103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. J. RES. 294
JOINT RESOLUTION
To express appreciation to W. Graham Claytor, Jr., for a
lifetime of dedicated and inspired service to the Nation.
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., has announced his retire-
ment at age 81 from the National Railroad Passenger
Corporation, better known as Amtrak, where he has
served as President and Chairman of the Board since
1982;
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Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., has provided remarkable,
energetic, inspired, and at times heroic service to the Na-
tion during a career that has included service in the
United States Navy, a brilliant legal career, leadership of
one of the Nation’s largest private railroads, service as
Secretary of the Navy, Acting Secretary of Transpor-
tation, and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and steward-
ship of Amtrak during a period that witnessed the rebirth
of the Nation’s passenger rail system;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., has brought to his work
enormous intellectual and analytical skills developed at
the University of Virginia, where he received his bach-
elor’s degree in 1933, and Harvard Law School, where he
graduated in 1936 summa cum laude and as President
of the Harvard Law Review;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., worked as a law clerk for
two of the finest and most brilliant jurists in this Na-
tion’s history, Judge Learned Hand of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Second District in 1936–1937,
and Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis in 1937–
1938, and later as an associate and partner at the law
firm of Covington & Burling;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., served his Nation during
World War II, advancing in the United States Navy from
ensign to lieutenant commander, and held commands of
the U.S.S. SC–516, the U.S.S. Lee Fox, and the U.S.S.
Cecil J. Doyle;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., is credited with having
saved almost 100 survivors of the sinking heavy cruiser
U.S.S. Indianapolis, which had been torpedoed in shark-
infested waters in the Pacific, by decisively changing the
course of his ship, the U.S.S. Doyle, to rescue the survi-
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vors hours before receiving orders to take part in the
rescue;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., retired in 1977 as Chair-
man and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Railways,
where he also had served as Vice President of Law and
President, and was responsible for revamping the cor-
poration’s management style, planning, and long-term
focus, and for making the railroad one of the largest and
most successful in the Nation;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., brought his experience as
a decisive Naval officer and premier corporate manager
to bear on the challenge of shaping a strong, versatile,
modern Navy through his appointment by President
Jimmy Carter and confirmation by the Senate in 1977
as Secretary of the Navy, and on the challenge of provid-
ing for a strong defense within mounting budgetary con-
straints in 1979 as Deputy Secretary of Defense, as well
as serving as Acting Secretary of Transportation;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., was appointed President
and Chairman of the Board of Amtrak in 1982 at the
age of 71, and is directly responsible for the dramatic im-
provement in the economics, quality, and marketability of
rail passenger service that has occurred over the last dec-
ade, and in the resurgence of demand for Amtrak service
as a means of addressing growing highway and airport
congestion across the Nation;
Whereas the vision of leadership of W. Graham Claytor, Jr.,
is responsible for having enabled Amtrak and Congress to
withstand zealous attempts to eliminate the Nation’s rail
passenger system by demanding of his corporation that
Amtrak operate as a private business with strict atten-
tion to the bottom line and to improvements in efficiency
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and quality of service, and by engineering a substantial
reduction in the corporation’s revenue-to-cost ratio and in
level of Federal support required to operate the system;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., has positioned Amtrak to
be the Nation’s leader in the development of high-speed
rail for the next century and has overseen development
of the Northeast Corridor as the Nation’s premier rail
passenger line and a model for high-speed operations
across the country; and
Whereas the retirement of W. Graham Claytor, Jr., will mean
the loss of one of the Nation’s most knowledgeable, in-
spiring, and persuasive voices in government service and
of a close, personal friend to many in Congress, the Gov-
ernment, and business: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Congress recognizes the critical role of Amtrak
in the Nation’s transportation system, and that the Nation
profoundly thanks W. Graham Claytor, Jr., for a lifetime
of dedication and superb service to this Nation, for his
willingness to assume major new public challenges at a
time when his peers had long ago retired, for his ability
to profoundly change the course of events, from the lives
of the sailors of the U.S.S. Indianapolis to the preserva-
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tion of national rail passenger service, and for his brilliant
stewardship of Amtrak over the past decade.
Passed the House of Representatives November 19,
1993.
Attest:
Clerk.