Last week was the 109th birthday (March 8th ) of Senator Jennings Randolph. To my surprise I learned in the Sunday Gazette-Mail his work of establishing the U. S. Institute of Peace is at risk.
Jennings Randolph served seven terms in the U. S. House of Representatives. While there in 1946 he started his work to establish a Department of Peace. He believed our government needed to strengthen America’s capacity to resolve and manage international conflicts by both military and nonmilitary means.
Upon entering the U. S. Senate in 1958 he continued his advocacy for founding the United States Institute of Peace and educational programs designed to help build a more peaceful world. Randolph never gave up and the U. S. Institute of Peace Act was passed by Congress in 1984 and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.
Senator Randolph was a tenacious fighter for the things he believed in – a peaceful world. We could certainly use his persistence today.