[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 122 (Thursday, July 31, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S5235]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 534--DESIGNATING SEPTEMBER 6, 2014, AS ``EVERETT 
                  MCKINLEY DIRKSEN AND MARIGOLD DAY''

  Mr. KIRK (for himself and Mr. Durbin) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 534

       Whereas the great Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen of 
     Pekin, Illinois, has passed from the halls of the United 
     States Capitol;
       Whereas the current Senators wish to honor Senator Dirksen;
       Whereas, upon the passing of Senator Dirksen, his 
     contemporaries and peers stated that--
       (1) Senator Dirksen--
          (A) provided sage advice and counsel and wholehearted 
     wisdom;
          (B) provided support that made the civil rights 
     legislation of the 1960s a fact rather than a dream during 
     that decade; and
          (C) was known as an American who cultivated a high sense 
     of honor; and
       (2) when Senator Dirksen spoke, the country listened, and 
     his eloquence was a source of national strength;
       Whereas, as the obituary for Senator Dirksen in the New 
     York Times noted, Senator Dirksen ``was ever constant to the 
     marigold, which he sought to make the national flower and 
     which he grew profusely in his garden'';
       Whereas, as Senator Dirksen said on the Senate floor on 
     April 17, 1967, the marigold ``is a native of North America 
     and can in truth and in fact be called an American flower'';
       Whereas, as Senator Dirksen said in that speech, the 
     marigold ``is national in character, for it grows and thrives 
     in every one of the fifty states of this nation'';
       Whereas, as Senator Dirksen said in that speech, the 
     marigold's ``robustness reflects the hardihood and character 
     of the generations who pioneered and built this land into a 
     great nation'';
       Whereas, beginning in 1973, Pekin has held the Pekin 
     Marigold Festival each year to honor Pekin's favorite son, 
     Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen; and
       Whereas the 40th Pekin Marigold Festival will be held 
     during the first week of September 2014, which includes 
     Saturday, September 6: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate designates September 6, 2014, as 
     ``Everett McKinley Dirksen and Marigold Day''.

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