Senate Bill sb1602

    Florida Senate - 2004        (NP)                      SM 1602

    By Senator Wise





    5-957A-04

  1                     Senate Memorial No. ____

  2         A memorial to the Congress of the United

  3         States, urging Congress to request that the

  4         Secretary of the Navy name a future United

  5         States Navy warship the "USS Charles E.

  6         Bennett" in honor of United States

  7         Representative Bennett who died September 6,

  8         2003, at the age of 92.

  9  

10         WHEREAS, Charles Edward Bennett served the residents of

11  Jacksonville as a member of the Florida State Legislature in

12  1940-1941, setting aside that seat to enlist as a Private in

13  the United States Army, where he served until 1947 as a combat

14  Infantryman, was eventually promoted to the rank of Captain,

15  and received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman

16  Badge, the Philippine Legion of Honor and Gold Cross, and the

17  French Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur for gallantry in

18  action, and

19         WHEREAS, Charles E. Bennett was elected to the United

20  States Congress in November 1948, and served with exemplary

21  distinction in Congress for the next 44 years, representing

22  Northeastern Florida with consummate dignity, integrity,

23  professionalism, and unsurpassed diligence in casting over

24  18,000 votes and not missing a legislative recorded vote for

25  41 years, a Congressional record, even though he contracted

26  polio while serving during World War II and consequently wore

27  leg braces and walked with a cane, and

28         WHEREAS, Congressman Bennett was Florida's

29  longest-serving Congressman and the second-longest tenured

30  member of the United States House of Representatives when he

31  retired in 1993, and

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    Florida Senate - 2004        (NP)                      SM 1602
    5-957A-04




 1         WHEREAS, Mr. Bennett served as Dean and Chairman of

 2  Florida's Congressional Delegation for many years, during

 3  which time he supported innumerable initiatives that benefited

 4  the Sunshine State and its residents, and

 5         WHEREAS, Charles E. Bennett was also the author of many

 6  books of Florida history which collectively added significant

 7  understanding and appreciation of early Florida history, and

 8  he was instrumental in creating the Fort Caroline National

 9  Memorial and the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve,

10  then declined to accept the military disability retirement pay

11  to which he was entitled but directed that it be donated to

12  historic preservation, primarily in this state, and

13         WHEREAS, from September 1968 through October 1992,

14  Congressman Bennett served as Chairman of the Seapower and

15  Strategic Materials Subcommittee of the Armed Services

16  Committee, and he was, as stated in a unanimous resolution of

17  that committee, "the most influential Member of Congress on

18  naval shipbuilding and naval policy for more than two

19  decades," and

20         WHEREAS, not only did Congressman Bennett sponsor bills

21  that provided needed ships for the United States Navy,

22  significantly contributing to the U.S. victory in the cold

23  war, but he also championed legislation that increased

24  military pay, improved military housing, and reformed military

25  justice, and he wrote legislation that created the Arms

26  Control Agency and allowed military services to assist in the

27  effort to stop drug smuggling, and

28         WHEREAS, Congressman Bennett introduced the first bill

29  to provide a Code of Ethics for the United States House of

30  Representatives, later served as Chairman of the Committee on

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2004        (NP)                      SM 1602
    5-957A-04




 1  Standards of Official Conduct, and fought for higher standards

 2  of ethics throughout his tenure, and

 3         WHEREAS, Charles E. Bennett sponsored legislation to

 4  add the phrase "In God we Trust" to the United States coins

 5  and currency and legislation enacting the Americans with

 6  Disabilities Act, providing federal assistance for school

 7  construction, and improving public facilities throughout the

 8  State of Florida, and

 9         WHEREAS, Congressman Bennett was recognized by six

10  "Watchdog of the Treasury Awards" from the National

11  Association of Businessmen for his strong support of fiscal

12  responsibility in government, and

13         WHEREAS, Charles Edward Bennett was a patriot who will

14  long be remembered for his strong, principled representation

15  of his constituents, his impeccable voting record, his

16  uncompromising ethics and advocacy for ethical reforms in

17  Congress, and his leadership in helping to ensure a strong

18  national defense with a modern, capable Navy as the

19  cornerstone of national security, NOW, THEREFORE,

20  

21  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

22  

23         That the Congress of the United States is requested to

24  ask the Secretary of the Navy to name a future United States

25  Navy warship the "USS Charles E. Bennett."

26         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

27  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the

28  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the

29  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of

30  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

31  

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