A bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Laurance Spelman Rockefeller.
PL 101-296 (S.1853), enacted 05/17/1990

PUBLIC LAW 101-296—MAY 17, 1990 
104 STAT. 197 
Public Law 101-296 
101st Congress 
An Act 
To award a congressional gold medal to Laurance Spelman Rockefeller. 
May 17, 1990 
[S. 1853] 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 
31 USC 5111 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller followed in the tradition of 
his father, John D, Rockefeller, Jr., by enlarging and enhancing 
the National Park System of the United States, including the 
donation of five thousand acres on the Island of St. John for the 
Virgin Islands National Park; 
(2) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller was appointed by President 
Dwight D. Eisenhower as chairman of the Outdoor Recreation 
Resources Review Commission, and his work led to the 
establishment of the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, the Land 
and Water Conservation Fund, the Wilderness Act, the Na-
tional System of Scenic Rivers, and other landmark conserva-
tion programs; 
(3) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller was appointed by President 
Lyndon B. Johnson as Chairman of the 1965 White House 
Conference on Natural Beauty, and his recommendations 
brought the concept of natural beauty to urban areas, led to the 
Highway Beautification Act, and increased State and local 
awareness of environmental issues; 
(4) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller collaborated with Lady 
Bird Johnson in her quest to beautify the United States and the 
Capital, and assisted her in the creation of the Lyndon Baines 
Johnson Memorial Grove in Washington, District of Columbia; 
(5) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller served President Richard 
M. Nixon and President Gerald R. Ford as chairman of Presi-
dential advisory committees on environmental quality, and served 
on other Federal advisory groups, including the Public Land Law 
Review Commission and the National Park Foundation; 
(6) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller served as a member of the 
New York State Council of Parks for thirty years and, as its 
chairman, expanded and modernized the State park system 
through an innovative bond program which was replicated 
across the Nation; 
(7) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller served as a principal ad-
visor on environmental matters to his brother, Governor Nelson 
A. Rockefeller of New York, and helped to develop the Adiron-
dack Park Agency, the Hudson River Valley Commission, the 
first State water pollution bond issue, and the first comprehen-
sive State environmental and conservation agency; 
104 STAT. 198 
PUBLIC LAW 101-296—MAY 17, 1990 
(8) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller served as a member and 
President of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission for forty 
\ 
years and made major donations to expand the Palisades Inter-
\ ^ 
state Park System; 
(9) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller contributed to the environ-
mental quality of New York City through his efforts on behalf 
of the New York Zoological Society and the Bronx Zoo, the New 
York Aquarium, Central Park, and other parks in the city; 
(10) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller, as a part-time resident of 
Woodstock, Vermont, has contributed to the environmental 
aesthetics of that community through promotion of the place-
ment of power lines underground, the initiation of watershed 
planning, and the preservation and display of historic prop-
erties and objects; 
(11) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller has been the long-time 
guiding force in three significant private conservation organiza-
tions: Jackson Hole Preserve, Incorporated, which has pre-
served park land in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming, the Virgin 
Islands, and the Hudson Valley; the American Conservation 
Association, which has provided support and encouragement for 
innovative government and private conservation programs; and 
Historic Hudson Valley, Incorporated, which has preserved 
outstanding historic properties of the Hudson Valley for public 
use; 
(12) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller has played an important 
role in creating or leading other private conservation organiza-
tions, including Resources for the Future, the National Recre-
ation and Park Association, and the Conservation Foundation; 
and 
(13) Laurance Spelman Rockefeller, in addition to his extraor-
dinary contributions to the environment in the United States, is 
one of the leaders in the fight against cancer with more than 
forty years of dedicated work and benefactions to the Memorial 
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. 
31 use 5111 
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 Laurance Spelman Rockefeller in recognition of his leader-
ship on behalf of natural resource conservation and historic 
preservation. 
(b) DESION AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the presentation re-
ferred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall strike 
a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be 
determined by the Secretary. 
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—There is authorized to be 
appropriated not to exceed $25,000 to carry out this section. 
31 use 5111 
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 pursuant to 
section 2 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 
a price sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, mate-
rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses and the cost of 
the gold medal. 
PUBLIC LAW 101-296—MAY 17, 1990 
104 STAT. 199 
(b) REIMBURSEMENT OF APPROPRIATION.—The appropriation used 
to carry out section 2 shall be reimbursed out of the proceeds of sales 
under subsection (a). 
SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS. 
31 USC 5111 
The medals struck pursuant to this Act shall be considered na-
tional medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code. 
Approved May 17, 1990. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 1853: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 136 (1990): 
Mar. 26, considered and passed Senate. 
May 1, considered and passed House.