Bill Text: IL HR1077 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Recognizes the life of U.S. Senator and American hero John McCain.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 11-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-05-16 - Added Co-Sponsor All Other Members of the House [HR1077 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-HR1077-Introduced.html

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HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona was born on
August 29, 1936, and during the 81 years since that time, he
has been a leader among his fellow Americans; and
WHEREAS, Senator McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone;
his family was in the U.S. Navy; his father John S. "Jack"
McCain Jr. was an honored naval officer who would eventually
rise to the rank of Commander-in-Chief Pacific Command
(CINCPAC); after growing up in a variety of locations
throughout North America and the Pacific Ocean, he was admitted
to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1954; and
WHEREAS, As a midshipman, Senator McCain turned his eyes
towards the flying service; after his commissioning as a naval
ensign, he trained at Naval Air Station Pensacola and at Naval
Air Station Corpus Christi; as an aircraft carrier flier, he
served during the Cuban missile crisis and, continuing his rise
in the service, was assigned flight-instruction duties at Naval
Air Station Meridian (Mississippi); and
WHEREAS, With the intensification of the Vietnam War,
Senator McCain requested reassignment to combat duty and, in
1967, was assigned to fly A-4E Skyhawk attack jets based on the
carrier U.S.S. Forrestal and then the U.S.S. Oriskany; the

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Forrestal and Oriskany were assigned to Gulf of Tonkin duties;
and
WHEREAS, On October 26, 1967, while engaged in combat over
Hanoi, Senator McCain's Skyhawk was downed by Soviet/North
Vietnamese anti-aircraft missile fire; severely injured upon
his ejection from the doomed plane, he was immediately
captured, beaten, and bayoneted by his captors, and confined as
a prisoner of war; and
WHEREAS, In the "Hanoi Hilton" and other places of
imprisonment, Senator McCain was subjected to torture and
prolonged solitary confinement; after learning that their
captive was the son of a high-ranking U.S. admiral, in June of
1968 the North Vietnamese told McCain that he was free to
return to the United States; suspecting that this was a
propaganda ploy intended to show American elitism in action,
and in obedience to the United States Code of Conduct to be
followed by all members of the U.S. Armed Forces who are
prisoners of war, McCain stated to his captors that he would
not leave captivity prior to his fellow prisoners; upon making
this statement, he was returned to solitary confinement, which
he would endure for a total of approximately two years; and
WHEREAS, Although Vietnam War peace negotiations began in
1969, a cease-fire agreement proved elusive, partly because of

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prolonged disputes concerning the status of prisoners of war;
during the four-year period from 1969 into 1973, Americans
carried the prisoners of the Vietnamese War in their prayers
and thoughts; the Paris Peace Accords were finally signed in
January of 1973, and Senator McCain was released on March 14,
1973, after five and a half years of captivity, returning to
active U.S. Navy service; and
WHEREAS, After achieving promotion to the rank of naval
captain and commanding a squadron of his fellow fliers, Senator
McCain retired from the U.S. Navy in April of 1981 with a
determination to enter politics; he moved to Phoenix, the home
city of his wife, Cindy Lou Hensley, and was elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives as a congressman from Arizona in
1982, where he served for four years; he won election to the
U.S. Senate in 1986; and
WHEREAS, As a lawmaker, Senator McCain has specialized in
issues of U.S. defense and national security, rising to the
rank of chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee;
although he has compiled a strongly conservative voting record
in the U.S. Senate, he has developed ties of friendship with
lawmakers from both parties; and
WHEREAS, In September of 2008, the Republican Party
nominated Senator McCain as their nominee for President of the

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United States; McCain won the votes of more than 59.9 million
Americans, which was a plurality of the vote in 22 of the 50
states; and
WHEREAS, After the 2008 presidential election, Senator
McCain returned to lawmaking and was elected to two additional
terms in the U.S. Senate; he served actively as a drafter of
bills and appropriations, and as a committee spokesman and
chairman, until his affliction in 2017 with severe illness; the
story of John McCain is now familiar to all Americans; and
WHEREAS, Senator McCain is the maverick; he is truly the
independent statesman, the patriot which we all know, and the
hero we all honor; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
commend Navy Captain and United States Senator John McCain for
his service, in war and in peace, to the United States of
America; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we declare the life and congressional
service of Senator McCain to be an inspiration to all
Americans; and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be

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presented to Senator John McCain and his family at his home in
Arizona and all members of the Illinois Congressional
Delegation.