[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 182 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 182

                   Honoring the life of Jack Valenti.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2007

 Mrs. Feinstein (for herself, Mr. Specter, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Hatch, Mrs. 
 Boxer, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Kerry, Ms. 
Stabenow, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Harkin, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Menendez, and Mr. 
 Coleman) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
                               agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
                   Honoring the life of Jack Valenti.

Whereas Jack Valenti was born September 5, 1921, in Houston, Texas, the grandson 
        of Sicilian immigrants, Joe and Josephine Valenti, and was the youngest 
        high school graduate in the city at age 15;
Whereas Jack Valenti married his beloved Mary Margaret in 1962, with whom he had 
        3 children, John, Alexandra, and Courtenay;
Whereas Jack Valenti joined the United States Army Air Forces in 1942 and flew 
        51 combat missions as a pilot of a B-25 attack bomber with the 12th Air 
        Force in Italy during World War II, obtained the rank of lieutenant, and 
        received 4 decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the 
        Air Medal with 4 clusters, the Distinguished Unit Citation with one 
        cluster, and the European Theater Ribbon with 4 battle stars;
Whereas Jack Valenti received a B.A. degree from the University of Houston in 
        1946 after doing all of his undergraduate work at night and working 
        during the day, and became the first University of Houston graduate to 
        be admitted to Harvard Business School, receiving an M.B.A. degree in 
        1948;
Whereas, in 1952, Jack Valenti cofounded Weekley and Valenti, an advertising and 
        political consulting agency that worked on Dwight D. Eisenhower's 
        presidential campaign in Texas, Representative Albert Thomas's run for 
        Congress, and John Connally's campaign for Governor of Texas;
Whereas Jack Valenti met then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson in 1957, 
        the two became close friends, and Valenti worked on Lyndon Johnson's 
        presidential campaign during the primaries of 1960;
Whereas Weekley and Valenti handled press during President John F. Kennedy's and 
        Vice President Lyndon Johnson's fateful trip to Dallas, Texas, in 
        November 1963;
Whereas Jack Valenti became the first special assistant hired when Lyndon 
        Johnson ascended to the Presidency;
Whereas Jack Valenti resigned his White House post in 1966 and went on to serve 
        as the president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for 
        the next 38 years;
Whereas Jack Valenti, as president of the MPAA, created the voluntary film 
        rating system that is still in place today, which provides parents with 
        advance information they can use to determine which movies are 
        appropriate for their children;
Whereas Jack Valenti's persona and skill combined to give the motion picture 
        industry a strong and enduring presence in the Nation's capital, which 
        grew year by year during his nearly 4 decade tenure at the MPAA;
Whereas Jack Valenti presided over a worldwide change in the motion picture 
        industry, ushered movies into the digital era, championed artists' 
        rights, and condemned intellectual property theft;
Whereas Jack Valenti authored 5 books, including ``A Very Human President'', 
        ``Protect and Defend'', ``The Bitter Taste Of Glory'', ``Speak Up With 
        Confidence'', and, his most recent, ``This Time, This Place: My Life in 
        War, the White House, and Hollywood'', and wrote numerous essays for the 
        New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Reader's 
        Digest, Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, Cox newspapers, and other 
        publications;
Whereas Jack Valenti was awarded with France's highly-prized Legion d'Honneur, 
        the French Legion of Honor, and has been honored with his own star on 
        the Hollywood Walk of Fame; and
Whereas Jack Valenti will be remembered as a dedicated family man, a 
        philanthropist, a voice for copyright owners, a true visionary whose 
        devotion, intelligence, creativity, and wisdom transformed the film 
        industry, and as Hollywood's ultimate leading man: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate honors the life of Jack Valenti, a 
pioneer in the fields of motion pictures and public service, a 
dedicated family man, and a legendary figure in the history of the 
United States.
                                 <all>