Statement by the Vice President on the Death of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela once said, “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”  Mandela’s wisdom and compassion were formidable enough to change the world.  First his courage and then his forgiveness inspired us all, and challenged us to do better.   In the words of the South African poet Peter Horn, he “dreamed the world another way.”  I saw his world the way it used to be when I visited South Africa as a 34 year old Senator. When I exited the plane I was directed to one side of the tarmac, while the African American congressmen traveling with me were sent to the other side.  I refused to break off, and the officials finally relented.  When I tried to enter Soweto township with Congressmen Andrew Young of Atlanta and Charles Diggs of Detroit, I remember their tears of anger and sadness.  Because of Nelson Mandela’s courage, and compassion, that world has been transformed.  One of my favorite Irish poets, Seamus Heaney once wrote:  “History says, don’t hope on this side of the grave.  But then, once in a lifetime, the longed-for tidal wave of justice rises up, and hope and history rhyme.”  In the hands of Nelson Mandela, hope and history rhymed.  This is a better world because Nelson Mandela was in it.  He was a good man.