BILL NUMBER: SCR 98CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 111 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 13, 2014 ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 11, 2014 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 7, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 1, 2014 INTRODUCED BY Senator Wyland MARCH 10, 2014 Relative to Gerald Ford Day. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 98, Wyland. Gerald Ford Day. This measure would recognize April 5 of each year as Gerald Ford Day, to honor the 38th President of the United States during the anniversary of Operation Babylift, which he authorized to evacuate orphans from South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War. WHEREAS, President Gerald R. Ford served as the 38th President of the United States and was a United States Navy World War II Veteran and Veterans of Foreign Wars Life Member; and WHEREAS, President Gerald R. Ford, in a profound humanitarian act, authorized a $2,000,000 fund and announced that the United States government would begin evacuating Asian American orphans from Saigon on a series of 30 planned flights, resulting in more than 2,700 children adopted in the United States; and WHEREAS, Operation Babylift was the name given to the mass evacuation on April 3 through April 26, 1975, of orphans from South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War; and WHEREAS, On April 5, 1975, President Ford went the extra mile by flying from the Palm Springs Airport to the San Francisco International Airport to welcome the babies. One of the babies he carried off the evacuation aircraft, Nikki Logan, grew up and joined the United States Marines to give back and to serve her country; and WHEREAS, Operation Babylift was one of the greatest humanitarian acts of the 20th century with a positive impact on some 4,000 babies' lives worldwide; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes April 5 of each year as Gerald Ford Day, in honor of his heroic stand to bring our children home; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.