III 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 182 

Honoring the life of Jack Valenti. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 1, 2007 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. HATCH, Mrs. 

BOXER, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. DODD, Mr. 

KERRY, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. HARKIN, Ms. LANDRIEU, 

Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. COLEMAN) submitted the following resolution; 

which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the life of Jack Valenti. 

Whereas Jack Valenti was born September 5, 1921, in Houston, Texas, the grandson of Sicilian immigrants, Joe and 

Josephine Valenti, and was the youngest high school 

graduate in the city at age 15; 

Whereas Jack Valenti married his beloved Mary Margaret in 

1962, with whom he had 3 children, John, Alexandra, 

and Courtenay; 

Whereas Jack Valenti joined the United States Army Air 

Forces in 1942 and flew 51 combat missions as a pilot 

of a B–25 attack bomber with the 12th Air Force in 

Italy during World War II, obtained the rank of lieutenant, and received 4 decorations, including the DistinVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:22 May 02, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR182.ATS SR182

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guished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 4 clusters, the 

Distinguished Unit Citation with one cluster, and the European Theater Ribbon with 4 battle stars; 

Whereas Jack Valenti received a B.A. degree from the University of Houston in 1946 after doing all of his undergraduate work at night and working during the day, and 

became the first University of Houston graduate to be 

admitted to Harvard Business School, receiving an 

M.B.A. degree in 1948; 

Whereas, in 1952, Jack Valenti cofounded Weekley and Valenti, an advertising and political consulting agency that 

worked on Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidential campaign 

in Texas, Representative Albert Thomas’s run for Congress, and John Connally’s campaign for Governor of 

Texas; 

Whereas Jack Valenti met then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson in 1957, the two became close friends, 

and Valenti worked on Lyndon Johnson’s presidential 

campaign during the primaries of 1960; 

Whereas Weekley and Valenti handled press during President 

John F. Kennedy’s and Vice President Lyndon Johnson’s 

fateful trip to Dallas, Texas, in November 1963; 

Whereas Jack Valenti became the first special assistant hired 

when Lyndon Johnson ascended to the Presidency; 

Whereas Jack Valenti resigned his White House post in 1966 

and went on to serve as the president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for the next 38 

years; 

Whereas Jack Valenti, as president of the MPAA, created the 

voluntary film rating system that is still in place today, 

which provides parents with advance information they 


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can use to determine which movies are appropriate for 

their children; 

Whereas Jack Valenti’s persona and skill combined to give 

the motion picture industry a strong and enduring presence in the Nation’s capital, which grew year by year 

during his nearly 4 decade tenure at the MPAA; 

Whereas Jack Valenti presided over a worldwide change in 

the motion picture industry, ushered movies into the digital era, championed artists’ rights, and condemned intellectual property theft; 

Whereas Jack Valenti authored 5 books, including ‘‘A Very 

Human President’’, ‘‘Protect and Defend’’, ‘‘The Bitter 

Taste Of Glory’’, ‘‘Speak Up With Confidence’’, and, his 

most recent, ‘‘This Time, This Place: My Life in War, 

the White House, and Hollywood’’, and wrote numerous 

essays for the New York Times, the Washington Post, 

the Los Angeles Times, Reader’s Digest, Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, Cox newspapers, and other publications; 

Whereas Jack Valenti was awarded with France’s highlyprized Legion d’Honneur, the French Legion of Honor, 

and has been honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; and 

Whereas Jack Valenti will be remembered as a dedicated 

family man, a philanthropist, a voice for copyright owners, a true visionary whose devotion, intelligence, creativity, and wisdom transformed the film industry, and as 

Hollywood’s ultimate leading man: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate honors the life of Jack Va2 lenti, a pioneer in the fields of motion pictures and public 


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1 service, a dedicated family man, and a legendary figure 

2 in the history of the United States. 

Æ 


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