Proclamation 3910—Mother's Day, 1969

Fifty-five years ago President Woodrow Wilson called upon the American people to display the flag as "a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of the country." The United States of America and the world have changed greatly since then, but the desire and need for a public display of love and affection for our mothers has remained.

How has such a day of commemoration survived the changes of taste, of value, of belief that have marked these years? I am convinced that the answer lies in the fact that the essential things never change at all. Mother's Day is set aside not only to publicly demonstrate what we all privately feel about our mothers, but for another purpose: it serves to remind us all that there is, at the heart of things, a sense of mystery and wonder, a dimly-understood but strongly felt feeling of continuity and interdependence which binds all men together and which is most clearly seen in the miracle of motherhood.

Nowhere in the complexity of the modern world are we more forcefully reminded of the power of love against hate, of creation over destruction, of life against death than in the gentle strength, the deep compassion of a mother.

On Mother's Day we demonstrate to our mothers not only love for who they are but reverence for what they represent: the sacredness of human life and the majesty of the ancient principles which enhance it and guide it toward public and private virtue.

A joint resolution of the Congress, approved on May 8, 1914, sets aside the second Sunday of May as the special day to pay tribute to our mothers.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby request that Sunday, May 11, 1969, be observed as Mother's Day; and I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on that day.

I call upon the people of the United States to honor the mothers of our country by displaying the flag at their homes or other suitable places and by expressions of love and respect.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-third.

RICHARD NIXON