[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 519 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                         July 23, 2007.
Whereas, 100 years ago on July 11, 1907, Tom Lea was born in El Paso, Texas, to 
        former El Paso Mayor Tom Lea, Sr., and his wife Zola Utt Lea and spent 
        the majority of his life in El Paso;
Whereas Tom Lea served as an accredited war artist correspondent for Life 
        magazine during World War II, traveled over 100,000 miles as an eye-
        witness reporter, landed with the First Marines on Peleliu during 1942, 
        and accompanied American forces in the North Atlantic during 1941, 
        fighter pilots aboard the USS Hornet in the South Pacific during 1942, 
        and American forces in China during 1943;
Whereas many of Tom Lea's paintings from World War II are in the United States 
        Army Center for Military History in Washington, DC, and are loaned to 
        exhibitions worldwide;
Whereas, when accepting the Republican nomination for President of the United 
        States in 2000, George W. Bush quoted Tom Lea about living on the 
        ``sunrise side of the mountain'';
Whereas Tom Lea's painting Rio Grande today hangs in the Oval Office at the 
        White House;
Whereas Tom Lea's works are found throughout Washington, DC and Texas, including 
        in the Rayburn House Office Building, which displays his portrait of Sam 
        Rayburn; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Dallas Museum of Art; 
        the El Paso Museum of Art; the University of Texas at El Paso; Texas A&M 
        University; and the University of Texas at Austin;
Whereas Tom Lea painted several notable murals, including the Texas Centennial 
        mural and, under the Department of Treasury's Section of Fine Arts mural 
        competition programs, The Nesters mural for the Benjamin Franklin Post 
        Office in Washington, DC; the Pass of the North mural for the Federal 
        Courthouse in El Paso, Texas; the Stampede mural for the Odessa, Texas 
        Post Office; the Comancheros mural for the Seymour, Texas Post Office; 
        and the Back Home mural for the Pleasant Hill, Missouri Post Office;
Whereas Tom Lea was also an accomplished author and illustrator whose works 
        included the two-volume annotated history The King Ranch (published in 
        1957), in addition to four novels and two non-fiction books, of which, 
        The Brave Bulls (published in 1949) and The Wonderful Country (published 
        in 1952), were adapted as screenplays for motion pictures;
Whereas Tom Lea during his life was honored with several awards, including the 
        Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, the United States Marine Corps' 
        Colonel John W. Thomason, Jr. Award, and the National Cowboy and Western 
        Heritage Museum's Great Westerners Award;
Whereas President and Mrs. George W. Bush are serving as Honorary Chairs of the 
        International Advisory Board for the 2007 Tom Lea Centennial 
        Celebration, a month-long series of events in the Southwest that seeks 
        to ensure that the richness and diversity of Tom Lea's legacy will 
        nourish generations to come; and
Whereas Tom Lea's war diaries are to be published by Texas A&M Press in 2008: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives honors the life and 
accomplishments of Tom Lea.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.