The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.

Claiborne Pell

Claiborne de Borda Pell (born November 22, 1918) is a former United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997. A Democrat, he was that state's longest serving senator. Born in New York City, Pell attended St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Princeton University in 1940, and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1946. While in Princeton, he was a member of Colonial Club. He served in the United States Coast Guard and United States Coast Guard Reserve, and from 1945 to 1952, he served in the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer in Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Washington, D.C.

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