00          SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 27(STA)                                                        
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; and                          
07       WHEREAS the federal Lend-Lease Act was enacted during World War II and                                          
08 designated Ladd Field in Fairbanks, Alaska, now known as Fort Wainwright, as the exchange                               
09 point for war materials between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics                           
10 from 1942 to 1945; and                                                                                                  
11       WHEREAS, under the lend-lease program, roughly 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 stops at Edmonton and                                
14 Whitehorse in Canada, at Fairbanks, Galena, and Nome in Alaska, and at Yakutsk,                                         
15 Krasnoyarsk, and Novosibirsk in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; and                                            
01       WHEREAS many Alaska citizens worked together with Soviet citizens on this                                       
02 cooperative program, and soldiers and their families from both countries made considerable                              
03 sacrifices to serve their countries; and                                                                                
04       WHEREAS the cooperative lend-lease program demonstrated that two nations could                                  
05 set aside their differing political views and cultural values to achieve a common, mutually                             
06 beneficial goal; and                                                                                                    
07       WHEREAS the Alaska-Siberia Research Center plans to erect bronze monuments in                                   
08 Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska, in Russia, and in Canada to commemorate the lend-lease                                      
09 program; and                                                                                                            
10       WHEREAS this project will contribute to the further understanding of Russian-                                   
11 American relations and will provide new data on the World War II period in Alaska; and                                  
12       WHEREAS the proposed monuments will highlight the strategic and social                                          
13 importance of Alaska then and today and will seek to preserve the memories of those Alaska                              
14 citizens who shaped and participated in the lend-lease program; and                                                     
15       WHEREAS the Alaska-Siberia Research Center will be a recipient of funds for the                                 
16 project and will be responsible for all financial and technical aspects of the project;                                 
17       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the Alaska-Siberia                                    
18 Research Center project of erecting monuments in Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska, in Russia,                                 
19 and in Canada to commemorate the lend-lease program between the United States and the                                   
20 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during World War II.                                                                
21       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Vladimir Putin, President,                             
22 Russian Federation; the Honorable Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada; the Honorable                                
23 George W. Bush, President of the United States; the Honorable Colin Powell, United States                               
24 Secretary of State; the Honorable Anthony Principi, United States Secretary of Veterans                                 
25 Affairs; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S.                                       
26 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                       
27 delegation in Congress.