Proclamation 4493—Loyalty Day, 1977

Loyalty, however we may choose to define it, must dwell in our hearts as well as our minds. If we are to rely only on what the heart tells us about America, it will be easy to blind ourselves to those problems that our Nation has yet to solve as it begins its third century. If we are to rely only on the mind, it will be easy to create justifications that help us evade responsibility for our errors. Loyalty ought not to be a leash that prevents the mind from searching for new ideas or from asking new questions about old ones that have long gone unchallenged. Rather, the loyalty we feel in our hearts should be an anchor that keeps us faithful to the ideals of individual dignity and worth for which so many Americans have fought and died.

To encourage the American people to set aside a special day to reaffirm their loyalty to the United States and to reflect upon their heritage, the Congress, by joint resolution of July 18, 1958 (72 Stat. 369, 36 U.S.C. 162), designated the first day of May of each year as Loyalty Day and requested the President to issue a proclamation calling for its appropriate observance.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, call upon all appropriate organizations to celebrate Sunday, May 1, 1977, as Loyalty Day with such ceremonies as will encourage the American people to reaffirm their loyalty to the United States of America.

I also call upon the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on that day to underscore our renewed sense of national purpose.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and first.

JIMMY CARTER