Former nasa astronaut don thomas discusses the history of space station, comparing the development of american and russian programs since the early 1950s and looking at the future of International Space station efforts. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. On reel america, appointment in tokyo is a 1945 u. S. Army signal corps film documenting the course of world war ii in the Pacific Theater from the japanese. Get our complete schedule at cspan. Org. Up next, a portrait unveiling for Longtime House Judiciary Committee member john conyers. Then attorney general eric holder, Vice President joe biden and former chairman James Sensenbrenner at the event honoring the michigan democrat who has been on the committee for 50 years and is the longest serving member of the u. S. House. I guess well go ahead and get started. Im going to assume everyone has a program with when it gets a little too loud, im going to stop because this is a very important occasion. Weve waited a long time for this. All you have to do is look portraits, and its going to be very interesting to have the congressman looking over at all of these individuals, all of these individuals looking over at the congressman. But im joe madison with sirius xm radio, the urban view. And i am going to get started right away as we should start. And that is with the invocation. And our good friend, the right reverend dr. Wendell anthony, who is not only president of the detroit ncaap, but is he also and most importantly the pastor of the great fellowship chapel. If he would come forward and give us the invocation. Thank you, joe. Let me say good afternoon to everybody. And i do want to say to congressman john conyers, the dean and longest serving of Congressional Black Caucus and longest serving congressman currently in the history of the u. S. Congress for the historic [ applause ] for the historic occasion for which we have gathered. To him and his family and those who live in detroit, were very proud of this International Individual who has led the way for so many. I just have to say this, when congressman conyers was the chair of the House Judiciary Committee several years ago, 2007 to 2011, i remember sitting in this room for a congressional hearing and a Judiciary Committee hearing. And i looked at all of the portraits on the wall, and i said to the chairman, chairman, i look forward to coming back to this house on the day in which your picture graces this wall along with these other chairmen. Well, today is that day. Give the lord a hand of praise. And we want to thank him. Yall can do better than that. This is historic. We want to thank god for this day. And so were here because were pleased and we want to thank god for the occasion that weve gathered here. Let us have a word of prayer. Great god, we thank you for this occasion by which we have now gathered. We thank for since 1813 there have been men who have graced these walls and this responsibility. Since inengel so will and now jn conyers jr. As the first afri n africanamerican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee as one whose life emulates your word. When youve asked a simple question, who does the lord require of thee but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our god. Well, today, john conyers has actualized a dream of dr. King. He is standing because rosa sat down. He is marching because king did not stop. 50 years after the Voting Rights act, 50 years after we have struggled on that bloody sunday, we now have this glorious tuesday by which we can come together to celebrate life and the ability of a nation to live up to a portion of its creed and to honor those whose very lives honor the law and the lessons of liberty. John conyers has been a true servant for peace. He has been for women and minorities. He has been for labor. He has been for the majority. He has been for law and order. He has been for all of those things that you have asked, by the least of these, if youve done it for them, youve done it for me. Today we honor john conyers because his life has honored us. We pray that simply a monicum of what he has done over his career, over his vocation, over his mission as a congressman in these United States, will serve as an example and clarient call as he so eloquently demonstrated by his walk and his talk, that an injustice to anyone anywhere is a threat to justice to everyone everywhere. We thank, as we unveil this portrait, for it reflects not just a portrait of him but a portrait of us, by which we might go out and do justice to love mercy and to walk humbly with our god. We thank you for this day. We thank you for john conyers. We thank you for his work, and may we go out and do our own. In the name of the most high god do we pray, let us all say, amen. Many of you have been to kashs here at the capitol at the rayburn building. And as you know, members of Congress Come and go. And ive been instructed by lillian and others that i wont have the responsibility of introducing each of the members of congress. If you have your program, you know who you are and you know what order youre supposed to speak in, and i would hope that you would then do just that. I have been asked to just simply discuss the occasion. But what id like to do is something that just happened to fall in my lap, congressman conyers, this morning. Every morning i read on our show black history facts. One an hour. And in the 9 00 hour, i came we the producers gave me the following factoid. The black history fact. And im going to read it. House resolution hr40 was brought before the first session of the 105th congress on this very date, january 6, 1989. House resolution 40 was the first formal attempt to obtain reparations to compensate africanamericans for slavery since reconstruction. Briefly, hr40 read as follows. To acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 american colonies between 1619 and 1865, and to establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery. Subsequently, the racial and economic discrimination against africanamericans and the impact of these forces on living africanamericans and to make recommendations to congress on appropriate remedies. Hr40, those words were written and introduced by congressman john conyers, 1989, on this very date. History has repeated itself. Ladies and gentlemen, now i will invite the various members of congress to come forth. Congressman sensenbrenner, thank you very much for being here. Oh, im sorry. There they go. And then congressman clyburn comes in and says, you dont have the order. Ive got the order. Yes, leader, i do have the order. Now, if they will follow the order, then well move ahead. Chairman, a pleasure. How are you . Wow. This is quite a turnout. Its not at all difficult to understand when you have the brandnew, newly minuted dean of the United States house of representatives [ applause ] having quite a day. First he gets to swear in the speaker of the house and then he gets a public hanging in the same day. But its one that is welldeserved and i have long looked forward to as well. Weve had former chairman brooks hanging up there for a long time. And ive been telling chairman conyers for a long time that it was about time that his portrait appear up above the dioce here in the Judiciary Committee because of his long service, 50 years on this committee 50 years on the House Judiciary Committee. That is a remarkable achievement. But its also one that has informed members on both sides of the aisle. Because i look to chairman conyers in my work as chairman of this committee as someone who has lead this committee which deals with some of the most contentious issues that we face in the congress with the kind of respect and demeanor that we all would hope to have. First of all i want to say, john, i have learned much from you. I have learned that we can disagree without being disagreement. I think that is one of the things that you like saying the most. We have also found many, many areas to Work Together on. And i look forward to continuing that and, perhaps, i think another 50 years might be a lot, but you might you might set the record for the Longest Service in the house of representatives. Thats just another ten years. Can you do that . I think he can do that. What do you think, folks . [ applause ] absolutely. I want to commend you, i want to commend your staff, led by perry applebom, and all the other good people who have worked for you now and [ applause ] and i think in part this room is full because there are a lot of people here who used to work for you and have gone on do other great things as well. So, its an honor for me to be here. I look forward to seeing this newport trat. I look forward to hanging this newport trat. And i look forward to working with you for many years to come. God bless and you god bless your service on the House Judiciary Committee. General holder, it is a pleasure to have you here as well. I think were going to be joined by the Vice President soon. Thats a sign of the respect that you have for your long service in this committee. Thank you all for being here. [ applause ] thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. Thank you very much. Joe madison wanted to introduce me, but i think he wanted to get back at me. I wanted to say a couple of things that may be may not be known by a lot of you. I recently released a memoir and i called it blessed experiences. And the reason i called it that is because i view the experiences ive had over my life, irrespective of how unpleasant some of them may have been, as real blessings. And among those blessings was way back in the late 60s and early 70s when i got to interact with john conyers. Now, there was a Significant Movement taking place across the country in those days. We were very interested in changing the paradigm. And one of the changes we thought needed to be made was in the chairmanship of the committee that runs washington. It just so happens that that committee was being chaired by one of my predecessors here in the congress. A gentleman from the sixth Congressional District of south carolina, who we felt needed to be replaced if we were going to get some modicum of justice for the people of the district muof columbia. John conyers came to south carolina, and i met him through my child mood friends, jim felder, who served on his staff. And we walked the streets of the sixth Congressional District. And we were not successful the first time. But we believed in that old adage, if at first you dont succeed, try and try again. And we came back, and on the second time we were able to replace john l. Macmillan, who chaired the committee that kept the city of washington sort of as a plantation. I walked the streets with john. It was when that experience was over and i said to myself, i believe i could do this. And so, john, i cant tell you how proud i am to be here and to be a part of this program. And to say thank you. Its kind of interesting. But every time ive offered for any office in the caucus, chair the caucus, black caucus, full democratic caucus, the one person who when he heard the rumor that i might be running, john always came to me and said, now, if the rumor is true, and youre going to do this, i want to be part of your kitchen cabinet. I never had to ask him for help or a vote. I dont know what he saw in me, but from that day, when i could only dream about being a member of the congress way back in the 70s, he saw something in me. And i want you to know, john, i always saw something in you. Something that i would like to be just as soon as i grow up. Thank you so much. [ applause ] i love