:29and he carried it with him with glass
12:32and with a ring that was so beautiful of his mother.
12:37And they were laying right at his bedside.
12:41The night he died, they were there.
12:43He had them with him at all times.
12:45From that pool hall where his parents raised him
12:49to the halls of the United States Senate
12:51where he was respected and loved,
12:54this son of South Carolina
12:55became one of the most important men
12:57in the most important country on Earth.
13:00In a city where politicians
13:02often become jaded and cynical,
13:04Lindsey Graham never lost
13:06the old-fashioned American idealism
13:08that brought him to the highest levels
13:12of government and life.
13:14He took his duty seriously
13:16without taking himself too seriously.
13:19He was unwavering in his principles,
13:21but always willing to listen.
13:23He always wanted to listen.
13:25And one thing about Lindsey that we all know,
13:28he never quit.
13:30You wanted him to quit.
13:31You waited for him to quit,
13:33but he would never quit.
13:35Above all, Lindsey Graham loved America,
13:37and he believed in the American people.
13:40If you shared that view,
13:42you had a friend in Lindsey.
13:43If you didn't share it,
13:45there was no fiercer or more constant opponent.
13:49Our nation needs more men and women
13:53like that great person sitting, laying,
13:59wherever he may be.
14:00I think I know where he is,
14:01and I think he's up there.
14:02I think he's watching us.
14:03I'm pretty sure of it.
14:07Scripture tells us
14:08that blessed is the man
14:10who remains steadfast under trial,
14:13for when he has stood the test,
14:16he will receive the crown of life.
14:20For 71 years,
14:21Lindsey Graham was strong and steadfast.
14:24As a brother, a senator, a warrior,
14:27and a patriot,
14:28he withstood every last test,
14:32every single test that you can go through
14:34and every trial,
14:35and now he wears the crown of life in heaven,
14:39reunited with his parents
14:40and reunited with his Lord.
14:45I end by saying something very, very special.
14:49Lindsey, we love you.
14:51God bless you.
14:53We will always be with you,
14:55and you were very, very special.
14:58Thank you very much.
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