A house RESOLUTION

 

TO memorialize the United States Congress to vote against removal of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Whereas, the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery was erected in 1914; and

 

Whereas, the memorial was designed by Moses Ezekiel, a Jewish Confederate veteran and internationally acclaimed sculptor, who was buried at the base of the statue in 1921; and

 

Whereas, President William McKinley, a former Union soldier, delivered a speech in 1898 urging the United States government to assume responsibility for the care of graves of Confederate dead; and

 

Whereas, President William Howard Taft supported the raising of funds for the memorial by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1906; and

 

Whereas, President Woodrow Wilson unveiled the memorial on June 4, 1914; and

 

Whereas, the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as "the Naming Commission," was created by the United States Congress in 2021, over the veto of President Donald Trump; and

 

Whereas, the Naming Commission recommended removal of the memorial with only the granite base remaining. Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

 

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, memorialize the United States Congress to vote against removal of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to each member of the South Carolina Congressional Delegation.

----XX----