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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Paul Findley was born in Jacksonville in Morgan
3County on June 2, 1921; and
 
4    WHEREAS, The Illinois into which Paul Findley was born was
5a land in which almost half the people of the State, and well
6more than half of the people of Central Illinois, rode horses,
7planted crops, and used draft animals to work their farms; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The Central Illinois of 1921 was a world where
9many living men had fought in the Civil War, and many living
10men and women had memories of Abraham Lincoln and had heard him
11speak or had exchanged words with him; and
 
12    WHEREAS, After graduating from Illinois College in
13Jacksonville, Paul Findley joined the U.S. Navy for service in
14World War II; he was commissioned as a lieutenant (junior
15grade) and served in active duty in the Pacific Theater; and
 
16    WHEREAS, A member of the "Greatest Generation", Paul
17Findley met his future wife Lucille and returned home to
18Central Illinois, where he married, raised a family, published
19a local newspaper, and served as a leader of his community; as
20a respected voice of Central Illinois, he was elected to an
21open seat in the U.S. Congress in the election of November of

 

 

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11960; and
 
2    WHEREAS, As a Republican member in eleven Congresses from
3the Eighty-Seventh (1961-1963) until the Ninety-Seventh
4(1981-1983), Representative Paul Findley saw and participated
5in some of the most controversial and suspenseful moments of
6our national history; he was a lawmaker during the Cuban
7Missile Crisis, the "Green Revolution" that completed the
8mechanization of farming, the Vietnam War, the upsurge of crime
9and disorder that accompanied the Sixties, and the outburst of
10national doubt that we call the "energy crisis"; and
 
11    WHEREAS, As a loyal Republican but also as an independent
12thinker, Rep. Findley developed his own views on America's
13place in the world; not afraid of controversy, he shared these
14views with determination during, and after, his time in
15Congress; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Having talked in boyhood with Central Illinois
17neighbors who had known and heard the words spoken by Abraham
18Lincoln, Rep. Findley was conscious of the role of his Central
19Illinois congressional district as "Lincoln's District", the
20future President having represented part of it in Congress in
211847-49; and
 
22    WHEREAS, As a lawmaker who was also a historian, Rep.

 

 

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1Findley, in 1979, wrote and published "Abraham Lincoln: The
2Crucible of Congress", a pioneering work based upon original
3documents preserved in the Library of Congress that showed the
4complexity of challenges that faced a member of Congress from
5the minority party in the 1840s and how Lincoln grew in guile
6and skill as he faced these challenges anticipating his future
7life as a leading statewide lawyer, national candidate, and
8President of the United States; and
 
9    WHEREAS, "Crucible" was only one of the six books Rep.
10Findley wrote and published in his lifetime, speaking out on
11issues of national and international interest and importance;
12and
 
13    WHEREAS, On August 9, 2019, former Rep. Paul Findley died
14in Jacksonville, the place of his birth, at age 98; and
 
15    WHEREAS, People like Rep. Findley, who served in uniform in
16World War II and came home to serve as lawmakers, are now
17passing from the scene; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Rep. Findley was a warrior who loved peace, a
19staunch, partisan figure; not everyone agreed with everything
20he had to say, however, all will agree that here was a man who
21spoke out and said what was in his heart, and it is not clear
22how such men can be replaced in today's America; therefore, be

 

 

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1it
 
2    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
3HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
4we mourn the passing of Paul Findley, a son of Illinois
5College, a veteran of the United States Navy, and, for 22
6years, a member of the U.S. Congress from the State of
7Illinois; and be it further
 
8    RESOLVED, That more important than these lawmaking honors
9was Rep. Findley's life as a son of Central Illinois and the
10family he helped build to share this good land with him; and be
11it further
 
12    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
13presented to Paul and Lucille Findley's son, Craig Findley, and
14to their daughter, Diane Findley, on behalf of Paul and Lucille
15Findley's grandchildren and great-grandchildren.