[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 96 (Thursday, July 1, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1476-E1477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATION OF THE VICTORY OF FREEDOM IN THE COLD WAR ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. RICK LAZIO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 1, 1999

  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor of the House today to 
introduce the Commemoration of the Victory of Freedom in the Cold War 
Act, a bill to recognize the accomplishments of the American people in 
winning the Cold War.
  On September 26th, 1996, this House debated and approved without 
dissent, House Concurrent Resolution 181, which I offered to begin the 
process of national recognition for the tens of millions of citizen-
patriots, who had participated in our 46 year Cold War struggle.
  In 1997, both Houses of Congress amended the President's proposed 
fiscal year 1998 National Defense Authorization Act to authorize a Cold 
War Certificate of Recognition to honor the more than 22 million 
veterans of the Cold War. In that act, we established the date for the 
start of the Cold War as September 2d 1945, to coincide with the 
signing of the Peace Treaty with Japan, thus ending World War II and 
our alliance with the Soviet Union. In that act, we also established 
the date for the end of the Cold War as December 26th, 1991, to 
coincide with the end of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics and 
the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
  The people of the United States of America should recognize and 
celebrate the grandeur of this historic accomplishment:
  Four hundred million people in Europe and Asia were liberated from 
Soviet communism; Germany was united peacefully; the states of western 
Europe buried their historic animosities and started creating a 
peaceful European Union; struggles, which boiled over into conflicts 
all around the world, from Korea and Vietnam to Afghanistan and El 
Salvador, and threatened the nuclear annihilation of the entire human 
race ended without that horrible outcome; the potential for a truly 
global economy where the potential of the entire human race is 
available for the first time in the history of mankind was opened; and 
the American people and economy, long tied to the costs and commitments 
of defending the Free World, were unleashed resulting in the second 
longest period of uninterrupted growth in U.S. history.
  During the Cold War, there were moments of great fear. We all 
remember the sealing of the western sector of Berlin and the threat of 
starving an entire city; the launching of Sputnik with the realization 
that the Soviet Union was a determined, resourceful foe; and the Cuban 
Missile Crisis which led us to the brink of war.
  There were also moments of great stress and despair in our own 
nation. We went to battle for our beliefs. In the war in Korea, we lost 
more than 50,000 Americans. The war in Vietnam tested America's 
resolve. Our nation was torn apart so badly that some scars have yet to 
heal.
  But there were also moments of pure magnificence. The Berlin Airlift 
and Inchon were great military successes and added to the honors of 
Armed Forces. Americans landing on the moon, the first safe return of 
the Space Shuttle, and the creation of the Internet are symbolic of an 
explosion in the development of useful technology.
  Now, it is time to demonstrate our great respect for men and women 
who actually carried the burden of the policy of the United States 
during this Cold War. This bill, which would authorize the creation of 
a Department of Defense Cold War Victory Medal and create a Commission 
to plan for our celebration, is designed to do just that.

[[Page E1477]]

  This recognition is long overdue. Last week, in Hauppauge, New York, 
at the annual ceremony which commemorates the beginning of the Korean 
War, Korean Americans and representatives of the Korean government 
spent 90 minutes thanking Americans for what they sacrificed for their 
people and their nation. While some Americans may not realize the 
significance of their accomplishments, the people of Korea do. So have 
the people of Berlin and the people of the Federal Republic of Germany 
who thanked America for saving Berlin just a few months ago at a 
ceremony at Ronald Reagan Airport.
  As the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaches, 
and as we begin a series of tenth anniversaries of critical events 
which led to the final end of the Cold War, it is appropriate that we 
act now to thank those generations of Americans who gave the world 
peace. And there is an urgency! Many who served during the last days of 
World War II have already departed for a better place. We need to move 
on this quickly to ensure that this nation extends its thanks to as 
many patriots as possible.

                          ____________________