[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 76 (Wednesday, June 14, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5898-S5899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF IGNACY JAN PADEREWSKI

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration 
and the Senate now proceed to consider S. Res. 491.

[[Page S5899]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 491) recognizing the accomplishments 
     of Ignacy Jan Paderewski as a musician, composer, statesman, 
     and philanthropist, and commemorating the 65th anniversary of 
     his death on June 29, 1941.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 491) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 491

       Whereas Ignacy Jan Paderewski, born in Poland in 1860, was 
     a brilliant and popular pianist who performed hundreds of 
     concerts in Europe and the United States during the late 19th 
     and early 20th centuries;
       Whereas Paderewski donated the bulk of the proceeds of his 
     concerts to charitable causes, including the establishment of 
     the American Legion's Orphans and Veterans Fund;
       Whereas, during World War I, Paderewski worked for the 
     independence of Poland and served as the first Premier of 
     Poland;
       Whereas, in December 1919, Paderewski resigned as Premier 
     of Poland, and in 1921 he left politics to return to his 
     music;
       Whereas the German invasion of Poland in 1939 spurred 
     Paderewski to return to political life;
       Whereas Paderewski fought against the Nazi dictatorship in 
     World War II by joining the exiled Polish Government to 
     mobilize the Polish forces and to urge the United States to 
     join the Allied Forces;
       Whereas, on June 29, 1941, Paderewski died in exile in the 
     United States while all of Europe was imperiled by war and 
     occupation;
       Whereas, by the direction of President Franklin D. 
     Roosevelt, the remains of Paderewski were placed alongside 
     the honored dead of the United States in Arlington National 
     Cemetery, where President Roosevelt said, ``He may lie there 
     until Poland is free.'';
       Whereas, in 1963, President John F. Kennedy honored 
     Paderewski by placing a plaque marking his remains at the 
     Mast of the Maine at Arlington National Cemetery;
       Whereas, in 1992, President George H.W. Bush, at the 
     request of Lech Walesa, the first democratically elected 
     President of Poland since World War II, ordered the remains 
     of Paderewski to be returned to his native Poland;
       Whereas, on June 26, 1992, the remains of Paderewski were 
     removed from the Mast of the Maine at Arlington National 
     Cemetery and returned to Poland 3 days later;
       Whereas, on July 5, 1992, the remains of Paderewski were 
     interred in a crypt at the St. John Cathedral in Warsaw, 
     Poland; and
       Whereas Paderewski wished his heart to be forever enshrined 
     in the United States, where his lifelong struggle for 
     democracy and freedom had its roots and was cultivated, and 
     now his heart remains at the Shrine of the Czestochowa in 
     Doylestown, Pennsylvania: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the accomplishments of Ignacy Jan Paderewski 
     as a musician, composer, statesman, and philanthropist;
       (2) on the 65th anniversary of his death, acknowledges the 
     invaluable efforts of Ignacy Jan Paderewski in forging close 
     ties between Poland and the United States; and
       (3) recognizes Poland as an ally and strong partner in the 
     war against global terrorism.

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