Proclamation 3006—Red Cross Month, 1953

Whereas the American National Red Cross, chartered by the Congress as a voluntary agency through which the people of this Nation may answer the call of their fellow Americans in distress, continues to face unprecedented peacetime demands upon its resources; and

Whereas the Red Cross, as a recognized auxiliary of our armed forces, must continue to meet the needs of servicemen, veterans, and their families for help with their problems, at home and overseas; and

Whereas the organization in the fiscal year 1951-1952 helped 32,000 disaster-stricken families with food, shelter, medical care, and rehabilitation, making its largest expenditure for disasters in more than a decade; and

Whereas the Red Cross, as an adjunct of the Federal Government, is training hundreds of thousands of Americans in health and safety skills so that they may protect themselves and their families in time of emergency; and

Whereas the Red Cross, as the national coordinating agency for the procurement of blood for defense, is collecting the vast quantities required for military and civilian use and, in addition, is expanding its program to make gamma globulin available for the prevention of paralysis from poliomyelitis; and

Whereas the Red Cross is appealing for $93,000,000 in voluntary contributions as the minimum amount required to help those in need of special assistance throughout the Nation in the year ahead:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America and Honorary Chairman of the American National Red Cross, do hereby designate March 1953 as Red Cross Month; and I urge every American to respond as generously as possible to the appeal for funds for this humanitarian cause.

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 twentieth day of February in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-seventh.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State