IV
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 419
Expressing the sense of Congress on the propriety and need for expeditious
construction of the National World War II Memorial at the Rainbow
Pool on the National Mall in the Nation’s Capitol.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 6, 2000
Mr. STUMP (for himself and Mr. HYDE) submitted the following concurrent
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Resources
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress on the propriety and need
for expeditious construction of the National World War
II Memorial at the Rainbow Pool on the National Mall
in the Nation’s Capitol.
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 sup-
port to those in uniform;
•HCON 419 IH
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 in-
cludes the Rainbow Pool;
Whereas since 1995, the National World War II Memorial
site and design have been the subject of 19 public hear-
ings that have resulted in an endorsement from the State
Historic Preservation Officer of the District of Columbia,
three endorsements from the District of Columbia His-
toric Preservation Review Board, the endorsement of
many Members of Congress, and, most significantly, four
approvals from the Commission of Fine Arts and four ap-
provals 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 Memo-
rial has been enormously successful, garnering enthusi-
astic support from half a million individual Americans,
hundreds of corporations and foundations, dozens of
civic, fraternal, and professional organizations, state leg-
islatures, students in 1,100 schools, and more than 450
veterans groups representing 11,000,000 veterans: Now,
therefore, be it
•HCON 419 IH
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—
(1) it is appropriate for the United States to
memorialize in the Nation’s Capitol 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 memori-
alize that triumph and all who labored to achieve it,
and the decisions made on that memorialization by
the appointed bodies charged by law with protecting
the public’s interests in the design, location, and
construction of memorials on the National Mall in
the Nation’s Capitol, should be fulfilled by the con-
struction 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 Ameri-
cans of the World War II generation are alive to re-
ceive the national tribute embodied in that memo-
rial, which they earned with their sacrifice and
•HCON 419 IH
achievement during the largest and most devastating
war the world has known.
Æ