Proclamation 3185—Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1957

Whereas Memorial Day each year has long provided a fitting occasion upon which to honor our fellow citizens who have given their lives for us in war; and

Whereas the remembrance of their endless sacrifice impels us to seek divine guidance as we continue their search for a just and lasting peace; and

Whereas to this end the Congress, in a joint resolution approved May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), provided that May 30, Memorial Day, should thenceforth be set aside nationally as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and requested that the President issue a proclamation calling upon the people to observe each Memorial Day in that manner:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Memorial Day, Thursday, the thirtieth of May, 1957, as a day of prayer for permanent peace. I call upon all the people of the Nation to dedicate that day to prayer; and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at eleven o'clock in the morning as a period in which all of us, wherever we may be, may lift up our voices in thanksgiving for the courage of our fallen, in supplication for God's aid in averting war and in dedication to unceasing work for the attainment of a peaceful world.

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 21st day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-first.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State