Bill Text: IL HR0496 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of former U.S. Rep. Paul Findley.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-10-28 - Resolution Adopted [HR0496 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2019-HR0496-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Paul Findley was born in Jacksonville in Morgan | ||||||
3 | County on June 2, 1921; and
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4 | WHEREAS, The Illinois into which Paul Findley was born was | ||||||
5 | a land in which almost half the people of the State, and well | ||||||
6 | more than half of the people of Central Illinois, rode horses, | ||||||
7 | planted crops, and used draft animals to work their farms; and
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8 | WHEREAS, The Central Illinois of 1921 was a world where | ||||||
9 | many living men had fought in the Civil War, and many living | ||||||
10 | men and women had memories of Abraham Lincoln and had heard him | ||||||
11 | speak or had exchanged words with him; and
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12 | WHEREAS, After graduating from Illinois College in | ||||||
13 | Jacksonville, Paul Findley joined the U.S. Navy for service in | ||||||
14 | World War II; he was commissioned as a lieutenant (junior | ||||||
15 | grade) and served in active duty in the Pacific Theater; and
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16 | WHEREAS, A member of the "Greatest Generation", Paul | ||||||
17 | Findley met his future wife Lucille and returned home to | ||||||
18 | Central Illinois, where he married, raised a family, published | ||||||
19 | a local newspaper, and served as a leader of his community; as | ||||||
20 | a respected voice of Central Illinois, he was elected to an | ||||||
21 | open seat in the U.S. Congress in the election of November of |
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1 | 1960; and
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2 | WHEREAS, As a Republican member in eleven Congresses from | ||||||
3 | the Eighty-Seventh (1961-1963) until the Ninety-Seventh | ||||||
4 | (1981-1983), Representative Paul Findley saw and participated | ||||||
5 | in some of the most controversial and suspenseful moments of | ||||||
6 | our national history; he was a lawmaker during the Cuban | ||||||
7 | Missile Crisis, the "Green Revolution" that completed the | ||||||
8 | mechanization of farming, the Vietnam War, the upsurge of crime | ||||||
9 | and disorder that accompanied the Sixties, and the outburst of | ||||||
10 | national doubt that we call the "energy crisis"; and
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11 | WHEREAS, As a loyal Republican but also as an independent | ||||||
12 | thinker, Rep. Findley developed his own views on America's | ||||||
13 | place in the world; not afraid of controversy, he shared these | ||||||
14 | views with determination during, and after, his time in | ||||||
15 | Congress; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Having talked in boyhood with Central Illinois | ||||||
17 | neighbors who had known and heard the words spoken by Abraham | ||||||
18 | Lincoln, Rep. Findley was conscious of the role of his Central | ||||||
19 | Illinois congressional district as "Lincoln's District", the | ||||||
20 | future President having represented part of it in Congress in | ||||||
21 | 1847-49; and
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22 | WHEREAS, As a lawmaker who was also a historian, Rep. |
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1 | Findley, in 1979, wrote and published "Abraham Lincoln: The | ||||||
2 | Crucible of Congress", a pioneering work based upon original | ||||||
3 | documents preserved in the Library of Congress that showed the | ||||||
4 | complexity of challenges that faced a member of Congress from | ||||||
5 | the minority party in the 1840s and how Lincoln grew in guile | ||||||
6 | and skill as he faced these challenges anticipating his future | ||||||
7 | life as a leading statewide lawyer, national candidate, and | ||||||
8 | President of the United States; and
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9 | WHEREAS, "Crucible" was only one of the six books Rep. | ||||||
10 | Findley wrote and published in his lifetime, speaking out on | ||||||
11 | issues of national and international interest and importance; | ||||||
12 | and
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13 | WHEREAS, On August 9, 2019, former Rep. Paul Findley died | ||||||
14 | in Jacksonville, the place of his birth, at age 98; and
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15 | WHEREAS, People like Rep. Findley, who served in uniform in | ||||||
16 | World War II and came home to serve as lawmakers, are now | ||||||
17 | passing from the scene; and
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18 | WHEREAS, Rep. Findley was a warrior who loved peace, a | ||||||
19 | staunch, partisan figure; not everyone agreed with everything | ||||||
20 | he had to say, however, all will agree that here was a man who | ||||||
21 | spoke out and said what was in his heart, and it is not clear | ||||||
22 | how such men can be replaced in today's America; therefore, be |
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1 | it
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2 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
3 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
4 | we mourn the passing of Paul Findley, a son of Illinois | ||||||
5 | College, a veteran of the United States Navy, and, for 22 | ||||||
6 | years, a member of the U.S. Congress from the State of | ||||||
7 | Illinois; and be it further
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8 | RESOLVED, That more important than these lawmaking honors | ||||||
9 | was Rep. Findley's life as a son of Central Illinois and the | ||||||
10 | family he helped build to share this good land with him; and be | ||||||
11 | it further
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12 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
13 | presented to Paul and Lucille Findley's son, Craig Findley, and | ||||||
14 | to their daughter, Diane Findley, on behalf of Paul and Lucille | ||||||
15 | Findley's grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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