119-hr5069

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5069 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 5069

 To designate the Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire 
 Gravesite located in Pennsauken, New Jersey, as a National Historic 
 Landmark, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 August 29, 2025

 Mr. Norcross (for himself, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Deluzio, and 
Ms. Hoyle of Oregon) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
 to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To designate the Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire 
 Gravesite located in Pennsauken, New Jersey, as a National Historic 
 Landmark, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Peter J. McGuire Labor Day Landmark 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) Peter J. McGuire joined the Cabinet Makers Union of New 
 York in 1872 and, recognizing the need for one international 
 union of wood workers, called for and led a convention of 
 carpenters and joiners in Chicago in 1881 that formed the 
 Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners which became the United 
 Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1888.

    (2) The Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners elected 
 McGuire as its first general secretary and retained him in that 
 position for 20 years.

    (3) McGuire was a leader in convincing skeptical, locally 
 minded union activists around the United States that a national 
 labor federation was not only necessary, but also possible.

    (4) McGuire co-founded with Samuel Gompers the Federation 
 of Organized Trades and Labor Unions and, in 1886, reorganized 
 it into the American Federation of Labor.

    (5) McGuire served variously as the American Federation of 
 Labor secretary and vice president between 1886 and 1900.

    (6) McGuire successfully led the fight for the 8-hour day 
 in 1890.

    (7) In 1882, McGuire proposed that ``one day in the year be 
 designated as Labor Day'', a proposal that was adopted first by 
 a number of States and then as the first Monday in September by 
 an Act of Congress in 1894.

    (8) Upon McGuire's death in 1906, the United Brotherhood of 
 Carpenters and Joiners commissioned from M.C. Lyons and Sons, 
 Camden, and had installed a massive granite multistage 
 headstone on McGuire's gravesite in the Arlington Cemetery at 
 1629 Cove Road, Pennsauken, New Jersey, inscribed with ``P.J. 
 MCGUIRE, BORN JULY 6, 1852 DIED FEB. 18, 1906'' and ``FOUNDER 
 OF U.B. OF C. & J. OF A.''.

    (9) Beginning in 1906, each year labor leaders, political 
 leaders, families, and working people gather at McGuire's 
 gravesite on Labor Day to lay wreaths and deliver speeches in 
 tribute to McGuire and his great work.

    (10) As the anniversary of McGuire's centennial birthday 
 approached, the organizations he had helped to found decided to 
 install a new memorial a short distance from McGuire's 
 gravesite, consisting of a central statue of McGuire embraced 
 by a semi-circular colonnade of marble columns.

    (11) The Peter J. McGuire Memorial, completed in 1952, 
 includes--
        (A) an outdoor sculpture of McGuire, made of 
 Cherokee Georgia marble, that shows him standing with 
 his left arm against his chest and right arm, elbow 
 bent, at his waist, and dressed in a frock or mourning 
 coat;
        (B) an inscription carved on front of the base of 
 such sculpture that reads ``PETER J. MCGUIRE/JULY 6, 
 1852/FEBRUARY 18, 1906'';
            (C) a free-standing curvilinear colonnade of six 
 Greek Doric columns, also made of Cherokee Georgia 
 marble;
            (D) an inscription on entablature frieze of the 
 colonnade that reads ``IN MEMORY OF PETER J. MCGUIRE 
 FOUNDER OF UBC AND FATHER OF LABOR DAY''; and
        (E) an inscription on the base of the colonnade 
 that reads ``ERECTED BY UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF 
 CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA 1952''.

    (12) Several thousand people, many of them ordinary union 
 members, attended the Peter J. McGuire Memorial dedication 
 ceremony on August 9, 1952, which featured as speakers--
        (A) the president of the New Jersey Federation of 
 Labor;
        (B) the mayors of Camden and Pennsauken;
            (C) General President Hutcheson of the United 
 Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners;
            (D) the president of the American Federation of 
 Labor, William Green;
        (E) the secretary and treasurer of the American 
 Federation of Labor, George Meany, who later attained 
 national significance himself; and
        (F) the United States Secretary of Labor, Maurice 
 Tobin.

    (13) In 1956, when a new postage stamp dedicated to 
 American labor was issued on Labor Day, President Dwight 
 Eisenhower held a special ceremony at the White House in which 
 he met with the family and descendants of McGuire.

    (14) In 2004, McGuire was admitted to the Labor Hall of 
 Fame of the United States Department of Labor, which has since 
 been renamed the Hall of Honor.

    (15) The New Jersey Historic Preservation Office has 
 documented McGuire as a figure of transcendent national 
 significance and importance in the labor history of the United 
 States.

    (16) The landscape characteristics, physical features, 
 overall layout, and visual appearance of the Peter J. McGuire 
 Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite reflect a high degree 
 of overall integrity in terms of location, design, setting, 
 materials, and workmanship.

    (17) The sculptural representations of labor and union 
 themes associated with McGuire's career as an effective labor 
 leader and organizer that embellish the Peter J. McGuire 
 Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite are intact and well-
 preserved.

    (18) National political and labor leaders have made annual 
 pilgrimages to McGuire's gravesite since 1906 and to the Peter 
 J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite every 
 September on Labor Day or the Friday before Labor Day since 
 1952.

    (19) Unlike other known properties related to McGuire, the 
 Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite are 
 the only properties that retain both the necessary direct 
 association with McGuire as a person of national stature and 
 the high level of integrity required for listing on the New 
 Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of 
 Historic Places.

    (20) The Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire 
 Gravesite satisfy the criteria for graves of historical figures 
 and properties that have achieved significance within the past 
 50 years under the following criteria consideration categories 
 of the National Register of Historic Places--
        (A) category
            (c) , ``a grave of a historical figure 
 of outstanding importance as there is no appropriate 
 site or building associated with McGuire's productive 
 life''; and
        (B) category

    (f) , ``a property primarily 
 commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or 
 symbolic value has invested it with its own exceptional 
 significance''.

    (21) In August 2017, the New Jersey State Historic 
 Preservation Office certified that the Peter J. McGuire 
 Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite are eligible for 
 listing on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and 
 National Register of Historic Places.

    (22) On August 22, 2018, the Peter J. McGuire Memorial and 
 Peter J. McGuire Gravesite were added to the New Jersey 
 Register of Historic Places and, subsequently, on January 17, 
 2019, added to the National Register of Historic Places.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF PETER J. MCGUIRE MEMORIAL NATIONAL COMMEMORATIVE 
 SITE.

    (a) Designation.--The Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. 
McGuire Gravesite, located in Pennsauken, New Jersey, is designated as 
the Peter J. McGuire Memorial National Commemorative Site.

    (b) Effect of Designation.--The Commemorative Site shall not be 
considered to be a unit of the National Park System.
            (c) Cooperative Agreements.--The Secretary may enter into 
cooperative agreements with appropriate public or private entities for 
the purposes of providing educational and interpretive facilities and 
programs for the public regarding the Peter J. McGuire Memorial 
National Commemorative Site.
            (d) Technical and Financial Assistance.--The Secretary may provide 
technical and financial assistance to any entity with which the 
Secretary has entered into a cooperative agreement under subsection
            (c) .

    (e) No Effect on Actions of Property Owners.--Designation of the 
Peter J. McGuire Memorial National Commemorative Site shall not 
prohibit any actions which may otherwise be taken by any property 
owners, including the owners of the Peter J. McGuire Memorial National 
Commemorative Site, with respect to their property.
 <all>