Proclamation 4788—Columbus Day, 1980

On October 12, 1492, an Italian sea captain and his crew, having sailed into the western void in three fragile craft, touched land and revealed a New World to the astonished eyes of the old.

The Genoese Christopher Columbus, sailing for his royal Spanish patrons in search of fortune, glory and the validation of his dream, found these and more.

Today, almost five centuries later, we still honor Columbus for the stout heart and tenacity of purpose that sustained his exploits. He inspired an age of exploration and a continuing era of victory over the forces of complacency and ignorance.

As we prepare to commemorate the four hundred eighty-eighth anniversary of Columbus's historic landfall, we of the New World can pay no greater tribute to his memory than to keep alive that spark of hope and nerve that never failed him and has never failed us.

In tribute to the achievement of Columbus, the Congress of the United States of America, by joint resolution approved April 30, 1934 (48 Stat. 657), as modified by the Act of June 28, 1968 (82 Stat. 250), requested the President to proclaim the second Monday in October of each year as Columbus Day.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Monday, October 13, 1980, as Columbus Day; and I invite the people of this Nation to observe that day in schools, churches, and other suitable places with appropriate ceremonies in his honor.

I also direct that the flag of the United States of America be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in memory of Christopher Columbus.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifth.

JIMMY CARTER