Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB734 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 734
55 To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Edward J. Dwight, Jr., the first
66 African American astronaut candidate in the United States.
77 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
88 FEBRUARY25, 2025
99 Mr. B
1010 ENNET(for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, and Mr. KING)
1111 introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
1212 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
1313 A BILL
1414 To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Edward J. Dwight,
1515 Jr., the first African American astronaut candidate in
1616 the United States.
1717 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1818 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1919 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2020 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Edward J. Dwight, 4
2121 Jr. Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2025’’. 5
2222 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
2323 Congress finds the following: 7
2424 (1) Edward Joseph Dwight, Jr., was born on 8
2525 September 9, 1933, to Georgia Baker Dwight and 9
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2929 Edward Dwight, Sr., in Kansas City, Kansas. Ed 1
3030 Senior had been a second baseman and center fielder 2
3131 for the Kansas City Monarchs and played on other 3
3232 all-Black teams from 1924 to 1937. Georgia was a 4
3333 devoted mother who enrolled her son in a Head 5
3434 Start type program at the age of 2 and made sure 6
3535 to expose her children to as much culture as she 7
3636 could. 8
3737 (2) Edward Joseph Dwight, Jr., grew up with 9
3838 a passion for art and airplanes. 10
3939 (3) Edward became the first African American 11
4040 male to graduate from Bishop Ward Catholic High 12
4141 School in 1951. He then earned an associate degree 13
4242 in engineering in 1953 from Kansas City Junior 14
4343 College. That same year he left to join the Air Force 15
4444 and began flight training. 16
4545 (4) After completing flight training, he served 17
4646 as a military pilot and obtained a degree in aero-18
4747 nautical engineering from Arizona State University. 19
4848 During his career as an officer in the Air Force, Ed-20
4949 ward served at bases in Texas, Missouri, and Ari-21
5050 zona, developing technical manuals and training fel-22
5151 low pilots on various instruments, as he accumulated 23
5252 flight hours. 24
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5656 (5) Edward recalled, ‘‘I was the only Black offi-1
5757 cer pilot just about every base I was stationed’’ and 2
5858 that even at 5’4’’, he ‘‘got award after award’’. 3
5959 While in the Air Force, Edward earned his Bachelor 4
6060 of Science in aeronautical engineering from Arizona 5
6161 State University in 1957. 6
6262 (6) Edward flew some of the most advanced 7
6363 aircraft of the era and ultimately accumulated over 8
6464 9,000 hours of flight time, 2,000 in high-perform-9
6565 ance jets. His engineering background and extensive 10
6666 training opened the door for him to enter the test 11
6767 pilot school where the most successful trainees be-12
6868 come astronauts. 13
6969 (7) Edward was chosen by President John F. 14
7070 Kennedy to enter training as an experimental test 15
7171 pilot. The Kennedy administration knew that a 16
7272 Black astronaut would be an inspiring display of op-17
7373 portunity for African Americans across the country. 18
7474 (8) On November 4, 1961, Edward received a 19
7575 letter inviting him to join the astronaut training pro-20
7676 gram. He followed the advice of his mother and ac-21
7777 cepted the invitation to take the first steps toward 22
7878 improving diversity and talent in the United States 23
7979 space program by becoming the first African Amer-24
8080 ican astronaut candidate in the United States. 25
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8484 (9) Edward went to the Aerospace Research 1
8585 Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in Cali-2
8686 fornia to begin training. 3
8787 (10) This was a time of uncertainty where the 4
8888 color of a person’s skin mattered more than his or 5
8989 her skill. 6
9090 (11) The astronaut candidacy of Edwards be-7
9191 came cover news on Black magazines such as Jet, 8
9292 Ebony, and Sepia. 9
9393 (12) At Edwards Air Force Base, however, Ed-10
9494 ward experienced prejudice and scorn, as he re-11
9595 counted in his autobiography ‘‘Soaring on the Wings 12
9696 of a Dream: The Untold Story of America’s First 13
9797 Black Astronaut Candidate’’. 14
9898 (13) Edward completed the experimental test 15
9999 pilot course and entered aerospace research pilot 16
