Proclamation 4378—Flag Day and National Flag Week, 1975

Two hundred years ago, American minutemen raised their muskets at the Old North Bridge. What Ralph Waldo Emerson called "the shot heard around the world" rang out. The American Revolution had begun. Two years later, while the outcome of the Revolutionary War remained in doubt, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on June 14, 1777, and approved the following resolution:

"Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

That short and unadorned declaration gave birth to our flag. With the addition of thirty-seven stars, and after two centuries of history, the flag chosen in Philadelphia is our flag today, symbolizing our commitment as a people to freedom, equality, and independence.

To commemorate the adoption of our flag, the Congress, by a joint resolution of August 3, 1949 (63 Stat. 492, 36 U.S.C. 157), designated June 14 of each year as Flag Day and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation calling for its observance. The Congress also requested the President, by joint resolution of June 9, 1966 (80 Stat. 194, 36 U.S.C. 157a), to issue annually a proclamation designating the week in which June 14 occurs as National Flag Week and to call upon all citizens of the United States to display the flag of the United States on those days.

This year, Flag Day is an especially historic occasion, since it is also the Bicentennial birthday of the United States Army. Two hundred years ago, on June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress adopted resolutions which in effect established the military units of New England as the official national army. By this action, the Continental Army was created and the Nation's military service was born. The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps were established later that same year by the Continental Congress.

It is appropriate, as our Nation launches its Bicentennial commemoration, that the United States flag, first flown two centuries ago, be displayed together with an ensign bearing the official American Revolution Bicentennial Symbol set on a white field, which is designated as the official Bicentennial Flag.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week beginning June 8, 1975, as National Flag Week and I call upon the appropriate officials of the government to display the National Flag on all government buildings during that week. The heads of all government departments and agencies are also authorized and requested to provide, as they deem appropriate, for the flying of the official Bicentennial Flag, on government buildings, military installations, naval vessels, and other places where the United States flag is flown, during that period and for the remainder of the year 1975 and the entire year 1976. I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day, June 14, and Flag Week this year by flying the Stars and Stripes from their homes and other suitable places.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-ninth.

GERALD R. FORD