TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE
W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND
THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO LIEUTENANT
GENERAL WILLIAM J. LENNOX, JR., SUPERINTENDENT, UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY,
WEST POINT:
We, your Memorialists,
the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in
legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
WHEREAS, The United
States Military Academy today celebrates 200 years of providing leaders of
character for our Army and a lifetime of selfless service to the Nation; and
WHEREAS, On March 16,
1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed into law a bill of the United States
Congress authorizing the establishment of "a military academy to be
located at West Point in the State of New York;" and
WHEREAS, West Point was
originally created as an academic institution devoted to the arts and sciences
of warfare, and later emphasizing engineering to serve the needs of the Nation
and to eliminate the country's reliance on foreign engineers and artillerists;
and
WHEREAS, Isaac I.
Stevens, the first graduate of West Point's Class of 1839, served as the first
Governor of the Territory of Washington, and organized and led the Northern
Railway Survey that paved the way for the transcontinental railroads to
Washington; and
WHEREAS, United States
Military Academy graduates were responsible for the construction of many of the
Nation's initial railway lines, bridges, harbors and roads, and surveys and
mapmaking that were vital to the infrastructure development of our great
Country and its State of Washington; and
WHEREAS, United States
Military Academy led Army forces into the wilderness area that became the
Territory and State of Washington, providing protection and development
services until the civil authority was able to assume these functions; and
WHEREAS, West Point
graduates have distinguished themselves in countless ways, from Olympic glory
to receiving the Heisman Trophy, from receiving scores of Rhodes Scholarships
to serving as some of the Nation's pioneering astronauts; and
WHEREAS, The United
States Military Academy is preparing for its third century of service to our
Nation - a future in which fighting and winning our Nation's wars remains the
Army's primary focus; and
WHEREAS, The United
States Military Academy must also prepare officers for peacekeeping duties as
part of an ever complex world; and
WHEREAS, The United
States Military Academy remains today an energetic, vibrant institution that
attracts some of the Nation's best and brightest young men and women from
throughout the Country and its State of Washington who, in the next two hundred
years of service to this Nation, will face challenges different from those that
have gone before them to make up the storied Long Gray Line; and
WHEREAS, The United
States Military Academy continues its lasting commitment to its motto of Duty,
Honor, Country;
NOW, THEREFORE, Your
Memorialists respectfully pray that the President of the United States and the
Congress join with the state of Washington and other states in honoring the
200th Anniversary of the United States Military Academy at West Point in
recognizing that the United States Military Academy is a living testament to
the accomplishments of the United States throughout its history, and in
recognizing West Point and its graduates as they move forward into the
Academy's third century of service to the Nation.
BE IT
RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the
Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, Lieutenant General
William J. Lennox, Jr., Superintendent, United States Military Academy, West
Point, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.