100100 training in preparation for astronaut duties. He suc-17
101101 cessfully completed the course and continued to per-18
102102 form duties as a fully qualified aerospace research 19
103103 pilot. 20
104104 (14) On October 18, 1963, the National Aero-21
105105 nautics and Space Administration (referred to in 22
106106 this section as ‘‘NASA’’) announced 14 astronauts 23
107107 for Group 3, but Edward did not make the list. 24
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111111 (15) While in training, Edward faced obstacles 1
112112 due to his race, which derailed his chance to be the 2
113113 first African American in space. His fight for equal-3
114114 ity was one of many trailblazing battles happening 4
115115 during the Civil Rights Era. 5
116116 (16) The assassination of President Kennedy, 6
117117 the main sponsor in the White House of Edward 7
118118 and the space journey, led to his voluntary separa-8
119119 tion from the Air Force. 9
120120 (17) In 1966, Edward resigned from the Air 10
121121 Force as a captain and moved to Denver, Colorado. 11
122122 (18) After the Kennedy assassination, pressure 12
123123 on NASA to fly a Black astronaut waned, and the 13
124124 first African American would not fly in space until 14
125125 Guion Bluford flew with the crew of NASA’s eighth 15
126126 space flight on the Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger 16
127127 in 1983. 17
128128 (19) After successful careers in the Air Force, 18
129129 and as an IBM systems engineer, restauranteur, 19
130130 aviation consultant, real estate, and construction en-20
131131 trepreneur, Edward dedicated 43 years solely to his 21
132132 artistic endeavors. 22
133133 (20) In 1974, George Brown, the first African 23
134134 American lieutenant governor of Colorado and a 24
135135 member of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, 25
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139139 chose Edward to create a bronze bust of him to dis-1
140140 play in the Colorado State Capitol. 2
141141 (21) Being a neophyte to bronze sculpting, and 3
142142 at the age of 42, Edward enrolled at the University 4
143143 of Denver in the Masters of Fine Arts program. 5
144144 While at the University of Denver, he became pro-6
145145 ficient in metal casting and managed the foundry at 7
146146 the school while also teaching other students. He re-8
147147 ceived his Master of Fine Arts in 1977. 9
148148 (22) In 1975, while at the University of Den-10
149149 ver, Edward received a commission from the Colo-11
150150 rado Centennial Commission to create a series of 12
151151 bronzes depicting the contribution of Blacks to the 13
152152 American Frontier West. The series exhibited for 14
153153 several years throughout the United States, gaining 15
154154 widespread acceptance and critical acclaim. 16
155155 (23) In 1979, the National Park Service en-17
156156 couraged Edward to create a bronze series por-18
157157 traying the history and historical roots of jazz. The 19
158158 series was created and entitled ‘‘Jazz: An American 20
159159 Art Form’’, which consisted of over 70 bronzes de-21
160160 picting the evolution of jazz from its African origins 22
161161 to the fusion of contemporary music. 23
162162 (24) Since his art career began in 1976, Ed-24
163163 ward has become one of most prolific and insightful 25
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167167 sculptors in the United States. As of the date of en-1
168168 actment of this Act, Edward has completed more 2
169169 than 115 large-scale commissioned sculpture instal-3
170170 lations. His pieces are collected by museums, institu-4
171171 tions and art enthusiasts around the world, includ-5
172172 ing the Smithsonian. Ed Dwight Studios, Inc., in 6
173173 Denver, is now one of the largest privately owned 7
174174 production facilities in the western United States. 8
175175 (25) Edward is the recipient of numerable liv-9
176176 ing legends awards from around the country for his 10
177177 achievements in space activities and contributions in 11
178178 art and Black history. 12
179179 (26) On August 5, 2020, in recognition of his 13
180180 accomplishments as a scientist, test pilot, and sculp-14
181181 tor, the Space Force inducted him as an honorary 15
182182 member. A permanent display is installed at the 16
183183 Pentagon in honor of these achievements. 17
184184 (27) In a ceremony at the Pentagon, General 18
185185 Jay Raymond, Chief of Space Operations of the 19
186186 Space Force, presented Edward with the Com-20
187187 mander’s Public Service Award and inducted him as 21
188188 an honorary member of the Space Force, for his 22
189189 contributions to the United States, space, and his-23
190190 tory during times of overt racism in the field of 24
191191 science. Astronaut Victor Glover honored Edward by 25
