Proclamation 3135—Mother's Day, 1956

Whereas the American mother stands as a symbol of those high principles and lofty ideals which sustain and enrich our Nation; and

Whereas the Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 8, 1914 (38 Stat. 770), formalized the felicitous custom of commemorating motherhood by designating the second Sunday in May of each year as Mother's Day, and requested the President to issue a proclamation calling for the observance of that day; and

Whereas it is fitting that on that day we should acknowledge anew our gratitude, our love, and our reverence for our own mothers and for all mothers of our great Nation:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby request that Sunday, May 13, 1956, be observed as Mother's Day; and I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on all public buildings on that day.

I also call upon the people generally to give public and private expression to the esteem in which our country holds its mothers through the display of the flag at their homes or other suitable places, through prayers at their places of worship, and through appropriate manifestations of honor and devotion.

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 first day of May 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.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State