Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Proclamation 3133—National Maritime Day, 1956

April 18, 1956


By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Whereas American merchant ships are continuing to serve in their historic role of linking this Nation with its neighbors across the seas by means of trade and commerce; and

Whereas the continuance of trade between the United States and the other free nations of the world is vital to peace and prosperity; and

Whereas the Congress by a joint resolution approved May 20, 1933 (48 Stat. 73), designated May 22 as National Maritime Day, thus honoring our Merchant Marine by commemorating the departure from Savannah, Georgia, on May 22, 1819, of the Savannah on the first transoceanic voyage by any steamship, and requested the President to issue a proclamation annually calling for the observance of that day:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby urge the people of the United States to honor our Merchant Marine on Tuesday, May 22, 1956, by displaying the flag of the United States at their homes or other suitable places; and I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to arrange for the display of the flag on all Government buildings on that day. I also request that all ships sailing under the American flag dress ship on Tuesday, May 22, in tribute to our Merchant Marine.

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 eighteenth day of April in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eightieth.

Signature of Dwight D. Eisenhower

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Proclamation 3133—National Maritime Day, 1956 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/307389

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