you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, when i was first asked to come and rejoice at the public hanging of john conyers, i wondered what kind of words republicans could add to these kinds of proceedings. Then i heard that joe biden was going to come to speak, and you know he goes to a lot of funerals. And after thinking a little bit, i could say, thank heavens that First Impressions are not lasting impressions. And when i thought about what i was going to say here today, i would just like to go back to when i became the chairman in january of 2001. And this committee had a reputation of maybe 20 to 30 years of being the cesspool of partisan arguments and not really accomplishing a heck of a lot in terms of legislation. I sat down with john and i said, look, im going to treat you fairly, im going to give you more staff than at that time the democrats were entitled to. Im not going to surprise you. And in return, i said, you know, i want no filibustering by amendment. And if i have to move the previous question, i would warn you two or three times. I only had to do that twice in my six years as chairman. Furthermore, i never had to sign a subpoena either, unlike a lot of what has been going on here. And that was because i found john conyers to be a person who keeps his word, a person of integrity, you know, a person who realizes its not partisan discourses that will set the type of history that is made of the Judiciary Committee. And as a result, there were 115 Judiciary Committee bills in that six years that were passed and signed by the president. Now, you know, that required a lot of cooperation in this room and between staff. But it also required a lot of cooperation between the two of us and going over to the funeral parlor on the other side of the capitol and saying, hey, look, this is something that will be good for the country and that both of us believe that Good Government is good politics and good politics is Good Government. John, this is a much deserved hanging. Im honored that you asked me to speak here. This is not something that we talk about, those who have come and gone from this place. Im glad youre here and i hope you stay here for a while. God bless you. [ applause ] you changed on me. All right. No. Im so pleased to put joe madison in his place. The leader is not here and i have been asked as the assistant leader to introduce our next speaker. You know, its easy to introduce a person who needs no introduction. The fact of the matter is, all of us know eric holder. Im not too sure that all of us knew him, the real eric holder, before he became our attorney general. Eric holder has moved that office to a level many of us never thought we would see. He has shown the kind of compassion for the law that a lot of us, especially those of us growing up in the south, looked for when we thought about the fulfillment of our dreams and our aspirations. Ive sat down with sensenbrenner and john in his office, looking at court decisions, working on trying to figure out ways to move a positive agaendaagenda. And i can tell you without any equivocation, eric holder is the epitome of what Martin Luther king jr. Said when he said, all of us can be great because all of us can serve. He is the epitome of a public servant. And, ladies and gentlemen, i am pleased to present him at this time. [ applause ] thank you, sir. Good afternoon. I spent many an interesting day in this room. [ laughter ] ron, you can attest to that, right . Its a pleasure for me to be here today for this occasion. Its a tremendous privilege to join so many distinguished guests, colleagues, friends and members of congress as we recognize congressman john conyers, the dean of the house of representatives for his lifetime of dedicated service as we celebrate his leadership and his many invaluable contributions. And as we unveil the portrait that will adorn the walls of the Great Institution that he has so faithfully served for over four decades. And that he will, no doubt, continue to serve with honor and integrity. Im confident for years to come. From the moment that john conyers began his Patriotic Service in the Michigan National guard, the United States army corps of engineers joined the korean war to his presence in selma, alabama, on freedom day in 1963, from his election to the United States house of representatives in 1964, to his chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee, to his current status as dean of the house and longest serving member of the United States congress, this extraordinary leaders life has been defined by a singular drive to serve. His actions have been guided by deep and abiding love of country and of community. And his service has been animated by an unwavering commitment to the cause of justice. As one of the 13 founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus, representative conyers helped to bring together other trailblazers and pioneers in order to empower and to give voice to people of color throughout our great nation. Years ago he led the fight to secure appropriate recognition for the reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. By introducing legislation to establish a National Holiday in his honor. And at every stage of his extremely distinguished career, through times of trial and great consequence, he has dedicated himself to advancing the principles of universal human dignity, tolerance, as well as respect. As a major proponent of the violence against women act of 1994, he joined with thensenator joe biden and other congressional leaders to bring help and hope to millions of americans who had too long suffered in silence, fighting to end poisonous notion that violence in a persons home was a private affair. As a champion of legislative efforts like the vote erbil of 1993 and the help america vote act of 2002, he has consistently wor