[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 23 (Monday, March 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S1569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 81--HONORING THE BERLIN AIRLIFT

  Mr. COVERDELL submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 81

       Whereas the date of June 26, 1998, marks the 50th 
     anniversary of the commencement of the Allied effort to 
     supply the people of Berlin, Germany, with food, fuel, and 
     supplies in the face of the illegal Soviet blockade that 
     divided the city;
       Whereas this 15 month Allied effort became known throughout 
     the free world as the ``Berlin Airlift'' and ultimately cost 
     the lives of 78 Allied airmen, of whom 31 were United States 
     fliers;
       Whereas this heroic humanitarian undertaking was 
     universally regarded as an unambiguous statement of Western 
     resolve to thwart further Soviet expansion;
       Whereas the Berlin Airlift was an unqualified success, both 
     as an instrument of diplomacy and as a life saving rescue of 
     the 1,000,000 inhabitants of West Berlin, with 2,326,205 tons 
     of supplies delivered by 277,728 flights over a 462-day 
     period;
       Whereas historians and citizens the world over view the 
     success of this courageous action as pivotal to the ultimate 
     defeat of international tyranny, symbolized today by the fall 
     of the Berlin Wall; and
       Whereas this inspiring act of resolve must be preserved in 
     the memory of future generations in a positive and dramatic 
     manner: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift should 
     include the presentation of a suitable gift of 
     representational art from the citizens of the United States 
     to the citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany, 
     commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 
     reunification of the great city of Berlin; and
       (2) civic and corporate leaders across the Nation are 
     entrusted to fulfill the intent of paragraph (1) by using 
     private subscription and volunteer effort with the 
     encouragement and support of Congress.

                          ____________________