[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 24, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CELEBRATING THE 90TH BIRTHDAY OF FORMER CONGRESSMAN LOUIS STOKES

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                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 24, 2015

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great 
pleasure to commemorate the 90th birthday of my friend and colleague, 
former Congressman Louis Stokes.
  Louis Stokes rose from local housing projects in Cleveland, Ohio to 
serve 30 years in the U.S. House, first elected in 1968. Reluctant to 
enter the political arena, Stokes was persuaded to run for office by 
his younger brother, Carl B. Stokes, the first Black mayor of a major 
American city, elected in 1967. Prior to serving in Congress Louis 
served for decades as a civil rights lawyer. Louis Stokes was the first 
black to represent the State of Ohio in Congress and was a founding 
Member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Throughout his tenure in the 
House, Stokes chaired several congressional committees and was the 
first African American to win a seat on the House Appropriations 
Committee.
  During his long tenure in Congress, Louis Stokes headed and 
participated in several major House investigations. In March 1977 he 
was appointed to lead the Select Committee on Assassinations, formed to 
conduct an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 
President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Stokes also 
served as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence, becoming the first Black Member of Congress to head this 
committee.
  Stokes was the dean of the Ohio Congressional Delegation. His work in 
the area of health led to his appointment as a member of the Pepper 
Commission on Comprehensive Health Care, and he was the founder and 
chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust. In 1991 
Stokes chaired the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. 
When Louis Stokes retired in 1998, he became the first African American 
in the history of the U.S. Congress to have completed 30 years in 
office.
  Following his service in Congress, he became senior counsel at 
Squire, Sanders, and Dempsey L.L.P., a global law firm, and 
Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social 
Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. Stokes also served as vice 
chairman of the PEW Environmental Health Commission at the Johns 
Hopkins School of Public Health and was appointed by former Health and 
Human Services Secretary, Donna E. Shalala, as chairman of the Advisory 
Committee on Minority Health.
  Mr. Speaker, I join with his wife Jay, children, Shelley, Angela, 
Louis and Lori, grandchildren, family and friends in wishing 
Congressman Louis Stokes a very happy and blessed 90th birthday. You 
have been a trailblazer for so many. May you have many, many more.

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