Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Proclamation 3737—Child Health Day, 1966

August 24, 1966


By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

A good start in life is essential to a child's physical and mental development and to the progress of our society.

The best start a baby can have is to be born healthy of healthy parents.

Almost one-half of our population is now under the age of twenty-five. The health of these children and young people will be a measure of the strength of our country in meeting its future challenges.

It is both our obligation and in our national interest to insure that all children and young parents are given the opportunity for good health.

The observance of a special day emphasizing child health serves to underscore our national concern for the well-being of the young people in our land.

To this end the Congress by a joint resolution of May 18, 1928, 45 Stat. 617, as amended (36 U.S.C. 143), has requested the President of the United States to issue annually a proclamation setting apart the first Monday in October as Child Health Day.

Child Health Day is also an appropriate time to observe a Universal Children's Day and to salute the work which the United Nations, through its specialized agencies, and the United Nations Children's Fund are doing to build better health for children around the world:

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Monday, October 3, 1966, as Child Health Day; and I invite all persons and all agencies and organizations interested in the health and welfare of youth to mark that day with activities which will help promote opportunities for all children to attain an adulthood that will be satisfying to them and will enhance their contribution to the progress of our society.

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 twenty-fourth day of August in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-first.

Signature of Lyndon B. Johnson

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

By the President:

DEAN RUSK

Secretary of State

Lyndon B. Johnson, Proclamation 3737—Child Health Day, 1966 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/306023

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