[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 91 (Tuesday, July 9, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1216-E1217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNITION OF THE MADISON CIVICS CLUB

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TAMMY BALDWIN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 9, 2002

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to today to recognize the Madison 
Civics Club. For 90 years, the Madison Civics Club has brought world 
leaders, illuminating thinkers and local innovators to the citizens of 
Madison. The club began in 1912 through the tireless efforts of five 
charter members.
  These five had just spent several grueling, and unsuccessful, months 
trying to convince members of the Wisconsin Legislature to adopt 
women's suffrage. The founding members--Georgia Lloyd Jones, Alice 
Bleyer, Edna Chynoweth, Lucille McCarthy and Mary B. Orvis--decided to 
gather for lunch, review their mistakes, seek strength and ``lick their 
wounds generally.'' From that effort, the club was born. Its goal was, 
and remains to this day, developing a civic conscience through being 
informed on local and foreign affairs.
  The Madison Civics Club has flourished. Its members number more than 
800. It has hosted such world leaders as Winston Churchill, Nelson 
Rockefeller and Eleanor Roosevelt. The Madison Civics Club brought 
those who have mastered the arts to Madison, including Carl Sandburg, 
Arthur C. Clarke and Peter Bogdanovich. Amelia Earhart, Bella Abzug and 
Alex Haley are just some of the inspirational individuals who have 
illuminated Madison's citizens. Those that shape the message of our 
mass media, including David Broder, Ray Suarez and Hedrick Smith, have 
been a part of Madison Civics Club history.
  Prominent citizens, including those on the faculty of the world-class 
institution, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also have addressed 
Madison's local concerns.
  The 2002-03 season shares the hallmark of again promising an engaging 
and thoughtful series of speakers. The theme, as determined by the 
2002-03 chair Lynn Stathas, is ``The American Dream.'' Speakers 
include: Harry Wu, Chinese dissident and human rights activist; Judith 
Miller, an author and Pulitzer-Prize winning correspondent at the New 
York Times who is considered an expert on terrorism and was in fact the 
target of one of the heinous and infamous anthrax letters that were 
mailed in 2001; Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley S. 
Abrahamson, the first female chief justice on the Wisconsin high court 
and an important figure, the 150th anniversary of the Wisconsin Supreme 
Court; Diana L. Eck, a professor of Comparative Religion and Indian 
Studies at Harvard University; and Dr.

[[Page E1217]]

David Satcher, the 16th Surgeon General of the United States.
  Through these speakers, as in past years, the Madison Civics Club 
celebrates the enduring freedoms our nation has sustained and nurtured, 
building a civil society for more than 200 years. America has built a 
legacy of justice, freedom and hope that will be heralded through the 
Madison Civics Club in its 90th year.
  As the representative for the 2nd Congressional District of 
Wisconsin, I wish the Madison Civics Club officers and members, and its 
past and upcoming speakers, all the best as they continue their 
exemplary tradition of molding a civic conscience that builds 
communities and benefits all.

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