Representative, House of Representatives, State of Michigan
1928
Citation:
Upon Joseph Warren Fordney, eminent citizen of Michigan, for that has been, during his entire lifetime an expert on values of the timber industry of the Great Lakes, the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Coast forest areas of the United States, and was thereby a contributor to the prosperity of the nation; for that during nearly a quarter of a century he has been a Representative in the House of Representatives from Michigan, for seven terms of his service therein a member of its Committee on Ways and Means, and the Chairman thereof during the Sixty-Seventh sessions of the Congress; for that in these exalted positions he was called upon to contribute to the problems of the financing of American participation in the World War and did so with patriotism and without partisanship; for that, in the reconstruction of the American economic system following that conflict, he became the most distinguished advocate of the protective theory of levying duties upon imports and attached his name to the Act of 1922, giving effect to that principle; and for that during his entire lifetime he has been an outstanding example of public and private virtue, the University of Detroit confers upon Joseph Warren Fordney its degree of Doctor of Laws, for the sake of honor, and with academic pride adds his name to the roll of its sons and daughters. Commencement, University of Detroit, June 15, 1928.