Proclamation 4289—Law Day, U.S.A., 1974

America's greatest gift to world history and its own people is a system of government which has permitted human freedom to flourish for nearly two hundred years.

The pillars of that freedom are the Constitution and our laws. Though established by human beings and administered by human beings, the law has force beyond the wish or the will of any single person or single group of persons.

Our freedoms survive because no man or woman is beneath the protections of the law. And the law retains its value and force because every person knows that no man or woman is above the requirements of the law.

It is fitting that each year we observe a day in which we reaffirm our devotion and respect for the institution of law, without which other human institutions would fall.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby request the observance of Wednesday, May 1, 1974, as Law Day in the United States of America.

As requested by the Congress (75 Stat. 43; 36 U.S.C. 164), I urge that our people observe Law Day with appropriate public ceremonies, through public bodies and private organizations, in schools, colleges and universities, and in other suitable places. I especially request that the courts, the legal profession, and all media of public information take the lead in such observance so that public understanding of the role of the courts in our society can be broadened. I call upon public officials to display the Nation's flag on public buildings on that day.

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

RICHARD NIXON