Ours is a Nation built upon a belief in a Creator who has endowed all men with inalienable rights, and faith in that Creator permeates every aspect of our way of life.

With characteristically quiet eloquence, President Dwight D. Eisenhower once described the central role of religion in American life:

"Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first-the most basic-expression of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God's help, it will continue to be."

Let us pray, each in our own way, for the strength and the will to meet the challenges that face us today with the same profound faith in God that inspired the Founders of this Nation.

Let us pray, as our Fathers prayed, for the wisdom to know God's way and the determination to follow it.

Let us pray that God will continue to bless this great and good land as abundantly in the future as He has in the past.

.In 1952 the Congress directed the President to set aside a suitable day other than a Sunday each year as a National Day of Prayer, in recognition of the profound religious faith on which America is built.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, December 18, as National Day of Prayer, 1974.

I call upon all Americans to pray that day, each after his or her own manner and convictions, for Deity's blessing on our land and for peace on earth, goodwill among all men.

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

GERALD R. FORD