Proclamation 2711—Dedication Day, 1946

Whereas November 19, 1946, marks the eighty-third anniversary of the delivery by Abraham Lincoln of the immortal Gettysburg Address; and

Whereas those classic lines are enshrined forever in the hearts of all Americans; and

Whereas President Lincoln's closing resolve "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth" has a special and solemn connotation in world affairs at the present moment; and

Whereas the Congress by a joint resolution approved August 7, 1946 (Public Law 645, 79th Congress), has designated, and has requested the President to proclaim, November 19, 1946, as Dedication Day:

Now, Therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, do proclaim November 19, 1946 the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, as Dedication Day, and I urge the people of the United States to observe that day by reading the address in public assemblages throughout the United States and its possessions, on our ships at sea, and wherever the American flag flies.

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 30th day of October in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-first.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

By the President:

JAMES F. BYRNES,

Secretary of State.