§ 2141. — Findings; purpose.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 20USC2141]
TITLE 20--EDUCATION
CHAPTER 43--AMERICAN FOLKLIFE PRESERVATION
SUBCHAPTER II--VETERANS' ORAL HISTORY
Sec. 2141. Findings; purpose
(a) Findings
Congress finds as follows:
(1) Military service during a time of war is the highest
sacrifice a citizen may make for his or her country.
(2) 4,700,000 Americans served in World War I, 16,500,000
Americans served in World War II, 6,800,000 Americans served in the
Korean Conflict, 9,200,000 Americans served in the Vietnam Conflict,
3,800,000 Americans served in the Persian Gulf War, and countless
other Americans served in military engagements overseas throughout
the 20th century.
(3) The Department of Veterans Affairs reports that there are
almost 19,000,000 war veterans living in this Nation today.
(4) Today there are only approximately 3,400 living veterans of
World War I, and of the some 6,000,000 veterans of World War II
alive today, almost 1,500 die each day.
(5) Oral histories are of immeasurable value to historians,
researchers, authors, journalists, film makers, scholars, students,
and citizens of all walks of life.
(6) War veterans possess an invaluable resource in their
memories of the conflicts in which they served, and can provide a
rich history of our Nation and its people through the retelling of
those memories, yet frequently those who served during times of
conflict are reticent to family and friends about their experiences.
(7) It is in the Nation's best interest to collect and catalog
oral histories of American war veterans so that future generations
will have original sources of information regarding the lives and
times of those who served in war and the conditions under which they
endured, so that Americans will always remember those who served in
war and may learn first-hand of the heroics, tediousness, horrors,
and triumphs of war.
(8) The Library of Congress, as the Nation's oldest Federal
cultural institution and largest and most inclusive library in human
history (with nearly 119,000,000 items in its multimedia collection)
\1\ is an appropriate repository to collect, preserve, and make
available to the public an archive of these oral histories. The
Library's American Folklife Center has expertise in the management
of documentation projects and experience in the development of
cultural and educational programs for the public.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ So in original. Probably should be followed by a comma.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(b) Purpose
It is the purpose of this subchapter to create a new federally
sponsored, authorized, and funded program that will coordinate at a
national level the collection of video and audio recordings of personal
histories and testimonials of American war veterans, and to assist and
encourage local efforts to preserve the memories of this Nation's war
veterans so that Americans of all current and future generations may
hear directly from veterans and better appreciate the realities of war
and the sacrifices made by those who served in uniform during wartime.
(Pub. L. 106-380, Sec. 2, Oct. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 1447.)
Short Title
For short title of this subchapter as the ``Veterans' Oral History
Project Act'', see section 1 of Pub. L. 106-380, set out as a note under
section 2101 of this title.
