Proclamation 4437—Mother's Day, 1976

By responding to new challenges, and assuming new roles, America's women are contributing much to the enrichment of American society.

But for all that women do, there is no undertaking more challenging, no responsibility more awesome, than that of being a mother. Motherhood is more than a life role, it is a job that is continuously demanding and rewarding. A mother's guidance is most significant in the growth of her children into responsible, self-reliant, understanding and productive human beings.

For all of their immeasurable and unselfish sacrifices in developing the character of our youth, that which is synonymous with love, creation, compassion, honor and integrity we are grateful for their countless contributions to their families, to their communities, and to the Nation. Each year we especially and significantly honor the role of motherhood on Mother's Day, the second Sunday in May as designated by the Congress (38 Stat. 770, 36 U.S.C. 141, 142).

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, do hereby request that Sunday, May 9, 1976, be observed as Mother's Day. I call upon government officials to display the flag of the United States on all government buildings, and I ask all citizens to display the flag at their homes and other suitable places on that day, and to remember our mothers in some very special way.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundredth.

GERALD R. FORD