Washington — Tributes poured in overnight from former presidents and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle for civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who died Friday at the age of 80.
Lewis, who served in Congress for more than three decades, had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He said in December when announcing his diagnosis he had “never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.”
President Barack Obama praised Lewis for his “gentleness and humility” and said the Georgia congressman lived to see his legacy play out before him in a “meaningful, remarkable way.”
“He loved this country so much that he risked his life and his blood so that it might live up to its promise,” Obama said in a statement. “And through the decades, he not only gave all of himself to the cause of freedom and justice, but inspired generations that followed to try to live up to his example.”
Lewis, Obama said, “believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage, a longing to do what’s right, a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect.”
“And it’s because he saw the best in all of us that he will continue, even in his passing, to serve as a beacon in that long journey towards a more perfect union,” Obama said.
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that with Lewis’ passing the country has “lost a giant.”
“John Lewis gave all he had to redeem America’s unmet promise of equality and justice for all, and to create a place for us to build a more perfect union together,” they said in a joint statement.
While President Trump has not commented on Lewis’ death, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a tweet Saturday, “Rep. John Lewis was an icon of the civil rights movement, and he leaves an enduring legacy that will never be forgotten. We hold his family in our prayers, as we remember Rep. John Lewis’ incredible contributions to our country.”
The flag at the White House was lowered to half-staff Saturday morning.
Lewis joined the Freedom Riders at 21 years old and was the youngest — and last surviving — speaker at the March on Washington in 1963. He led the march in Selma, Alabama, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, which became known as “Bloody Sunday” when police beat demonstrators including Lewis, whose skull was fractured.
Lewis was an advocate for civil rights throughout his life, including during his political career, which began in 1981 when he was elected to the Atlanta City Council and then to Congress in 1986.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, praised Lewis as a “pioneering civil rights leader who put his life on the line to fight racism, promote equal rights, and bring our nation into greater alignment with its founding principles.”
“Dr. King famously said ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ But progress is not automatic,” McConnell said in a statement. “Our great nation’s history has only bent towards justice because great men like John Lewis took it upon themselves to help bend it. Our nation will never forget this American hero.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, called Lewis a “titan of the civil rights movement whose goodness, faith and bravery transformed our nation.”
“All of us were humbled to call Congressman Lewis a colleague, and are heartbroken by his passing,” Pelosi said. “May his memory be an inspiration that moves us all to, in the face of injustice, make ‘good trouble, necessary trouble.'”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, called Lewis an “extraordinary man” who made the nation better.
“He suffered for this nation, enduring what would have easily broken other men, so that future generations could enjoy the full blessings of freedom. Racism, segregation, and discrimination were not history for him; they were everyday life,” he said. “But John wasn’t just a patriot on sunny days. His patriotism urged him forward to fight for America with nonviolence and defend it with peacefulness.”
In an interview with “CBS This Morning: Saturday,” civil rights leader and former ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young recalled Lewis as the “quietest member of the civil rights movement” who had “the power of humility that just won people over to him.”
GOP Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina praised Lewis as a “giant among men.”
“His life and legacy will continue to serve as an example for the generations to come,” he tweeted.
