Donna Shalala Will Be Honored Tonight At State Of Union Message

There is now a tradition for the President to have special guests sit close to the the First Lady in the House of Representatives gallery for the annual State of the Union address.   The tradition started in 1982 when President Reagan honored the man who jumped into the Potomac River to save the life of a plane crash victim.   Every year since it has been part hype, part policy, but mostly political with the placement of these individuals to be mentioned during key parts of the speech.

Tonight as ABC reports the list will include several to be honored as President Bush gives final State of the Union address to the Congress.

They will include an Indiana mom who faced foreclosure on her home, an Army Staff Sergeant seriously wounded in Iraq but now home and his unit will not be replaced, the mother of a Cuban journalist who is held as a political prisoner, an ER nurse, an HIV-positive mother from Tanzania, the head of a university in Afghanistan, Bob Dole and Donna Shalala who headed the Wounded Warriors commission, and a hero of the Virginia Tech massacre.

As Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison,  Donna Shalala led what was then the nation’s largest public research university.  She successfully strengthened undergraduate education, the university’s research facilities, and spearheaded the largest fundraising drive in Wisconsin’s history.

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