Text from Document 24362
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
— UNITES STATES SENATE
July 19, 1972
AWARD TO JAMES P. WESBERRY BY GOVERNMENT OF REPUBLIC OF PERU
Mr. TALMADGE. Mr. President, we all know there are many
ways to serve one’s
country. A man can fight and die to protect his homeland.
But he can also serve
his country by contributing to the cause
of
good international relations.
To bear out this point. I Invite the Senate’s attention
to a specific case. An
outstanding citizen of Georgia and a former State Senator,
Mr. James P. Wes-
berry, Jr., has been highly decorated by the Government of the Republic
of Peru.
Mr. Wesberry served as an advisor to that government’s Office of the Comptroller
General, aiding In a major reorganization. This reform has earned that office
the reputation of "one of the most dynamic national audit agencies” in this
hemisphere. I personally congratulate Mr. Wesberry and call to the attention of the
Senate a press release on the award, aspeech of commendation given by his
Peruvian counterpart, and Mr. Wesberry’s acceptance remarks.
I ask unanimous consent that they be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the articles were ordered to be printed in the Record,
as follows:
Wesberry Decorated by Peruvian Government
(Press release from: the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Peru,
June 23. 1972)
Former Georgia State Senator, James P. Wesberry, Jr., C.P.A. was decorated by
the
Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Peru In a special ceremony held in
Lima
on Friday, June 23. Representing the Peruvian Government, the Comptroller General
of the Republic Brigadier General of the Peruvian Army, Oscar Vargas presented the decoratlon of the "Order of Merit for Distinguished Service“ with the grade of ‘‘Official"
to Wesberry who la an advisor to the Office of the Comptroller General and member of the mission of the Institute of Public Administration of
New York.
The ceremony was held In the auditorium of the Office of the Comptroller General
and
was attended by over 200 persons including the personnel of that Office and high
officials of the United States Embassy In Peru, the Institute of Public Administration of New York, the United States Agency for International Development,
the United Nations, the Peruvian National Planning Institute and the Superior School of Public Administration of Peru. It was followed by a champagne toast and a luncheon
given in Wesberry's honor by the members of the Senior Staff of the Comptroller General's Office.
After awarding the decoration, General Vargas spoke of the extraordinary merit
of
Mr. Wesberry, his identification, loyalty and a profound knowledge
of his professional
specialty and of the Peruvian environment In which he has worked.
He described Wesberry as an advisor of a new type, oompletely dedicated to the labor assigned him by his mission at the service of an agency of the significance of the Office
of the Comptroller General during the current profound transormation being carried out by the Peruvian Revolutionary Government. He said that Wesberry's naming as
advisor constitutes an Investment of high productivity for a developing country.
Mr. Wesberry accepted
the high honor conferred by the Supreme Government in his
name and that of his
country saying: “I have been honored and I am honored to work
in the Office of the
Comptroller General as a member of Its team to elevate its level of
efficiency". Wesberry, a native
Atlantan served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967 when he resigned to accept the assignment as advisor of the Peruvian Government. He was Chairman of the Fulton
County Senate Delegation and active in community and civic affairs. In Peru he has served as advisor to commissions which have drafted basic legislation and regulations
for Peru’s National Audit Agency and In its complete reorganization implemented by General Vargas. He was instrumental In the founding of the School of Governmental
Auditing of the Office of the Comptroller General in which he serves as professor having taught seven training courses In governmental auditing to a total of 396 auditors.
As a result of the reorganization of the Office of the Comptroller General of Peru In
which Mr. Wesberry has been actively involved, the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development recently described that office as “one of the most dynamic national audit agencies In the
third world.” Wesberry wll be In Atlanta for a brief
vacation after which
he will accompany General Vargas and eight key officials of the
Peruvian Comptroller
General's Office In a visit to the United States General Account-
ing Office, the Office
of Management and Budget, the Treasury Department and other
Federal agencies in
Washington before returning to Peru to continue his advisory
services.
