Proclamation 2855—National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, 1949

Whereas physically handicapped men and women seeking employment should have equality of opportunity with others; and

Whereas performance records have proved that handicapped workers, when properly prepared and placed, can perform their tasks creditably in a great variety of fields, including business, industry, farming, and the professions; and

Whereas the continued employment of these workers will prove beneficial not only to them but also to employers and society as a whole, and should, therefore, be actively encouraged; and

Whereas in recognition of our responsibility for citizens who have been physically handicapped by war or disabled in civilian pursuits, the Nation has provided special facilities for the training and rehabilitation of these citizens and has established placement services for them in our various communities; and

Whereas the Congress, by a joint resolution approved August 11, 1945 (59 Stat. 530), has designated the first week in October of each year as National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, during which time appropriate ceremonies are to be held throughout the Nation, and has requested the President to issue a suitable proclamation each year:

Now, Therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of the United States to observe the week beginning October 2, 1949, as National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, and to cooperate with the President's Committee on National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week in carrying out the purposes of the joint resolution of Congress. I also call upon the Governors of States, the mayors of cities, and other public officials, as well as upon leaders of industry and labor, of civic, veterans', farm, women's, and fraternal organizations, and of other groups representative of our national life, to lend their full support to the observance of the week, in order to enlist public interest in employment of the physically handicapped.

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 thirtieth day of August in the year of America the one hundred and seventy-fourth.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

By the President:

DEAN ACHESON,

Secretary of State.