By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
The Rush-Bagot Agreement, signed on April 28-29, 1817, provided for naval disarmament between Canada and the United States along the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
It is the oldest arms limitation treaty existing in the world today. For that reason alone it deserves wide recognition.
The Rush-Bagot Agreement—expressed in an exchange of notes between Richard Rush, Acting Secretary of State, and Sir Charles Bagot, British Minister to the United States—was one of the most significant steps in the development of peaceful relations between the United States and Canada. The unfortified boundary between our two countries is a symbol to the rest of the world of the harmony and understanding which can be achieved by two sovereign governments.
The celebration of this event in the United States and Canada coincides with the opening of the 1967 Universal and International Exhibition—known as EXPO 67—in Montreal. The theme of the Exhibition, "Man and His World," has a close relationship to the spirit of peace and good will embodied in the Rush-Bagot Agreement.
In recognition of the significance of this agreement signed 150 years ago, the Congress by a joint resolution approved April 27, 1967, has requested the President to issue a proclamation designating April 28-29, 1967, as Rush-Bagot Agreement Days.
Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate April 28-29, 1967, as Rush-Bagot Agreement Days; and I invite the Governors of the several States, the chief officials of local governments, and the people of the United States to observe these days with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.
DONE at the City of Washington this twenty-seventh day of April in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-first.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
By the President:
DEAN RUSK
Secretary of State
NOTE: Proclamation 3781 was not filed with the Office of the Federal Register before the cutoff time of this issue. As printed above, it follows the text of the White House press release.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Proclamation 3781—Rush-Bagot Agreement Days Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/306114