The Lincoln Highway National Museum & Archives 102 Old Lincoln Way West Galion, Ohio 44833 (202) 536-5329 Voice

Dear Friends,

In order to fully understand
the significance and meaning of
"The Bill"
we need to fill in a few blanks.

As you may know...

The Lincoln Highway
was the
First Transcontinental Highway
in the United States
developed in 1913 as a...

A Perpetual Memorial
The Lincoln Highway

"The Lincoln Highway will never be finished.
You and I will be able to drive over it from New York to San Francisco in 1915.
Perhaps ten years from now every mile will be of concrete,
but there will always be something more to do, some improvement to make.

Not only is the Lincoln Highway a perpetual memorial,
but a road to be perpetuated by the energies of future generations.
We are only laying the foundations now."

The best minds in the country are "laying the foundation now"
for the beautification of the Lincoln Highway ..."

"They are working today that the tourist of fifty and one hundred years from now
may cross the country over the most beautiful and inspiring roadway in the world."

"The Lincoln Highway is to be something more than a road-
It will be a road with personality, a distinctive work
of which the Americans of future generations can point with pride-
an economic but also artistic triumph."

Carl D. Fisher, Founder
The Lincoln Highway
Chicago, Illinois

to...

Abraham Lincoln
"Linking"
East with West
and
"Binding"
North with South
as recently discovered as...

"The Washington Feeder"

runs down Pennsylvania Ave. past
The White House
and
The Lincoln Memorial...

at the request of President Wilson
thereby eliminating...

The Mason-Dixon Line.

In addition,
it should be noted that
The Lincoln Highway Comes of Age
"A Nationwide Millennium Project"
and
The Lincoln Highway National Museum & Archives
was born out of...

President Clinton's
State of the Union Address
requesting individuals to create...

"Millennium Projects"
with the charge to
"Honor the Past-Imagine the Future"
and
"Keep Alive...The Sacred Fire of Liberty"

And so with that in mind,
we did just that...

"The Mission"

Commemorate the 85th Anniversary of
the 1915 Lincoln Highway...

Film and Flag Tour
where they took movies of all the towns
carried an American Flag Across the continent
and claimed...

Lincoln Park
as
The End of the Lincoln Highway.

And so on
July 29, 2000
began the...

"Long Journey into History"
starting in front of the...

Lincoln Memorial
on what was to become
"The First Phase"
as six weeks later,
I had to pull off for the season
with engine trouble in Pittsburgh.

However,
it was a blessing in disguise
it gave me time to fix the problem
and accept an invitation
to roll down Pennsylvania in the...

2001 Presidential Inaugural Parade.

Little did we know at the time that
Pennsylvania Ave.
was actually
The Lincoln Highway
which set up a second appearance
in the...

2005 Inaugural Parade
but this time with a
Presidential...

"Thumbs Up"
for...

General Lafayette-Abraham Lincoln-George Washington
with the two
"Liberty Keys"
and 37 fire fighters from the...

17 Lincoln Highway States
along with
Hollywood Film Legend...

Mickey Rooney
who sang the original
Lincoln Highway Theme Song
in the 1939 MGM Classic..

"Babes in Arms"

OK,
I think you are beginning to get the idea...

The Lincoln Highway
Comes of Age
seems to have a
"Life of its Own"
and all we do is follow along.

In that regard,
almost two years later
finally made it to
San Francisco on the 4th of July
and planted the...

American and Lincoln Highway Flags
with Buck and Charline Buckley,
Native Son of the Golden West
and
Past Grand President of
The Native Daughters of the Golden West.

Afterward
I gave her...

The Betsy Ross Flag
donated by the
Betsy Ross House
and first flown in...

Salt Lake City
to commemorate
Betsy's 250th Birthday
and the 85th Anniversary of...

The Betsy Ross Memorial Flag Pole
placed at the...

End of the Lincoln Highway
on the 4th of July in 1917 by
The Native Daughters of the Golden West.

So when several months later,
I tripped across this article in the...

San Francisco Chronicle
I immediately called Charline.

Several months later on
September 9, 2003
they invited me to the
Native Sons of the Golden West
Admission Day Picnic
where the Grand President presented...

A California Bear Flag
which we then added to the flags on the...

"Sprit of the Lincoln Way"

Then in February of 2004
started on a transcontinental...

"Lincoln Pilgrimage"
carrying the flag
from the...

End of the Lincoln Highway
to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of...

The First Boy Scout Lincoln Pilgrimage
to Lincoln Park in 1924.

The end of the line
was of course..

The Lincoln Birthday Celebration
at the
Lincoln Memorial.

Then as September 9, 2004 approached
"The California Wheels"
began to spin
since 2004 was the
70th Anniversary of the...

California Bear Flag
flying over
The White House.

Accordingly,
we called both
The White House
and
The State Capitol
and pitched the idea of
Governor Schwarzenegger coming to Washington
and together with President Bush
"Flying the Bear"

Unfortunately,
that did not happen..
However,
we did fly a...

31 Star California Flag...

over the US Capitol...

The State Capitol in Sacramento
and in front of...

The White House.

However,
during discussions with
The White House Executive Clerk
we learned that the only other flag
permitted to fly over
The White House
was the
POW/MIA Flag
and that required an
Act of Congress.

Hmmm...

Then in 2005,
while working on
Lincoln Highway History
tripped across some
Lincoln Highway Legislation
which got me to thinking...

Maybe we could do something similar for
California Admission Day.

Well the wheels began to spin
and Charline drafted
"The Original Bill"

Then after some tweaking
we contacted
Congressman Lungren's Office
and asked him to insert an item in the
Congressional Record
similar to what ...

Senator Sarbanes
did for the 90th Anniversary of
The Lincoln Highway
routing through Washington
and submit the
State Admission Day Recognition Act
on
Admission Day 2005

That was last September...

And while that didn't happen
we were able to...

"Fly the Bear"
over...

The White House.

And while that has come and gone,
our efforts on the
State Admission Day Recognition Act
continue.

Initially,
the language was pretty
straight forward,
but the more we studied the history of the event
the more it seemed important to
integrate the history
into the Bill.

Initially the
"Lincoln Theme"
never crossed our minds,
outside of the fact that
The Lincoln Highway
was the catalyst to
"Bring it all Together"

But Mr. Lincoln
kept popping up
everywhere you turned,
so in the end
it seemed,
"All together Fitting"
to use this as a vehicle to
Honor Mr. Lincoln
with the upcoming
Bicentennial Celebration
coming up in 2009
and to fulfill his dream of
"Binding the Nation Together
"East with West"
and
"North with South"
"In order to form a more Perfect Union"
as originally
"Envisioned by the Founding Fathers"

Warmest Regards,

HR-5419

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