By Rhonda A. Spears
July 1, 2002

Before a standing-room only crowd during the Opening Plenary Session of the 70th Annual Conference of Mayors, mayors paid tribute to out-going President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, former New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial. In his opening remarks to introduce the video, produced by the conference to honor Morial, USCM Executive Director, J. Thomas Cochran said, "This year we had a special kind of thing. Life is what happens when you're planning something else. We were about to launch the competitive cities tour when 9-11 hit us. You will see what a special leader we had in Marc Morial."

The 20 minute video captured Morial in various roles throughout his tenure with the conference and featured several testimonials by people paying tribute to him, including United States Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who credits Morial and the conference for being the driving force behind the Homeland Security Block Grant; jazz artist Ellis Marsalis, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill, and Jonathan Tisch, Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, who said that following 9-11, Morial understood how important travel and tourism was to the economy.

The theme that really captured Morial's legacy was Homeland Security and the type of leader he was following the 9-11 attacks. Conference President Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said, "Marc, who took over as President of the Conference a year ago, had his own vision for the conference, but on September 11 that all changed. He changed courses with the change of America. He showed great leadership and vision and strength during those months following 9-11. We were very fortunate to have a leader like Marc Morial as our president during that very difficult time in history."

When Morial stood to address his former collegues, he was visibly moved by the video honoring him and his legacy as president of the conference. During his speech, Morial also honed in on the tragedy of September 11 and began to give his personal account of that dreadful morning. He reflected how he and Tom Cochran were pitching the Competitive Cities Tour to David Broder of the Washington Post. The Competitive Cities Tour was Morial's vision for his year as president of the conference. Morial said, "We had painted a very distinct picture of American cities as the leaders in the comeback of the nation in the 90s. We were going to go on the road and tell this story."

But all of that changed when America changed on September 11th. Morial continued, "What was attacked on 9-11 were two American cities. The mayor of New York and the mayor of Washington, D.C., the police officers and firefighters were on the front line to save people and to heal people. I hope the nation learned that mayors play a critical role in the life of this nation."

Morial continued his speech by recalling the days and weeks after 9-11. Six weeks after the attacks, Morial called the nation's mayors together to convene an Emergency Safety and Security Summit in Washington, D.C. It was at that time that mayors called for the federalization of airport screening personnel. Morial said, "We were confident to make that call because, as mayors, we own, operate, and run airports. It was on that date and at that time that we said this nation should put money on the table in the form of a block grant to help us with our response and our responsibilities with terrorism preparedness work. It started with mayors of America who were not afraid to be criticized for saying we need more money to protect our people."

Another defining moment wo Morial's legacy was when he led the way for the 2002 Winter meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. and New York City to show support for the victims and their families and to show solidarity in the fight against terrorism. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "Having the mayors here is number one for the people in New York. It sends the message that the country cares."

Cochran added, " This was a special time in our history. And it would not have happened if it had not been for Marc Morial's leadership and understanding of what had to be done and what was the right and proper thing to do during that very difficult time."