[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4554-S4555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to S. 
Res. 571.

[[Page S4555]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 571) recognizing the 100th birthday 
     of Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President, designer of the 
     Great Society, politician, educator, and civil rights 
     enforcer.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to; 
the preamble be agreed to; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 571) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 571

       Whereas August 27, 2008, marks the 100th birthday of Lyndon 
     Baines Johnson;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson was born in Stonewall, Texas, to 
     Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., a Texas representative, and Rebekah 
     Baines, on August 27, 1908;
       Whereas upon graduation, Lyndon B. Johnson enrolled in 
     Southwest Texas State Teachers' College, where he vigorously 
     participated in debate, campus politics, and edited the 
     school newspaper;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson had several teaching positions 
     throughout Texas, including at the Welhausen School in La 
     Salle County, at Pearsall High School, and as a public 
     speaking teacher at Sam Houston High School in Houston;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson went to work as a congressional 
     assistant at the age of 23;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson served the 10th Congressional 
     District in the Texas House of Representatives from April 10, 
     1937, to January 3, 1949;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson became a commissioned officer in 
     the Navy Reserve in December 1941;
       Whereas, during World War II, Lyndon B. Johnson was 
     recommended by Undersecretary of the Navy James Forrestal to 
     President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who assigned Johnson to a 3-
     man survey team in the southwest Pacific;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson was conferred the Silver Star, 
     which is the military's 3rd highest medal, by General Douglas 
     MacArthur;
       Whereas, in 1948, Lyndon B. Johnson was elected to the 
     Senate at the age of 41;
       Whereas, in 1951, Lyndon B. Johnson was elected Senate 
     minority leader at the age of 44, and elected Senate majority 
     leader at the age of 46, the youngest in United States 
     history;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson was elected Vice President at the 
     age of 52, becoming president of the Senate;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson's congressional career and his 
     leadership spanned the stock market crash, the Great 
     Depression, World War II, the nuclear age, the Cold War, the 
     space age, and the civil rights movement, some of the most 
     turbulent years in American history;
       Whereas Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was appointed as 
     head of the President's Committee on Equal Employment 
     Opportunities, through which he worked with African-Americans 
     and other minorities;
       Whereas an hour and 38 minutes after the assassination of 
     President Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as 
     President aboard Air Force One;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson was a bold leader and an 
     idealist, who had the energy, determination, and leadership 
     to turn those dreams into reality;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson was a ``can-do'' President 
     because no matter how difficult and daunting the task at 
     hand, he never rested until it was completed;
       Whereas, in 1964, at the request of the Johnson 
     Administration, Congress passed the landmark Civil Rights Act 
     of 1964, which banned de jure segregation in the Nation's 
     schools and public places;
       Whereas Congress passed by request of the Johnson 
     Administration the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed 
     obstructive provisions that were determined to be impractical 
     and potentially biased against prospective voters;
       Whereas, in January of 1965, the Johnson Administration 
     introduced by request the legislation that encompassed the 
     Great Society programs;
       Whereas, in 1967, President Johnson nominated Thurgood 
     Marshall as the 1st African-American to serve on the Supreme 
     Court;
       Whereas, during President Johnson's time in office, the 
     National Aeronautics and Space Administration made 
     spectacular steps forward in space exploration when 3 
     astronauts successfully orbited the moon in December 1968;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson died at 4:33 p.m. on January 22, 
     1973, at his ranch in Johnson City, Texas, at the age of 64;
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson was posthumously awarded the 
     Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980; and
       Whereas Lyndon B. Johnson is honored, venerated, and 
     revered for his drive to establish equality for all 
     Americans, illustrated in the momentous legislation passed 
     during his Administration: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) honors Lyndon B. Johnson for his fortitude in bringing 
     about the passage of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 
     and Voting Rights Act of 1965;
       (2) extols the contributions of Lyndon B. Johnson to the 
     United States;
       (3) commends Lyndon B. Johnson for establishing the 
     Medicare Act of 1965 that has helped millions of Americans; 
     and
       (4) recognizes the 100th birthday of Lyndon Baines Johnson, 
     the 36th President, designer of the Great Society, 
     politician, educator, and civil rights enforcer.

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