Proclamation 3242—Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1958

It has long been our custom, on Memorial Day of each year, to visit the graves of those who have served our Nation in battle, and to pay homage to their memory.

Remembering their sacrifices, and knowing the ever-present threat of war which casts its shadow across the future, our hearts are filled with a yearning for peace.

Acknowledging in truth that only through divine guidance can we secure the requisite groundwork of justice and understanding for the attainment of a peaceful world, we turn to Almighty God in suppliance for His aid.

In manifestation of this need, the Congress provided, in a joint resolution approved May 11, 1950, that Memorial Day should be set aside as a day for Nation-wide prayer for permanent peace, and requested the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day in that manner.

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, Friday, the thirtieth day of May, 1958, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at eleven o'clock in the morning as the period in which all of us may unite in prayer for strength to work unceasingly toward the goal of permanent peace on earth.

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 17th day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-second.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State