ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Pop quiz - what is the official U.S. bird? If you're thinking bald eagle - well, this is actually a trick question because it wasn't until this week that Congress passed a law making it official. And one man spearheaded the effort to get this done. Preston Cook has collected more than 40,000 bald eagle items. They are housed at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota. And Mr. Cook is here to talk about his beloved bird finally getting its feathers. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
PRESTON COOK: Thank you, Ari. Pleased to be here.
SHAPIRO: The bald eagle has been on the official seal of the United States since 1782. When did you learn that it was not actually, technically, this country's national bird?
COOK: Well, a few years after that. I would say about 2010. I was doing research on a book that I was writing on a chronology of the bird and following it through American history and culture, and I could not find anything whatsoever that the bald eagle had ever been legislatively designated as our national bird nor any presidential proclamation. So what I did at that time is I wrote a letter to the late senator Dianne Feinstein from California. And she had her staff do some research at the National Archives and came back with a letter soon thereafter, stating that, no, it is assumed to be our national bird, but, indeed, we do not have a national bird.
SHAPIRO: So you took it upon yourself to get this done. You actually wrote the bill that Congress passed this week. Can you tell us about that process?
COOK: Last year, I turned 78, and I was very closely associated with the National Eagle Center. So we joined forces and decided to do this bill. So what I did is I wrote a very simple bill, and the bill does just one thing - it names the bald eagle our national bird.
SHAPIRO: As you talked to members of Congress about this proposed legislation, how many of them said, hang on a second, it's already our national bird?
COOK: Well, it was a little bit of a challenge in the beginning because they wouldn't believe me.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
COOK: So what really worked was the Feinstein letter to me 15 years earlier, and that really was the turning point. They did their own research also, just to make sure that I was right on this one because they certainly didn't want to be embarrassed by doing it twice.
SHAPIRO: Sure.
COOK: So they did their research and came up with the same conclusion I came up with - it is not our national bird, and we don't have a national bird.
SHAPIRO: You've been collecting eagle paraphernalia for decades. Your collection now encompasses more than 40,000 items. Can you tell us about one of your most prized possessions from it?
COOK: Well, that's almost like asking, what is your favorite child?
SHAPIRO: I deliberately did not say favorite.
(LAUGHTER)
COOK: Well, I think that what really means a lot to me are the eagle buttons that were issued to me on my dress uniform in 1966 during the Vietnam era. And they're very meaningful to me for a variety of reasons. One is they were the first eagle items that were put into my collection. And two, the service in the military allowed me, through the GI Bill, to go to college and to seek a profession. So that really is very meaningful to me. And being a veteran now is very meaningful to me also.
SHAPIRO: Well, Preston Cook, congratulations, and thank you for talking with us about your accomplishment.
COOK: Well, thank you, Ari, for having me on your program today. And I love talking about eagles.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHYGIRL SONG, "HEAVEN (FEAT. TINASHE)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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