106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 145

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
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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

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—

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

4 memorialize in the Nation’s Capitol the triumph of

5 democracy over tyranny in World War II, the most

6 important event of the twentieth century;

7 (2) the will of the American people to memori8 alize that triumph and all who labored to achieve it,

9 and the decisions made on that memorialization by

10 the appointed bodies charged by law with protecting

11 the public’s interests in the design, location, and

12 construction of memorials on the National Mall in
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1 the Nation’s Capitol, should be fulfilled by the con2 struction of the National World War II Memorial, as

3 designed, at the approved and dedicated Rainbow

4 Pool site on the National Mall; and

5 (3) it is imperative that expeditious action be

6 taken to commence and complete the construction of

7 the National World War II Memorial so that the

8 completed memorial will be dedicated while Ameri9 cans of the World War II generation are alive to re10 ceive the national tribute embodied in that memo11 rial, which they earned with their sacrifice and

12 achievement during the largest and most devastating

13 war the world has known.

Passed the Senate October 6 (legislative day, September 22), 2000.

Attest:

Secretary.

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 145

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress on the propriety

and need for expeditious construction of the National World War II Memorial at the RainbowPool on the National Mall in the Nation’s Capitol.