Proclamation 3904—Loyalty Day, 1969

At the founding of our Republic, the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their mutual trust and sacred honor to the common ideals of freedom and equality that have brought greatness to our Nation.

Loyalty to our country and its flag must rest on understanding of our great national values which they have represented—individual freedom under the law, equality of opportunity in all walks of life, justice and protection of the law for all. Each of us has an obligation to fulfill these ideals and to preserve them for our children and for succeeding generations.

It is the function of government in a democracy to provide an orderly framework through which together we can all work constructively toward redeeming the enduring promise of our forefathers' faith. This can be achieved only with the unity and determination of our people. For freedom, justice, and equality are not ideals forever secure, once won. They require our unswerving devotion and our continued vigilance.

In recognition of the heritage of American freedom, the Congress by a joint resolution of July 18, 1958, designated May 1 of each year as Loyalty Day and requested the President to issue a proclamation inviting the people of the United States to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do call upon the people of the United States, and upon all patriotic, civic, and educational organizations, to observe Thursday, May 1, 1969, as Loyalty Day, with appropriate ceremonies in which all of us may join in a reaffirmation of our loyalty to the United States of America.

I also call upon appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on that day as a manifestation of our loyalty to the Nation which that flag symbolizes.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-nine and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-third.

RICHARD NIXON