HR0496 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0496 LRB101 13805 MST 62672 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Paul Findley was born in Jacksonville in Morgan County on June 2, 1921; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois into which Paul Findley was born was a land in which almost half the people of the State, and well more than half of the people of Central Illinois, rode horses, planted crops, and used draft animals to work their farms; and

WHEREAS, The Central Illinois of 1921 was a world where many living men had fought in the Civil War, and many living men and women had memories of Abraham Lincoln and had heard him speak or had exchanged words with him; and

WHEREAS, After graduating from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Paul Findley joined the U.S. Navy for service in World War II; he was commissioned as a lieutenant (junior grade) and served in active duty in the Pacific Theater; and

WHEREAS, A member of the "Greatest Generation", Paul Findley met his future wife Lucille and returned home to Central Illinois, where he married, raised a family, published a local newspaper, and served as a leader of his community; as a respected voice of Central Illinois, he was elected to an open seat in the U.S. Congress in the election of November of 1960; and

WHEREAS, As a Republican member in eleven Congresses from the Eighty-Seventh (1961-1963) until the Ninety-Seventh (1981-1983), Representative Paul Findley saw and participated in some of the most controversial and suspenseful moments of our national history; he was a lawmaker during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the "Green Revolution" that completed the mechanization of farming, the Vietnam War, the upsurge of crime and disorder that accompanied the Sixties, and the outburst of national doubt that we call the "energy crisis"; and

WHEREAS, As a loyal Republican but also as an independent thinker, Rep. Findley developed his own views on America's place in the world; not afraid of controversy, he shared these views with determination during, and after, his time in Congress; and

WHEREAS, Having talked in boyhood with Central Illinois neighbors who had known and heard the words spoken by Abraham Lincoln, Rep. Findley was conscious of the role of his Central Illinois congressional district as "Lincoln's District", the future President having represented part of it in Congress in 1847-49; and

WHEREAS, As a lawmaker who was also a historian, Rep. Findley, in 1979, wrote and published "Abraham Lincoln: The Crucible of Congress", a pioneering work based upon original documents preserved in the Library of Congress that showed the complexity of challenges that faced a member of Congress from the minority party in the 1840s and how Lincoln grew in guile and skill as he faced these challenges anticipating his future life as a leading statewide lawyer, national candidate, and President of the United States; and

WHEREAS, "Crucible" was only one of the six books Rep. Findley wrote and published in his lifetime, speaking out on issues of national and international interest and importance; and

WHEREAS, On August 9, 2019, former Rep. Paul Findley died in Jacksonville, the place of his birth, at age 98; and

WHEREAS, People like Rep. Findley, who served in uniform in World War II and came home to serve as lawmakers, are now passing from the scene; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Findley was a warrior who loved peace, a staunch, partisan figure; not everyone agreed with everything he had to say, however, all will agree that here was a man who spoke out and said what was in his heart, and it is not clear how such men can be replaced in today's America; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Paul Findley, a son of Illinois College, a veteran of the United States Navy, and, for 22 years, a member of the U.S. Congress from the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That more important than these lawmaking honors was Rep. Findley's life as a son of Central Illinois and the family he helped build to share this good land with him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to Paul and Lucille Findley's son, Craig Findley, and to their daughter, Diane Findley, on behalf of Paul and Lucille Findley's grandchildren and great-grandchildren.