The complete text of the statements made by General Vargas and Mr. Wesberry at the
decoration follows.
Remarks or Brig. Gen. Oscar Vargas Prieto
Mr. George Bennsky, First Secretary of the Embassy of the United States of America; Mr. Emerson Melaven, Acting Director of the Agency for International
Development: Mr. Ramiro Cabezas, Chief of Mission of the
Institute of Public
Administration of New York; members of the IPA Mission and the Agency for International Development; ladles. gentlemen, Mr. Jim Wesberry.
When I was placed In
charge of this organization In January of 1971, I had heard that there existed in it a foreign Advisor. This knowledge did not particularly bring to my mind the conviction
that I was going to
have a valuable element for the future and arduous problem which
I had on my hands and which the Government had confided in
me which
was the reorganization of tht Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
The reason for this was that In
prior years when I had worked with foreign Ad-
visors, in
some cases I received very little collaboration or very little advice—first be-
cause
of their failure to identify themselves with the environment In which they were
working and second,
due to an absence of conviction and loyalty regarding the Intstitution which supported them and the Institution in which they
should lend their
service.
A short time after being placed in charge of the Office of the Comptroller General I was
able to ascertain
that my previous concept about advisors was totally In error. It had
been overcome and in
the person of Mr. Jim Wesberry, I had the advisor of a new
type or In other words
the advisor with very superior qualities... This led the Comptroller General of the Republic, In September of 1971 to Issue, by means of Resolution
of the Office of the Comptroller General, a commendation and official recognition of Mr. Wesberry for the efficient services he had
lent the Institution during the period of its reorganization and bringing It to an initial process of progress and development as encountered today. You, the members
of the Office of the
Comptroller General, are witnesses that In Mr. Jim Wesberry we have not had only an
advisor,
we have not had a man who only complied with the task of imparting knowl-
edge or
lending advice, we have had a laborer who indefatigably, without limits of time, of effort nor of any other type was not prevented from
showing In his efforts a mystic form of development and a mystic devotion to a foreign Institution, as is the Peruvian Comptroller General’s Office
for him, which Indisputably has brought about the decoratlon given by the Supreme Government for distinguished and efficient services not only to the Office of the
Comptroller General but also to the Nation through this Institution which safeguards the money and efficiency of the public administration. For this I congratulate the Mission of
the Institute of Public Administration for having had the Idea of obtaining the services of an efficient advisor such as Mr. Wesberry. I congratulate and
thank the Agency for International Development showing that what has been spent and what is spent on
advisors
such as Mr. Wesberry is an Investment of high productivity for those countries which need help and are In the process of accelerated development
and desire to maintain it and continue forward. I congratulate Mr. Jim Wesberry for the
magnificent devotion which at this moment
permits
me the enormous satisfaction of being the carrier of the desire of the Government to award a decoration rarely given, I
am sure, to advisors in our country and to give to the two entitles which I have men-
tioned and to Mr. Wesberry my recognition and my hopes that he will continue to be
with us whether or not our process of reorganization as an Institution or
that of the
public administration has terminated. We need him In order to continue this dynamic
process which permits not only giving his knowledge to the Institution but from his
passing it on and the continued collaboratlon with the public
administration until
the productivity goals desired to be obtained by the Revolutionary
Government are
reached in the shortest possible time.
Response or James
P. Wesberry, Jr.
General Oscar Vargas Prieto, Comptroller General of the Republic, distinguished
public
officials, General Daniel Vargas.
I accept this honor, this decoration, not only in my name and the name of my country but also
In the name of you, my oolleagues In the Office of the Comptroller General
because as
you know all that has been accomplished
which General Vargas has mentioned has been done through teamwork, from the Organic Law
to the
standards of Control which were announced yesterday in the official government newspaper. All these labors have not been mine,
they have been the work of all of us. The honor of this decoration is second only the
honor of having been able to work with each of you, of having been professor to you,
of having been collaborator with you all.
Many Thanks.
