[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 130 (Thursday, September 10, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM CLAY FORD, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SANDER M. LEVIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 10, 2015

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a remarkable 
leader from my home state of Michigan, William Clay Ford, Jr. Mr. Ford 
is being honored in Detroit on September 10, 2015 by the USC Shoah 
Foundation Institute with its 2015 Ambassador for Humanity Award. The 
USC Shoah Foundation Institute says that ``The Ambassador for Humanity 
Award is reserved for individuals who embody the Institute's values and 
mission to promote tolerance and mutual respect.'' Bill Ford is 
undoubtedly such a person, and it is fitting that he receives this 
honor.
  Bill Ford is the Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company, which was 
founded by his great-grandfather, Henry Ford. He worked his way up in 
the company, where he started at the age of 22 as a product planning 
specialist, and throughout the years he has mastered the complexities 
of the company and the auto industry. His leadership at Ford has 
reflected a twofold commitment--to building the world's best 
automobiles, while at the same time being a strong corporate citizen in 
the communities where its facilities are located and in society at 
large. As a lifelong champion of environmental stewardship, Bill Ford 
has led Ford Motor Company's efforts to develop and broaden the use of 
new, environmentally-friendly technologies in its vehicles and to 
lessen the environmental impact of its manufacturing, from increasing 
the use of post-consumer product in its plastic parts to leading the 
restoration of the Ford Rouge Center, which the company says is ``the 
world's largest brownfield reclamation project.''
  Bill Ford's passion for protecting the environment is matched by his 
commitment to ensuring that our communities are strengthened by the 
vital educational, healthcare, and cultural institutions which serve 
them. One of the important efforts that he and Ford Motor Company are 
involved with is a partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation 
Institute's IWitness educational program. IWitness provides educators 
and students with firsthand audio and visual accounts from survivors of 
and witnesses to the Holocaust as well as genocides in Armenia in the 
early twentieth century, in Nanjing, China in 1937, in Cambodia in the 
1970s, and in Rwanda in 1994. These testimonies enable students to 
learn from history in a deeply personal way, and encourage them to act 
to oppose and prevent future acts of genocide. Thanks to the commitment 
of Mr. Ford and the Ford Motor Company, the Institute's IWitness 
program will be expanded to more schools and students throughout Metro 
Detroit.
  When the award was announced, Steven Spielberg, who founded the USC 
Shoah Foundation Institute, captured so well the importance of the 
IWitness program and of Bill Ford's leadership when he said, ``Reaching 
people when they're young is the key to changing the world with 
testimony . . . the commitment of Bill Ford and the Ford Motor Company 
to support new approaches to learning, to provide scholarships, and to 
help deserving students attain higher education make him a great 
ambassador, and I am proud to recognize him for his efforts.''
  Mr. Speaker, President John F. Kennedy once said ``For of those to 
whom much is given, much is required.'' Bill Ford, who has committed so 
much of his time, talents, and financial resources into strengthening 
our communities in Southeast Michigan, truly exemplifies this spirit. I 
encourage my colleagues to join me in congratulating him on so 
deservedly receiving the 2015 Ambassador for Humanity Award from the 
USC Shoah Foundation Institute.

                          ____________________