Proclamation 4273—Red Cross Month, 1974

Millions of Americans each year pledge themselves to assist the humanitarian causes of the American Red Cross. By so doing, they are being good neighbors—assuring that help is available for themselves and their fellow Americans in time of need.

Red Cross volunteers serve human needs on many fronts. Their efforts assure the availability of blood to care for the ill and injured and provide funds to carry out a far-reaching program of blood research. They make it possible to arm Americans with the knowledge to save lives through courses in basic nursing skills, first aid and water safety. Through their efforts, veterans are assisted in adjusting to civilian life, the elderly in gaining government food and financial benefits, and the drug abuser in returning to a meaningful place in society. And each year the American Red Cross aids thousands upon thousands of our fellow citizens who have suffered the consequences of natural disasters and brings comfort to patients in military hospitals and homes for the aged.

These vital services of the American Red Cross are financed primarily by voluntary contributions and I urge every American to support the American Red Cross and help provide it with the resources it will need to continue its service to our people.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America and Honorary Chairman of the American National Red Cross, do hereby designate March, 1974, as Red Cross Month, a month when every citizen is urged to join, serve, and support the American Red Cross.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-eighth.

RICHARD NIXON