Proclamation 2324—Cancer Control Month, 1939

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas Public Resolution No. 82, 75th Congress, approved March 28, 1938 (52 Stat. 148), authorizes and requests the President to issue annually a proclamation setting apart the month of April of each year as Cancer Control Month, and to invite similar action on the part of the Governors of the several States, Territories, and possessions of the United States;

Whereas such Public Resolution requests that such proclamations invite the medical profession, the press, and all agencies and individuals interested in a national program for the control of the disease of cancer, by education and other cooperative means, to unite during the month of April in a public dedication to such program and in a concerted effort to impress upon the people of the Nation the necessity for such a program; and

Whereas through the National Cancer Institute of the United States Public Health Service, the Federal government is leading the way in advancing research, in promoting effective treatment methods and in advocating the provision of adequate facilities for cancer patients, as are the several States which have adopted programs for the control of cancer, as well as voluntary groups led by the Women's Field Army which are engaged in a nation-wide educational campaign; and

Whereas medical authorities have assured the American people of the curability of many cases of cancer, a disease that now ranks second among the causes of death in the United States:

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby set apart the month of April, 1939, as Cancer Control Month, and invite similar action on the part of the Governors of the several States, Territories, and possessions of the United States; and, in order that the American people may become better informed concerning the prevalence of cancer and the effective steps which can be taken to control it, I invite the medical profession, scientific groups, all organs of opinion, including the press, radio, and the motion picture industry, and all agencies and Individuals interested in a national program for the control of the disease of cancer, to unite during the month of April, 1939, in a concerted effort to impress upon the people of the Nation the necessity for this program and the importance of constant vigilance in this fight for humanity.

Done at the City of Washington this 17" day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-third.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

By the President:
SUMNER WELLES
Acting Secretary of State.