00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 27                                                                     
01 Supporting the erection of monuments in Alaska, Russia, and Canada to commemorate                                       
02 the World War II lend-lease program between the United States and the Union of Soviet                                   
03 Socialist Republics.                                                                                                    
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS President Franklin Delano Roosevelt expressed a desire for close                                        
06 collaboration with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics against Germany and its allies, the                          
07 common enemies of the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; and                                    
08       WHEREAS the federal Lend-Lease Act was enacted during World War II and                                          
09 designated Alaska as the exchange point for war materials between the United States and the                             
10 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1942 to 1945; and                                                              
11       WHEREAS, under the lend-lease program, nearly 8,000 aircraft hauling tons of                                    
12 materials and supplies were flown nearly 9,000 miles from Great Falls, Montana, across                                  
13 Canada and Alaska to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with major stops in Edmonton                              
14 and Whitehorse, Canada, at the Army's Ladd Field in Fairbanks, Alaska, now known as Fort                                
15 Wainwright, in Galena and Nome in Alaska, and in Yakutsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Novosibirsk in                               

01 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; and                                                                            
02       WHEREAS many Alaska citizens worked together with Soviet citizens on the                                        
03 cooperative program, and soldiers and their families from both countries made considerable                              
04 sacrifices to serve their countries; and                                                                                
05       WHEREAS the cooperative lend-lease program demonstrated that two nations could                                  
06 compromise their views, cultural values, and principles enough to achieve a common,                                     
07 mutually beneficial goal; and                                                                                           
08       WHEREAS the Alaska-Siberia Research Center plans to erect bronze monuments in                                   
09 Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska, in Russia, and in Canada to commemorate the lend-lease                                      
10 program; and                                                                                                            
11       WHEREAS this project will contribute to the further understanding of Russian-                                   
12 American relations and will provide new data on the World War II period in Alaska; and                                  
13       WHEREAS the proposed monuments will demonstrate the strategic and social                                        
14 importance of Alaska then and today and will seek to preserve the memories of those Alaska                              
15 citizens who shaped and participated in the lend-lease program; and                                                     
16       WHEREAS the Alaska-Siberia Research Center will be a recipient of funds for the                                 
17 project and will be responsible for all financial and technical aspects of the project;                                 
18       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the Alaska-Siberia                                    
19 Research Center project of erecting monuments in Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska, in Russia,                                 
20 and in Canada to commemorate the lend-lease program between the United States and the                                   
21 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during World War II.                                                                
22       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Vladimir Putin, President,                             
23 Russian Federation; to the Honorable Colin Powell, United States Secretary of State; to the                             
24 Honorable Anthony Principi, United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and to the                                     
25 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                         
26 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.