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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, May 27, 2011, marks the 50th anniversary of the |
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election of John Tower as the Lone Star State's first Republican |
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United States senator since Reconstruction; and |
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WHEREAS, Born in Houston on September 29, 1925, John Goodwin |
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Tower became active in the Republican Party when he was an assistant |
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professor of political science at Midwestern University; he served |
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as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1956, and in |
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1960 his party nominated him to run for the U.S. Senate; and |
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WHEREAS, When Lyndon B. Johnson resigned from the senate to |
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assume the vice presidency, Senator Tower won the seat in a special |
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election on May 27, 1961; many hailed this event as heralding the |
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advent of two-party politics in Texas; Senator Tower was reelected |
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three times, and over the course of his 24-year career in Congress, |
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he wielded enormous influence in a variety of domestic and foreign |
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policy issues, particularly through his service on powerful banking |
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committees and on the Senate Armed Services Committee; moreover, he |
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took a leadership role in Republican politics at the state and |
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national level; after retiring from the U.S. Senate in 1985, he went |
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on to serve as the nation's chief negotiator at the Strategic Arms |
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Reduction Talks in Geneva, and he led the group known as the Tower |
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Commission in an investigation of the Iran-Contra affair; and |
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WHEREAS, Senator John Tower perished in a commuter plane |
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crash in 1991, but his accomplishments have resonated through the |
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years, and his election to the U.S. Senate continues to be regarded |
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as a turning point in the political history of Texas; now, |
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therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas |
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Legislature hereby commemorate the 50th anniversary of John Tower's |
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election to the United States Senate. |