Proclamation 4292—National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week, 1974

The phenomenal growth of America in just two hundred short years has been directly related to the growth of our national system of transportation. Today we have the largest and most diverse transportation system in the world, and the men and women who make that system work contribute nearly twenty percent to our Nation's gross national product.

As our society continues to grow, we must ensure that the effectiveness of our transportation system keeps pace with the changing demands placed on it. Both the Federal Government and the private sector have a role to play in ensuring that effectiveness.

During the recent energy crisis, we became more aware than ever of the central, critical role our transportation system plays in meeting our social and economic needs through the efficient movement of people and goods. The quality of our life and the health of our economy require that our transportation system remain robust.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Friday, May 17, 1974, as National Defense Transportation Day, and the week beginning May 12, 1974, as National Transportation Week.

I urge the participation of Governors and other elected officials as well as the people of America to join with the Department of Transportation in observing this week as further proof of our efforts to give the Nation balanced and energy-efficient transportation.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of May, 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