Proclamation 2607—"I Am An American Day", 1944

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas Public Resolution 67, approved May 3, 1940 (54 Stat. 178), provides in part:

"That the third Sunday in May each year be, and hereby is, set aside as Citizenship Day and that the President of the United States la hereby authorized and requested to issue annually a proclamation setting aside that day as a public occasion for the recognition of all who, by coming of age or naturalization, have attained the status of citizenship, and the day shall be designated as 'I Am An American Day'.

"That the civil and educational authorities of States, counties, cities, and towns be, and they are hereby, urged to make plans for the proper observance of this day and for the full instruction of future citizens in their responsibilities and opportunities as citizens of the United States and of the States and localities in which they reside."

Whereas our nation has been enriched, both spiritually and materially, by the naturalization of many thousands of foreign-born men and women, and by the coming of age of great numbers of our youth, who have thereby achieved the full stature of citizenship; and

Whereas these citizens have strengthened our country by their services at home and on the battlefield:

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, pursuant to the aforesaid public resolution, do hereby designate Sunday, May 21, 1944, as "I Am An American Day", and do set that day aside as a public occasion for the honoring of American citizenship by giving special recognition to all of our citizens who have attained their majority or have been naturalized during the past year; and I call upon Federal, State, and local officials, and patriotic, civic, and educational organizations to plan and hold, on or about May 21, exercises designed to assist our citizens, both native-born and naturalized, to understand more fully the great privileges and responsibilities of citizenship in our democracy.

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 6th day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-eighth.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

By the President:
E.R. STETTINIVS JR.,
Acting Secretary of State.