[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 85 (Friday, June 18, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1175]]
               RECOGNIZING WILLIAM KERR OF PITTSBURGH, PA

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                            HON. TIM MURPHY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 18, 2004

  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, as we recognize the founding of Flag Day, I 
would also like to pay tribute to William Kerr. William Kerr, of 
Pittsburgh, PA, worked continuously for over 50 years to establish a 
national Flag Day. Kerr believed that the American flag had symbolized 
love for country since its adoption on June 14, 1777. He felt it of 
great importance that this date be celebrated along with Independence 
Day on July 4.
  Kerr was born in 1868 and began his quest to establish a national 
holiday at the young age of 14. He was a deeply patriotic young man 
with a talent for speaking in public. After delivering a speech in 
Chicago in 1882, he started to think about the important symbolism the 
flag had for the American people. This love of country and flag was 
especially fitting when one considers that he was born and lived in a 
state where the American flag was first adopted.
  Kerr's belief in the importance of the flag led him to organize the 
American Flag Association of Western Pennsylvania in 1888. He went on 
to speak all over the state on behalf of the organization, building 
momentum by urging other Pennsylvanians to join the charge. Kerr also 
began his efforts to lobby the United States Government to officially 
name June 14th a federal holiday.
  In 1898, during the Spanish American War, he expanded this scope of 
his organization to a national level as head of the new American Flag 
Association. He began to visit the President of the United States on an 
annual basis, using his powers of persuasion at the highest possible 
level. At the same time, his association waged an intensive letter 
writing campaign to elected officials and other persons of influence.
  Kerr's efforts and intensity proved successful. In 1916, Woodrow 
Wilson urged Americans to celebrate Flag Day, effectively making June 
14th a holiday, if still an unofficial one. In 1937, Pennsylvania, his 
home and the birthplace of his efforts, became the first to make June 
14th an official state holiday. And finally, in 1949, William Kerr was 
asked by President Harry Truman to witness the signing of the Bill that 
marked June 14th as an official federal holiday. He was 81 years old, 
and had worked almost his entire life for the day in which he stood by 
and watched as the Flag Day Act was signed into law.
  William Kerr worked tirelessly to ensure that ``Old Glory'' has a 
special day to commemorate its importance to the American people. His 
efforts were rewarded then, and they are to be admired and noted today.

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