Volume 68 · 1030
Public Law 83–742
To create a National Monument Commission and for other purposes.
Approved August 31, 1954
Statutory text
AN ACT
To create a National Monument Commission and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That there is hereby created a National Monument Commission. Said Commission shall be composed of four Senators from the Senate of the United States to be appointed by the Vice President of the United States, four Representatives of the House of Representatives of the United States to be appointed by the Speaker of that House, and four eminent citizens of the United States to be appointed by the President of the United States. The Commission shall be bipartisan and the terms of the first Commissioners shall be for one, two, three, and four years and subsequently shall be four years. Vacancies in the Commission shall be filled by the respective designator who appointed the original member. Members shall serve until their respective successors are appointed. The President shall, at the time of appointment, designate one of the members appointed by him to serve as Chairman.
Sec. 2.
It shall be the function of said Commission to secure plans
Function.
and designs for a useful monument to the Nation symbolizing to the United States and the world, the ideals of a democracy as embodied in the five freedoms, speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. sanctified by the Bill or Rights adopted by Congress in 1789 and later ratified by the States. Such plans shall be approved by the Secretary of the Interior, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the Commission of Fine Arts, and thereafter submitted to Congress for legislative authorization.
Sec. 3.
Said monument shall be located on federally owned land
Location of monument.
within the George Washington Memorial Parkway adjoining the north boundary of Arlington National Cemetery west of Arlington Ridge Road and south of Arlington Boulevard on the heights overlooking the Potomac River. The monument, upon its completion, shall be
Administration.
administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the National Park Service, department of the Interior.
Sec. 4.
Said monument shall serve as an international shrine and a continuing memorial to the principles of the five freedoms and to all peoples and nations who have contributed to the establishment, promotion, and defense of those principles in the preservation of democracy throughout the world. It may include an appropriate structure or structures to house cultural displays and exhibits or symbolic features of national and international significance designed to accomplish the objectives of section 2 of this Act.
Sec. 5.
Said Commission may establish rules and regulations
Rules and regulations.
governing its actions in carrying out the purposes of this Act.
The Commission members appointed from the Congress shall
Compensation of members.
serve without additional compensation. Commission members appointed from private life shall receive $50 per diem when engaged in the performance of Commission duties. All Commission members shall receive reimbursement for necessary traveling and subsistence expenses incurred by them in the performance of Commission duties.
The Commission is authorized to accept and utilize services of
Uncompensated personnel.
voluntary and uncompensated personnel and to pay any such personnel necessary traveling and subsistence expenses when engaged in the work of the Commission.
Within the limits of its appropriations, the Commission is
Appointments and expenditures.
authorized
63 Stat. 972.
to appoint
such personnel, without regard to the civil-service laws and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, to procure such printing and binding, and to make such expenditures as, in its discretion, it deems necessary.
The Commission is authorized to request and secure the advice
Federal agency assistance.
or assistance of any Federal agency. Any Federal agency furnishing advice or assistance to the Commission may expend its own funds for this purpose, with or without reimbursement from the Commission as may be agreed upon between the Commission and the agency.
The Commission shall report annually to the President and
Reports.
Congress its progress and recommendations pertaining to such a memorial. Upon the conclusion of its work, the Commission shall promptly submit a final report.
Thirty days after the submission of its final report the Commission
Termination.
shall cease to exist.
Sec. 6.
There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums
Appropriation.
as may be necessary for the expenses of the Commission.
Approved August 31, 1954.