Proclamation 2612—Mother's Day, 1944

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas we are wont each year to express anew our love and affection for our mothers and our appreciation of their devotion to those national ideals which they have done so much to realize and preserve; and

Whereas the coming year will require of American mothers a still further demonstration of their splendid courage, that they may endure the absence, and even the loss, of their sons and husbands, and that they may continue valiantly to carry on their wartime responsibilities; and

Whereas the joint resolution of Congress approved May 8, 1914 (38 Stat. 770), designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day, recites that "the service rendered the United States by the American mother is the greatest source of the country's strength and inspiration":

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby request the observance of Sunday, May 14, 1944, as Mother's Day, and direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all Government buildings on that day.

And I call upon the people of the United States to give public and private expression on Mother's Day to the esteem in which our country holds its mothers, through the display of the flag at their homes and other suitable places, through tokens and messages of affection, and through prayers offered up in their places of worship that God will strengthen and protect all sons and daughters exposed to the dangers of war and that He will be near all mothers who need His comfort in the time of grief.

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 25th day of April 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:
CORDELL HULL
Secretary of State.