I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1709
To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the Congress
to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in recognition of his outstanding and enduring
contributions to the Nation.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 5, 1999
Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Banking and Financial Services
A BILL
To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf
of the Congress to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in recognition
of his outstanding and enduring contributions to the
Nation.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. was born on Octo-
ber 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina.
(2) In 1965 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. joined the
civil rights movement full-time, beginning his activ-
ism as a student leader in the sit-in movement and
continuing as a young organizer for the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference as an assistant to
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(3) On June 30, 1968, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
became an ordained minister, having attended the
Chicago Theological Seminary.
(4) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. served as the national
director for Operation Breadbasket and, in 1971 in
Chicago, Illinois, founded People United to Save Hu-
manity, known as PUSH.
(5) In 1984 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. founded the
National Rainbow Coalition, a national social justice
organization devoted to political empowerment and
to expanding educational and employment opportuni-
ties for disadvantaged people and for communities of
color.
(6) In 1996 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. merged the
National Rainbow Coalition and PUSH to continue
the philosophies of both organizations and to maxi-
mize their resources.
(7) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is, and has been for
more than 30 years, one of the foremost political fig-
ures in the United States, playing a pivotal role in
virtually every movement for human rights, civil
rights, peace, gender equality, empowerment, and
economic and social justice.
(8) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has been and con-
tinues to be counted on to serve as a champion and
spokesman for a segment of the population whose
voices all too often are not heard.
(9) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has been called the
‘‘conscience of the Nation’’ and the ‘‘great unifier’’,
challenging the United States to establish just and
humane priorities.
(10) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has led a myriad of
successful delegations, marches, and missions for
justice, peace, and reconciliation.
(11) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is a highly respected
world leader who has acted on many occasions as an
international diplomat.
(12) In 1984 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. secured the
release of a captured Navy pilot, Lieutenant Robert
Goodman, who was shot down over Lebanon. He
also negotiated the release of 22 Americans and 26
Cubans in Cuba during 1984.
(13) In 1990 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. won the re-
lease of hundreds of foreign nationals, including 47
Americans, being held in Iraq and Kuwait by Sad-
dam Hussein.
(14) In October 1997 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
was appointed by President William Jefferson Clin-
ton and by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright
as the Special Envoy of the President and the Sec-
retary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in
Africa.
(15) On May 2, 1999, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
obtained the negotiated release of Army Specialist
Steven M. Gonzales and Staff Sergeants Christopher
J. Stone and Andrew Ramirez, 3 United States sol-
diers who had spent 32 days in captivity in Yugo-
slavia as prisoners of war and hostages.
(16) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has dedicated his
life to the principles of freedom, peace, justice, inter-
national good will, and the struggle for civil rights
and equality for Americans and for all peoples, at
home and abroad.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The President is
authorized to present, on behalf of the Congress, a gold
medal of appropriate design to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in
recognition of his outstanding and enduring contributions
to the Nation.
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary
of the Treasury shall strike a gold medal with suitable em-
blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the
Secretary.
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—Effective
February 1, 1999, there are authorized to be appropriated
$30,000 to carry out this section.
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
(a) STRIKING
AND SALE.—The Secretary of the
Treasury may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the
gold medal struck under section 2 under such regulations
as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to
cover the cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use
of machinery, and overhead expenses, and the cost of the
gold medal.
(b) REIMBURSEMENT OF APPROPRIATION.—The ap-
propriation used to carry out section 2 shall be reimbursed
out of the proceeds of sales under subsection (a).
SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.
The medals struck under this Act are national medals
for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
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