[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1210-E1211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A TRIBUTE TO DR. JAMES R. RECKNER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RANDY NEUGEBAUER

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 20, 2009

  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Madam Speaker, I would like to take this time to 
recognize Dr. James R. Reckner for his dedication to the Vietnam Center 
and Archive at Texas Tech University. Dr. Reckner retired from Texas 
Tech University at the end of 2008 after 20 years of service as a 
professor of history, founding director of the Vietnam Center and 
Archive, and Executive Director of Texas Tech's new Institute for 
Modern Conflict, Diplomacy and Reconciliation, which now oversees the 
Vietnam Center and Archive.
  A retired Naval officer and a veteran of the Vietnam War, Dr. Reckner 
received his Ph.D. from the University of Aukland in New Zealand. He 
joined the faculty at Texas Tech in September of 1988 and shortly after 
founded the Vietnam Center and Archive. From 1991 to 1992, Dr. Reckner 
held the Secretary of the Navy's Research Chair in Naval History and 
has served as a member of the Secretary's Advisory Subcommittee on 
Naval History since 1998.
  As founder and director of the Vietnam Center and Archive, Dr. 
Reckner oversaw 20 years of development and growth including the 
acquisition of many unique and historic collections that have helped us 
better understand the experience and course of the Vietnam War. As a 
result of his leadership, the Center has become the foremost Vietnam-
related research, archival and reconciliation institution in the United 
States.
  During his years in the United States Navy, Dr. Reckner received the 
Bronze Star Medal with Combat ``V'', the Navy Commendation Medal with 
Combat ``V'', the Meritorious Service Medal and the Vietnamese Cross of 
Gallantry.
  For his work in academia, Dr. Reckner also received the Gold Key 
National Honor Society Teaching Award in 1991, the President's 
Outstanding Leadership Award in 1996 and the Faculty Distinguished 
Leadership Award in 2004, among others. Not only is he an inspiring 
educator and skilled researcher, but he is an accomplished author as 
well with several published writings on naval and military history. In 
1989, he received the Theodore & Franklin D. Roosevelt Annual Naval 
History Award for his historical biography entitled Teddy Roosevelt's 
Great White Fleet.
  I am enormously appreciative to Dr. Reckner for his contributions to 
the Texas Tech community, veterans of the Vietnam War and their 
families, and for his efforts to foster reconciliation between Vietnam 
and the United States. Those in District 19, including me, thank him 
for a job well-done and extend to him our best wishes for his future 
endeavors.

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