Proclamation 3264—Thanksgiving Day, 1958

At this season of the year we are reminded that the course of nature has brought us once again from the time of planting to the time of harvest, and we turn to Almighty God with heartfelt thanksgiving for His enduring providence.

We are grateful for the plentiful yield of our soil and for the blessings of food and clothing and shelter that have succored us throughout the year. We rejoice in the beauty of our land; in every brave and generous act of our fellow man; and in the counsel and comfort of our friends. We deeply appreciate the preservation of those ideals of liberty and justice which form the basis of our national life and the hope of international peace. For these and all the many spiritual and temporal benefactions betokening God's goodness, we offer up our prayers of gratitude.

Let us be especially grateful for the religious heritage bequeathed us by our forebears as exemplified by the Pilgrims, who, after the gathering of their first harvest, set apart a special day for rendering thanks to God for the bounties vouchsafed to them.

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, in consonance with the joint resolution of Congress approved December 28, 1941, designating the fourth Thursday of November of each year as Thanksgiving Day, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 27, 1958, as a day of national thanksgiving. On that day let us, in our homes and in our accustomed places of worship, give due expression of our thanks for the blessings which have signalized our lot as a Nation, and let us ask for guidance in our striving for a better world for all men.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this 31st day of October in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-third.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State