Proclamation 3267—Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial Year

Whereas the year 1959 marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln; and

Whereas, by spirit and by statesmanship, Lincoln brought our Union through an awesome struggle to maintain its national character and to establish the right of each citizen to enjoy the fruits of his own toil; and

Whereas in his writing and speaking Lincoln described the nature of American democracy—"of the people, by the people, for the people"—with such clarity and splendor that it became the inspiration for movements toward free and responsible government the world over; and

Whereas the Congress, by a joint resolution approved August 27, 1958 (72 Stat. 932), provided for a joint session of the Congress on February 12, 1959, to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln; and

Whereas the Congress, by a joint resolution approved September 2, 1957 (71 Stat. 587), established the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission to develop plans for commemorating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, and requested the President to issue a proclamation inviting the people of the United States to observe that anniversary:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, in accordance with the purposes of the Congress, do hereby call upon all agencies and officers of the Federal Government, upon the Governors of the States, and upon the American people, to observe the year 1959 as the Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial Year, and throughout this period—and especially during the week February 5 to 12—to do honor to Lincoln's memory by appropriate activities and ceremonies, by a restudy of his life and his spoken and written words, and by personal rededication to the principles of citizenship and the philosophy of government for which he gave "the last full measure of devotion".

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 29th day of December 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:

CHRISTIAN A. HERTER,

Acting Secretary of State