Volume 69 · 191
Public Law 84–107
Dedicating the Lee Mansion in Arlington National Cemetery as a permanent memorial to Robert E. Lee.
Approved June 29, 1955
Statutory text
JOINT RESOLUTION
Dedicating the Lee Mansion in Arlington National Cemetery as a permanent memorial to Robert E. Lee.
Whereas the ninth day of April 1955 is the ninetieth anniversary of the Appomattox cessation of hostilities between our States; and
Whereas of the two great figures therein involved, one, General Ulysses S. Grant, has been highly honored by becoming President of the United States, but the other, Robert E. Lee, has never been suitably memorialized by the National Government; and
Whereas Robert E. Lee had graduated from West Point, dedicated himself to an Army career, and became a colonel in the United States Army, then the commander of the Confederate forces, attained world renown as a military genius, and after Appomattox fervently devoted himself to peace, to the reuniting of the Nation, and to the advancement of youth education and the welfare and progress of mankind, becoming president of the Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia; and
Whereas the desire and hope of Robert E. Lee for peace and unity within our Nation has come to pass in the years since his death, and the United States of America now stands united and firm, indivisible, and unshakable; and
Whereas Public Resolution Numbered 74, Sixty-eighth Congress,
approved March 4, 1925, provided for the physical restoration of the Lee Mansion but did not dedicate the same as a permanent memorial to Robert E. Lee: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Congress of the United States, at this anniversary time, does hereby pay honor and tribute to the everlasting memory of Robert E. Lee, whose name will ever be bright in our history as a great military leader, a great educator, a great American, and a truly great man through the simple heritage of his personal traits of high character, his grandeur of soul, his unfailing strength of heart.
Sec. 2.
That the Congress of the United States does hereby express its humble gratitude to a kind Providence for blessing our Nation with leaders of true greatness who, like Robert E. Lee, have been able to see beyond their times, and by whose vision, guidance, and wisdom this Nation has gone forward to a place of world leadership as the unfaltering and powerful champion of peace, liberty, and justice.
Sec. 3.
That the magnificent manor house situated in its prominent
Custis-Lee Mansion.
Dedication as memorial.
position at the brow of a hill overlooking the Potomac River in Arlington National Cemetery, and popularly known as Lee Mansion, be officially designated as the Custis-Lee Mansion, so as to give appropriate recognition to the illustrious Virginia family in which General Lee found his wife, and that the Custis-Lee Mansion is hereby dedicated as a permanent memorial to Robert E. Lee, and the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to erect on the aforesaid premises a suitable memorial plaque, and to correct governmental records to bring them into compliance with the designation authorized by this joint resolution.
Approved June 29, 1955.