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2009 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 822
Commending Lee Congdon.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 30, 2009
Agreed to by the Senate, February 5, 2009
 

WHEREAS, as Socrates enjoined, “The unexamined life is not worth living”; and

WHEREAS, the obligation, challenge, responsibility, and high calling of summoning the young to those examinations of life without which ordered liberty is not possible falls at last upon a small band of professors in our colleges and universities; and

WHEREAS, Lee Congdon recently retired after 33 years as Professor of History at James Madison University; and

WHEREAS, Professor Congdon was revered by students for the breadth and depth of his learning, his devotion to the life of the mind, his embodiment of the even larger life of the spirit, and his civility; and

WHEREAS, Professor Lee Congdon complemented his rigorous classroom work by scholarly research and writing, including The Young Lukacs, Exile and Social Thought: Hungarian Intellectuals in Germany and Austria, and Seeing Red: Hungarian Intellectuals in Exile and the Challenge of Communism, as well as numerous essays; and

WHEREAS, in 1999 the Republic of Hungary expressed its high regard for Professor Congdon’s embodiment of and contributions to scholarship and culture by bestowing upon him the country’s ancient and prestigious Order of Merit - Small Cross; and

WHEREAS, Professor Lee Congdon has, even in retirement, recently crowned his scholarly achievements with a new study of the renowned diplomat George F. Kennan (1904 - 2005) of whom he well declares, “George Kennan was, in my view, the greatest American of the century now ended. I do not say ‘the most important’ American; greatness is a quality of being, a matter of character. Kennan’s greatness lay not only in his exemplary service to his country, but in his character, wisdom, and literary sensibility”; and

WHEREAS, Professor Lee Congdon is a worthy reflection of the subject of his George Kennan: A Writing Life; and

WHEREAS, Professor Lee Congdon graduated from Wheaton College, received both the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy (History) degrees from the University of Northern Illinois, served in the intelligence division of the United States Army, and is the husband of Carol Congdon and the father of two grown children; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Professor Lee Congdon for his long years of distinguished and devoted service to the students of James Madison University and for his permanent contributions to the community of scholars of the Commonwealth, the country, and the civilized world; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Lee Congdon, Emeritus Professor of History, as an expression of the General Assembly’s gratitude for his many achievements and best wishes in all his future endeavors.