At Foley’s Memorial, a Rare Show of Bipartisanship

The Capitol Hill memorial service for Thomas S. Foley, the former House speaker, brought together Republicans and Democrats who just two weeks ago were fighting about the government shutdown, but who were united in praise on Tuesday of a man who himself was a victim of partisan rancor two decades ago.

President Obama spoke of Mr. Foley â€" a Democrat from Washington State who died on Oct. 18 at age 84 â€" as an example of the type of leadership that is again needed in Washington.

“At a time when our political system can seem more polarized and more divided than ever before, it can be tempting to see the possibility of bipartisan progress as a thing of the past,” Mr. Obama said. “It can be tempting to wonder if we still have room for leaders like Tom.”

“We are sent here to do what’s right, and sometimes doing what’s right is hard, and it’s not free,” the president said. “And yet that’s the measure of leadership.”

Former President Bill Clinton, who was in the White House during the last two years of Mr. Foley’s tenure as speaker, described him as “one tough guy” who was willing to suffer for what he thought was right.

During his five and a half years as speaker, Mr. Foley pressed the first President George Bush to include tax increases in a deficit-reduction deal, and he ushered Mr. Clinton’s budget through the House in 1993.

The legislative fight that may have doomed Mr. Foley’s career came the next year. A mass shooting on an Air Force base near Spokane, Wash., led Mr. Foley, a longtime opponent of gun control measures, to push for a ban on assault weapons. It passed in 1994.

Realizing it was a politically risky move, Mr. Foley predicted that the ban would sweep Democrats from office, but he believed it was the right thing to do, Mr. Clinton recalled. And Mr. Foley was right â€" he lost the House seat he had held for 30 years in 1994, becoming the first speaker since the Civil War to be defeated for re-election in his own district.

Robert H. Michel, who served as minority leader opposite Mr. Foley, spoke warmly of his former colleague, calling him “a fair and honest broker and a worthy adversary.” He recalled how Mr. Foley had allowed him to preside at their last session of Congress together, a memory that had come to mind when Mr. Michel visited him shortly before his death.

“When we stood side by side at the podium on that last day of the 103rd Congress, we knew that we were icons, I guess, of a bygone era,” Mr. Michel said.

“We both took great pride in knowing we had made things happen,” he said, adding “that we found good ways to solve difficult problems and make the House a working institution.”

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said Mr. Foley believed in reaching across the aisle, even when his fellow Democrats criticized him for it.

“That kind of comity is sometimes viewed as old-fashioned around here, but that’s never been true,” Mr. McConnell said. “The parties have always disagreed, but it hasn’t kept them from working together from time to time to solve problems that we all recognize.”

“His faith in government was, shall I say, a little more robust than mine,” Mr. McConnell added. “But we shared a deep respect for the institution and a belief that working with the other side, particularly at a time of divided government, is no heresy when it enables you to achieve some good for the nation.”