Proclamation 4110—Red Cross Month, March 1972

Born in war and raised in adversity, the American Red Cross has evolved many traditions in its universal quest to ease human suffering, but none have served it so durably as its tradition of flexibility.

Since well before the turn of the 20th century, through times that tested the very soul of our humanitarian instincts, the Red Cross has proven equal to the challenges of each era with unfailing resourcefulness, zeal and compassion. Red Cross programs and services we have long taken for granted—from disaster relief and blood banks to nurse training and aid to military personnel—grew out of its pioneering approach in meeting generations of unprecedented crises.

This tradition has carried forward into the 1970s with undiminished vigor, and the Red Cross emblem may be found on banners flying over inner-city child care centers and drug abuse clinics. It is stamped on publications and continuing education materials dealing with ecological concerns, race relations, the advancement of the arts, and rural development.

And as a member of the global society, the Red Cross continues to fulfill its international enterprise of mercy, but again with a flexibility that makes its mission as vital and viable as at anytime in its history.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America and Honorary Chairman of the American National Red Cross, do hereby designate March, 1972, as Red Cross Month, a month when every citizen is asked to join, serve, and contribute in the same example of unselfish spirit that has characterized the Red Cross since its founding.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-sixth.

RICHARD NIXON