III 110th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 267 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 10, 2007 Mrs. Hutchison (for herself, Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. Bingaman) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to RESOLUTION Honoring the life of renowned painter and writer Tom Lea on the 100th anniversary of his birth and commending the City of El Paso for recognizing July 2007 as Tom Lea Month.

Whereas Tom Lea was born on July 11, 1907 in El Paso, Texas; Whereas Tom Lea attended El Paso public schools before continuing his education at the Art Institute of Chicago and working as an apprentice to muralist John Warner Norton; Whereas Tom Lea painted Texas Centennial murals at the Dallas State Fairgrounds Hall of State in 1936; Whereas Tom Lea won many commissions for murals from the Section of Fine Arts of the Department of the Treasury, including commissions for The Nesters at the Benjamin Franklin Post Office in Washington, D.C.; Pass of the North at the Federal Courthouse in El Paso, Texas; Stampede at the Post Office in Odessa, Texas; Comancheros at the Post Office in Seymour, Texas; and Back Home, April 1865 at the Post Office in Pleasant Hill, Missouri; Whereas Tom Lea was an accredited World War II artist correspondent for Life magazine who traveled over 100,000 miles with United States military forces and reported from places such as the North Atlantic, China, and on board the Hornet in the South Pacific; Whereas Tom Lea landed with the First Marines at Peleliu; Whereas many of the war paintings of Tom Lea are displayed at the United States Army Center for Military History in Washington, D.C. and others have been loaned to exhibitions worldwide; Whereas Texas A&M University Press plans to publish the war diaries of Tom Lea in 2008; Whereas Tom Lea wrote and illustrated 4 novels and 2 nonfiction works, including The Brave Bulls (1948) and The Wonderful Country (1952), both of which were adapted as screenplays for motion pictures, and a 2-volume annotated history of the King Ranch; Whereas Tom Lea excelled at painting portraits for public buildings in Washington, D.C. and at capturing the likenesses of individuals as diverse as Sam Rayburn, Benito Juarez, Claire Chennault, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, and the bullfighter Manolete; Whereas Tom Lea was honored with numerous 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 the paintings of Tom Lea hang in the Oval Office of the White House, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the United States Army Center for Military History, 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 enjoyed living on the east side of Mount Franklin in El Paso because it was the side to see the day that is coming, not the side to see the day that is gone; and Whereas Tom Lea lived on the east side of Mount Franklin with his wife, Sarah, until he died on January 29, 2001: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate— (1)honors the life and accomplishments of Tom Lea on the 100th anniversary of his birth; and (2)commends the City of El Paso, Texas for recognizing July 2007 as Tom Lea Month.