[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         A TRIBUTE TO KEN BURNS

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS-

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 19, 2008

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute and to honor 
Mr. Ken Burns, one of the most celebrated documentary producers of our 
day. His films have captured the American experience and have forever 
elevated and enriched our understanding of American history.
  Ken Burns, born in Brooklyn, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from 
Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1975, and went on to 
become one of the co-founders of Florentine Films. His first Academy 
Award-winning documentary was Brooklyn Bridge, in 1981. Since then, he 
has produced nineteen more documentaries, two earning Academy Award 
nominations and seven winning Emmy Awards.
  Ken Burns was the director, producer, co-writer, chief 
cinematographer, music director and executive producer of the landmark 
television series The Civil War, considered by many to be his magnum 
opus. This film was the highest rated series in the history of American 
Public Television and attracted an audience of 40 million during its 
premiere in September 1990. The series has been honored with more than 
forty major film and television awards, including two Emmy Awards, two 
Grammy Awards, the Producer of the Year Award from the Producer's 
Guild, the People's Choice Award, the Peabody Award, the DuPont-
Columbia Award, the D.W. Griffiths Award, and the $50,000 Lincoln 
Prize, among dozens of others.
  Ken Burns most recent documentary, The War, tells the story of the 
Second World War from the personal perspectives of men and women from 
Waterbury, CT, Mobile, AL, Sacramento, CA, and Luverne, MN. Airing in 
the fall of 2007, it was the most watched series in the last ten years 
on PBS. One hundred and seventeen PBS stations across the nation 
participated in some form of community outreach and nearly 30,000 
educator guides went to every high school in the country. As was hoped, 
``The War'' started a massive national dialog about this most 
cataclysmic event in the history of the United States.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize Mr. Ken Burns for igniting a 
passion for American history in millions of Americans throughout his 
prodigious filmmaking career.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to 
Mr. Ken Burns.

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