Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Proclamation 3079—United Nation Human Rights Day, 1954

December 03, 1954


By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Whereas December 10, 1954, marks the sixth anniversary of the proclaiming of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations as a common standard of achievement for all nations and all peoples, and is observed by the member states of the United Nations as Human Rights Day; and

Whereas December 15, 1954, marks the one hundred and sixty-third anniversary of the adoption of our Bill of Rights as the first ten Amendments of the Constitution of the United States; and

Whereas these same rights are secured to us in the Constitutions and basic laws of our States and Territories; and

Whereas an attachment to the noble principles of individual liberty and equal opportunity for all, as enunciated in these great documents, is the foundation of our democracy and a safeguard against dictatorship and tyranny:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the citizens of the United States to join with peoples throughout the world in observing December 10, 1954, as United Nations Human Rights Day, and on this day and on December 15, the anniversary of our Bill of Rights, as well as throughout the year, to give profound thanks to Almighty God for the rights the people of our Nation have so long enjoyed—freedom of speech and of the press; freedom to worship in accord with the dictates of conscience; fair trial and freedom from arbitrary arrest; the right to own property and to profit by the fruits of our labors. For these rights and freedoms men and women in many countries have striven and died, as our forefathers strove and died, and as today still others strive and die in defense of human dignity against the claims of totalitarian governments. Let us as free men stand firm in our faith in liberty for all nations and all peoples. Let us by example and cooperation strengthen the world-wide recognition of human rights as the basis for a lasting and prosperous peace.

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 third day of December in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-ninth.

Signature of Dwight D. Eisenhower

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Proclamation 3079—United Nation Human Rights Day, 1954 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/308230

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