Proclamation 3872—Leif Erikson Day, 1968

About one thousand years ago Leif Erikson and his band of Vikings sailed across the North Atlantic and landed on the shores of North America. These intrepid Norse seafarers had only crude navigational instruments, but they had an abundance of courage, energy, and perseverance.

These qualities continue to inspire millions of Americans who trace their ancestry to the countries of the Vikings.

At a time when man has embarked on new voyages of discovery in space and under the sea, it is especially appropriate that we recognize the epic story of the voyages of this great Norse hero.

I am honored to comply with the request of the Congress of the United States, in a joint resolution approved September 2, 1964 (78 Stat. 849), that the President proclaim October 9 in each year as Leif Erikson Day.

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Wednesday; October 9, 1968, as Leif Erikson Day; and I direct the appropriate Government officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on that day.

I also invite the people of the United States to honor the memory of Leif Erikson on that day by holding appropriate exercises and ceremonies in schools and churches, or other suitable places.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of September, 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-third.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON