[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 294 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.J.Res.294
                       One Hundred Third Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
  the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three


                            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 retirement 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;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., has provided remarkable, energetic, 
  inspired, and at times heroic service to the Nation 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 Transportation, 
  and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and stewardship 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 bachelor'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 Nation'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 Pto 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 
  survivors hours before receiving orders to take part in the rescue;
Whereas W. Graham Claytor, Jr., retired in 1977 as Chairman 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 corporation'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 providing for a strong 
  defense within mounting budgetary constraints 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 improvement in the economics, quality, 
  and marketability of rail passenger service that has occurred over the 
  last decade, 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 attention to the bottom line and to improvements in 
  efficiency 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, inspiring, and persuasive 
  voices in government service and of a close, personal friend to many 
  in Congress, the Government, 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 preservation 
of national rail passenger service, and for his brilliant stewardship of 
Amtrak over the past decade.







                                Speaker of the House of Representatives.







                             Vice President of the United States and    
                                                President of the Senate.