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195195 carrying this award with him to the International 1
196196 Space Station during his Crew-1 mission. Despite all 2
197197 that he had to overcome, Edward was an example of 3
198198 excellence, embarking on a nationwide speaking tour 4
199199 encouraging young people to study science, engineer-5
200200 ing, and math. 6
201201 (28) In 2021, the Minor Planet Center, an or-7
202202 ganization affiliated with the International Astro-8
203203 nomical Union, named an asteroid after Edward. 9
204204 NASA has honored him by sending his sculpture 10
205205 ‘‘Pioneer Woman’’ to space on Exploration Flight 11
206206 Test-1 in 2014. 12
207207 (29) On November 3, 2022, Denver Inter-13
208208 national Airport opened an exhibit titled ‘‘Soaring 14
209209 on the Wings of a Dream,’’ the title of Edward’s 15
210210 book. The exhibit is on the life of Edward, beginning 16
211211 with childhood and ending with adulthood. It will be 17
212212 on display for 5 months. 18
213213 (30) The National Geographic documentary, 19
214214 ‘‘The Space Race’’, weaves together the stories of 20
215215 Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of so-21
216216 cial injustice to reach for the stars, including Ed-22
217217 ward, Guion Bluford, Charles Bolden, Mae C. 23
218218 Jemison, Victor Glover, among many others, includ-24
219219 ing Leland Melvin, one of the producers of the film. 25
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223223 (31) On May 19, 2024, Edward, sponsored by 1
224224 Space for Humanity, finally traveled to space as 1 2
225225 of 6 individuals aboard the Blue Origin New 3
226226 Shepard rocket, which launched from a private site 4
227227 near Van Horn, Texas. At 90 years old, Edward be-5
228228 came the oldest person to go to space. 6
229229 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 7
230230 (a) P
231231 RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 8
232232 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-9
233233 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 10
234234 for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a single 11
235235 gold medal of appropriate design to Edward J. Dwight, 12
236236 the first African-American astronaut candidate in the 13
237237 United States, in recognition of— 14
238238 (1) his historic service to the United States; 15
239239 (2) the example of excellence during times of 16
240240 struggle and overt racism; and 17
241241 (3) his contributions in art and Black history. 18
242242 (b) D
243243 ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For purposes of the 19
244244 presentation described in subsection (a), the Secretary of 20
245245 the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 21
246246 shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, 22
247247 and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. The 23
248248 design shall bear an image of, and an inscription of the 24
249249 name of, Edward J. Dwight, Jr. 25
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253253 (c) DISPOSITION OFMEDAL.—Following the presen-1
254254 tation described in subsection (a), the gold medal shall be 2
255255 given to Edward J. Dwight, Jr., or, if unavailable, to Cur-3
256256 tis Christopher Dwight. 4
257257 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 5
258258 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 6
259259 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 7
260260 sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, mate-8
261261 rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 9
262262 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 10
263263 (a) N
264264 ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck under this 11
265265 Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 12
266266 31, United States Code. 13
267267 (b) N
268268 UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 14
269269 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 15
270270 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 16
271271 items. 17
272272 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 18
273273 SALE. 19
274274 (a) A
275275 UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 20
276276 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 21
277277 Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-22
278278 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 23
279279 this Act. 24
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283283 (b) PROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 1
284284 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 2
285285 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 3
286286 Enterprise Fund. 4
287287 Æ
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