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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Lujan, B

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/29/08

HJM 30

SHORT TITLE

Support the Creation of a Cold War

Service Medal

SB

ANALYST Shaya

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Joint Memorial 30 requests that the New Mexico Congressional Delegation support the

creation of a Cold War Service Medal for members of the Armed Forces who served honorably

during the Cold War beginning September 2, 1945 and ending December 26, 1991.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

House Joint Memorial 30 states to the following;

•

It is generally agreed that the cold war took place during the period between September 2,

1945 and December 26, 1991; and

•

During this period of time, three hundred twenty-five Americans died as a result of

hostile action, including more than two hundred airmen killed by communist air defenses,

and more than forty American intelligence aircraft were shot down, killing sixty-four

cryptologists and forty crew members; and

•

Countless other Americans had their lives disrupted through military service in support of

the cold war; and

•

The cold war was punctuated by such crises as the "Berlin airlift", the "Cuban missile

crisis" and the building of the Berlin wall, each of which brought the world to the brink

of disaster; and

•

The tide turned on November 9, 1989, when people officially were able to come and go

as they wished from east to west Berlin, and they began to tear the wall down; and

•

The Soviet Union finally collapsed on Christmas day 1991, ending the cold war for all

time; and

House Joint Memorial

30

– Page

2

•

In 2002 the United States congress passed legislation to approve a cold war service

medal; and

•

Because the legislation did not require the United States department of defense to issue

the medal, the department has issued only a cold war recognition certificate for both

military and civilian service; and

•

The cold war medal was designed by Nadine Russell, the chief of creative heraldry at the

United States army's institute of heraldry; and

•

The medal currently exists as a civilian medal that may be privately purchased but is not

distributed by the United States government; and

•

Senators Hillary Clinton and Susan M. Collins and Representative Robert E. Andrews

reintroduced legislation in April 2007 in the United States senate and the house of

representatives, respectively, to establish officially the "cold war service medal"; and

•

The proposed legislation would authorize the secretary of defense to issue a service

medal, to be known as the "cold war service medal" to those who served honorably in the

United States armed forces during the cold war;

RS/mt