A bill to authorize the President of the United States to present on behalf of the Congress a specially struck gold medal to John Wayne.
Public Law 96-15 · S. 631 · 96th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Jimmy Carter (D) on May 26, 1979 · Commemorations
Sponsor: Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)
Cosponsors (13): Sen. Birch Bayh, Sen. Thomas Eagleton,
Passage votes
- HouseMethod not stated
- SenateMethod not stated
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of the Congress, to John Wayne, a specially struck gold medal of appropriate design.
Authorizes the appropriation of $15,000 for such purpose.
Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to manufacture and sell to the public bronze duplicates of such medal.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- May 26, 1979Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public Law 96-15.
- May 24, 1979PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- May 23, 1979Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate concurred in House amendments.
- FloorFloor · Measure passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 3767.
- FloorFloor · Measure called up by unanimous consent in House.
- May 7, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Financial Services Committee
- May 3, 1979FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate, amended.
- May 1, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- Mar 13, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.