[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 40 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 40

  Celebrating the life of President Ronald Wilson Reagan on the 100th 
                       anniversary of his birth.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 19, 2011

  Mr. Franks of Arizona submitted the following resolution; which was 
      referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Celebrating the life of President Ronald Wilson Reagan on the 100th 
                       anniversary of his birth.

Whereas, on February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to Nelle and John 
        Reagan in Tampico, Illinois;
Whereas Ronald Reagan's childhood years laid the foundation for his becoming a 
        man of unfettered principle, who was not afraid to do what was right, 
        and who was tenaciously committed to doing only that which he believed 
        was right in his own heart, regardless of any political cost;
Whereas his small-town values of hard work and commitment to God and family were 
        deeply rooted in his early childhood experiences;
Whereas as a young man in Illinois, Ronald Reagan saved 77 people from drowning 
        through his courage, physical strength, and vigilance as a lifeguard;
Whereas he attended high school in nearby Dixon, Illinois, and then worked his 
        way through Eureka College, where he studied economics and sociology, 
        played on the football team, and acted in school plays;
Whereas in 1937, a screen test won him a contract in Hollywood, leading to his 
        appearance in over 53 films over the next 2 decades;
Whereas beginning in 1947, Ronald Reagan served as President of the Screen 
        Actors Guild for 13 years;
Whereas, on March 4, 1952, Ronald Reagan married Nancy Davis, who remained his 
        best friend and lifelong companion and confidant for more than 5 
        decades;
Whereas in 1966, Ronald Reagan was elected as the 33rd Governor of California, 
        and won reelection 4 years later;
Whereas Ronald Reagan believed in United States exceptionalism and asserted that 
        the Nation has a unique role to play in the world;
Whereas in 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination and 
        was subsequently elected the 40th President of the United States, 
        winning reelection again in 1984 and becoming the first president in 3 
        decades to serve 2 full terms;
Whereas Ronald Reagan declared in 1981 in a speech at the University of Notre 
        Dame that, ``the West will not contain communism, it will transcend 
        communism'', and stated that ``For the West, for America, the time has 
        come to dare to show to the world that our civilized ideas, our 
        traditions, our values, are not--like the ideology and war machine of 
        totalitarian societies--just a facade of strength. It is time for the 
        world to know our intellectual and spiritual values are rooted in the 
        source of all strength, a belief in a Supreme Being, and a law higher 
        than our own'', thereby recognizing that the source of the Nation's 
        strength and ultimately its victory over communism would come from God, 
        the ``source of all strength'';
Whereas in June 1982, Ronald Reagan lifted up the flagging morale of the 
        democracies and gave hope to millions living under communist rule with 
        an address to the British Parliament at Westminster Hall in which he 
        proclaimed an imminent free world victory in the Cold War that would 
        leave communist totalitarianism, like Nazi totalitarianism before it, 
        ``on the ash heap of history'';
Whereas, on March 8, 1983, President Reagan warned all people in the Nation to 
        beware of the temptation to draw a moral equivalence between the United 
        States and the Soviet Union, and the tendency to ignore the facts of 
        history and the ``aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call 
        the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove ourselves from 
        the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil'', thereby educating 
        people in the United States about the moral bankruptcy of Soviet 
        communism and reminding them that ``the real crisis that we face is a 
        spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith'';
Whereas, on March 23, 1983, President Reagan gave a landmark speech at the 
        zenith of the Cold War, in which he proposed what became known as the 
        Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect the United States, its allies, 
        and its vital interests from ballistic missile attack, thereby putting 
        the United States on a path to ending its vulnerability to missile 
        attack and harnessing the Nation's scientific and technological 
        advantages in support of a military effort that the Soviet Union 
        ultimately could not match;
Whereas less than 6 years later, the world watched the Revolutions of 1989 which 
        culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall, the disintegration of 
        communism, and the dissolution of the once unshakeable Soviet Union;
Whereas Ronald Reagan made millions of people believe again that the United 
        States was still capable of being victorious, of rising out of and above 
        difficult circumstances, and of facing devastating challenges;
Whereas Ronald Reagan believed in the sanctity of all human life, saying ``[w]e 
        cannot diminish the value of one category of human life--the unborn--
        without diminishing the value of all human life'';
Whereas Ronald Reagan stated that ``the future does not belong to the 
        fainthearted; it belongs to the brave'', and desired for people of the 
        United States to continue to make the Nation great by preserving its 
        goodness, by persevering in the struggle between right and wrong and 
        good and evil;
Whereas the policies of the Reagan Administration led to an enduring economic 
        recovery, the defeat of Soviet communism, and a renewal of United States 
        patriotism and self-confidence;
Whereas in his Farewell Address, President Reagan warned of the need to develop 
        an ``informed patriotism'' so that we can teach our children ``what 
        America is and what she represents in the long history of the world'', 
        thereby warning that if we forget our history, we won't know who we are;
Whereas Ronald Reagan's life was a transformed one, one that reflected a light 
        from within, and one that he willingly shared in the brightness and 
        warmth of his smile and in his grace and good humor;
Whereas Ronald Reagan's faith in God, and his love of family and country were 
        evident and strong even to the end of his life;
Whereas Ronald Reagan was a patriotic, humble leader and noble American for 93 
        years;
Whereas hundreds of millions of people now live in freedom because of Ronald 
        Reagan's conviction and courage; and
Whereas Ronald Reagan stated that ``freedom is never more than one generation 
        away from extinction'' and called upon all the people of the United 
        States to remember their ``rendezvous with destiny'': Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) celebrates the extraordinary life of President Ronald 
        Wilson Reagan on the anniversary of the 100th year of his birth 
        and expresses its deepest appreciation for his profound public 
        service; and
            (2) recognizes the significance of the presidency of Ronald 
        Wilson Reagan, and its enduring legacy for the United States 
        and the rest of the world, and expresses its commitment to 
        protect, affirm, and defend the heritage of human freedom left 
        by President Ronald Wilson Reagan.
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