S. Con. Res. 145 Agreed to October 17, 2000

One Hundred Sixth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,

the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand

Concurrent Resolution

Whereas World War II is the defining event of the twentieth century

for the United States and its wartime allies;

Whereas in World War II, more than 16,000,000 American men

and women served in uniform in the Armed Forces, more than

400,000 of them gave their lives, and more than 670,000 of

them were wounded;

Whereas many millions more on the home front in the United

States organized and sacrificed to give unwavering support to

those in uniform;

Whereas fewer than 6,000,000 World War II veterans are surviving

at the end of the twentieth century, and the Nation mourns

the passing of more than 1,200 veterans each day;

Whereas Congress, in Public Law 103–422 (108 Stat. 4356) enacted

in 1994, approved the location of a memorial to this epic era

in an area of the National Mall that includes the Rainbow Pool;

Whereas since 1995, the National World War II Memorial site

and design have been the subject of 19 public hearings that

have resulted in an endorsement from the State Historic

Preservation Officer of the District of Columbia, three endorsements from the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review

Board, the endorsement of many Members of Congress, and,

most significantly, four approvals from the Commission of Fine

Arts and four approvals from the National Capital Planning

Commission (including the approvals of those Commissions for

the final architectural design);

Whereas on Veterans Day 1995, the President dedicated the

approved site at the Rainbow Pool on the National Mall as

the site for the National World War II Memorial; and

Whereas fundraising for the National World War II Memorial has

been enormously successful, garnering enthusiastic support from

half a million individual Americans, hundreds of corporations

and foundations, dozens of civic, fraternal, and professional

organizations, State legislatures, students in 1,100 schools, and

more than 450 veterans groups representing 11,000,000 veterans:

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—

(1) it is appropriate for the United States to memorialize

in the Nation’s Capital the triumph of democracy over tyranny

in World War II, the most important event of the twentieth

century;

(2) the will of the American people to memorialize that

triumph and all who labored to achieve it, and the decisions

made on that memorialization by the appointed bodies charged
S. Con. Res. 145—2

by law with protecting the public’s interests in the design,

location, and construction of memorials on the National Mall

in the Nation’s Capital, should be fulfilled by the construction

of the National World War II Memorial, as designed, at the

approved and dedicated Rainbow Pool site on the National

Mall; and

(3) it is imperative that expeditious action be taken to

commence and complete the construction of the National World

War II Memorial so that the completed memorial will be dedicated while Americans of the World War II generation are

alive to receive the national tribute embodied in that memorial,

which they earned with their sacrifice and achievement during

the largest and most devastating war the world has known.

Attest:

Secretary of the Senate.

Attest:

Clerk of the House of Representatives.