Proclamation 4196—National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week, 1973

Transportation has always been a central factor in the growth of our country. Our ability to meet economic needs, overcome geographic barriers, and respond rapidly to emergencies—foreign or domestic—rests largely on a modern and efficient transportation system.

From our earliest days, the Federal government has worked in partnership with the private sector to achieve better transportation systems. That partnership continues today—but the challenges it faces are changing. The need today is for initiatives which can help us to reconcile our transportation needs with our energy resources, to encourage mobility without impairing safety and security, to upgrade our transportation capabilities without damaging the environment.

Because of the great importance of transportation to our daily lives and in tribute to the men and women who move goods and people throughout America, the Congress by a joint resolution approved May 16, 1957, requested the President to proclaim annually the third Friday in May of each year as National Defense Transportation Day and by a joint resolution approved May 14, 1962, requested the President to proclaim annually the week of May in which that Friday falls as National Transportation Week.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Friday, May 18, 1973, as National Defense Transportation Day, and the week beginning May 13, 1973, as National Transportation Week.

I ask the people of our Nation to join with the Department of Transportation and with appropriate State and local agencies in reaffirming our commitment to a progressive and balanced transportation system for America.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-seventh.

RICHARD NIXON