[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 284 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 284
Designating June 10, 2025, as ``DACOR Bacon House Bicentennial Day''.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 17, 2025
Mr. Whitehouse (for himself and Mr. Wicker) submitted the following
resolution; which was considered and agreed to
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Designating June 10, 2025, as ``DACOR Bacon House Bicentennial Day''.
Whereas the DACOR Bacon House (in this preamble referred to as the ``House'')
rests upon land originally belonging to the Anacostian people, who lived
in the area between the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers for generations
before European settlers arrived on their shores;
Whereas the House is built upon land previously owned by David Burnes, a
Revolutionary War veteran who negotiated with President George
Washington for the sale of his property to the Federal Government, which
included the land upon which the White House and much of the National
Mall are built;
Whereas the property was acquired in 1815 by Tobias Lear V, George Washington's
personal secretary, who was the last person to whom President Washington
spoke before passing and who was instrumental in ending the First
Barbary War during his service as Consul General to Algiers;
Whereas Tench Ringgold, United States Marshal for the District of Columbia and
Keeper of the Keys of the Capitol, who personally led President James
Madison and several members of his Cabinet to safety during the 1814
British burning of the White House, completed building the present-day
DACOR Bacon House in 1825, through the use of enslaved people;
Whereas Chief Justice John Marshall, a previous Secretary of State, boarded at
the House and was joined at times by Justices Joseph Story, Gabriel
Duval, Smith Thompson, and Henry Baldwin;
Whereas former Maryland Governor Samuel Sprigg, who was instrumental in the
completion of the historic Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, purchased the
House as a gift for his daughter Sally Sprigg and nephew William Thomas
Carroll, Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States and a member of
the prominent Carroll family, which includes signers of the Declaration
of Independence, Articles of Confederation, United States Constitution,
as well as numerous elected officials and the founder of Georgetown
University;
Whereas William Thomas Carroll was also known for providing President Abraham
Lincoln with the Bible that was used for his first inauguration, which
has since become known as the ``Lincoln Bible'' and has been utilized by
other presidents, including President Barack Obama and President Donald
Trump, for their oaths of office;
Whereas the DACOR Bacon House served as the official residence of Russian
Imperial Minister Nikolai Shishkin, the Russian Federation's top
diplomatic representative to the United States, from 1875 to 1878 while
he was dispatched to Washington, D.C.;
Whereas Chief Justice Melville Fuller and his family resided at the House from
1896 to 1910, during which time the House remained a fixture in
Washington, D.C., high society and hosted President Grover Cleveland,
President Theodore Roosevelt, and Secretary of War William Howard Taft;
Whereas, from 1911 to 1925, Alice Cornelia Copley Thaw owned the House and
modernized its inner workings;
Whereas Illinois Senator Medill McCormick and his wife, the future Congresswoman
Ruth Hanna McCormick, resided in the House during the 1920s when they
entertained lawmakers and their spouses;
Whereas socialite Virginia Murray Bacon and her husband, 8-term New York
Congressman Robert Low Bacon, owned the House from 1925 to 1980, during
which period Virginia Murray Bacon's hosting abilities earned her the
reputation of being one of Washington, D.C.'s last grandes dames;
Whereas the House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973,
paying homage to its nearly 150 years of contributions to American
history and society;
Whereas Virginia Murray Bacon established the Bacon House Foundation, which
worked hand in hand with the DACOR Education and Welfare Foundation to
establish the DACOR Bacon House Foundation, which was charged with
caring for the historic House in perpetuity;
Whereas, on May 23, 1986, Secretary of State George P. Shultz attended the
dedication ceremony that marked the DACOR Bacon House Foundation's new
ownership and charged those present to ``protect and advance the
interests and ideals of America'';
Whereas, since 1986, the House has served as the headquarters of the Diplomatic
and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR) organization, a premier
organization of foreign affairs professionals, whose members include
ambassadors, foreign service officers, military and intelligence
officials, political appointees from both major parties, Members of
Congress and their staffs, Peace Corps and International Monetary Fund
officials, global business leaders, and other professionals dedicated to
promoting American interests and diplomatic relations;
Whereas, through DACOR and the DACOR Bacon House Foundation, which host regular
educational discussions, policy programs, leadership development
opportunities, and musical events, the House continues to be a vibrant
center of cultural and diplomatic exchange, a museum of American life,
and the home of the foreign affairs community; and
Whereas, 200 years after its construction, the House remains a pillar of
strength in the President's neighborhood, pays tribute to the legacy of
its prior owners, enslaved workers, and distinguished guests, and serves
as a unique prism for understanding the history of both the District of
Columbia and the United States of America: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes the historic importance of the DACOR Bacon
House to the history of the United States, including American
diplomacy, the Supreme Court, and Congress;
(2) applauds the DACOR Bacon House Foundation and the
Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired organization for
their decades-long efforts to preserve this historic landmark
located in the heart of the capital of the United States; and
(3) designates June 10, 2025, as ``DACOR Bacon House
Bicentennial Day''.
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