Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Proclamation 3825—Red Cross Month, 1968

February 05, 1968


By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On every battlefield, a flag of mercy flies. Its white field bears a Red Cross—the universal symbol of human compassion.

Under that flag, there are no enemies, no racial or religious animosities. There are only brothers.

The flag of the Red Cross flies in thousands of American cities and communities. Thirty million Americans are Red Cross members. Their support is an affirmation of the fundamental humanity of the American people.

In the tragedy and loneliness of war, the Red Cross is a familiar friend and companion to our men and women in uniform. It is with them in Vietnam, in 27 other nations where Americans serve, and in our bases at home.

Not only war, but trials of storm and earthquake, flood and fire, summon the Red Cross to service. Wherever disaster strikes, the Red Cross is there with food, shelter and relief from suffering—as it was last year in the ravaged valleys and lowlands of Alaska and Texas.

And every day of the year, the Red Cross serves all America with its programs to provide blood, and to teach first aid, water safety, and citizenship to tomorrow's citizens.

This year the demands on the Red Cross—and its financial needs—will be exceptionally heavy. It must continue to serve our fighting men, to keep ready to assist the victims of disaster, and to maintain its lifesaving work in our communities.

To meet these needs, this March the American Red Cross will conduct a special SOS (Support Our Servicemen) Campaign.

Its success concerns all of us—for the mission of the American Red Cross is the mission of all America.

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America and Honorary Chairman of the American National Red Cross, do hereby designate March 1968 as Red Cross Month. I strongly urge all Americans to heed the special SOS (Support Our Servicemen) campaign by volunteering their time and to contribute what they can.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of February in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-second.

Signature of Lyndon B. Johnson

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

Lyndon B. Johnson, Proclamation 3825—Red Cross Month, 1968 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/306663

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