Proclamation 3280—Cancer Control Month, 1959

Whereas cancer, a constant menace to the health and well-being of mankind, results annually in the deaths of more than a quarter of a million Americans—many of them in their most productive years; and

Whereas, with the advanced knowledge derived from accelerated research in cancer, many lives are now saved by early diagnosis and treatment; and

Whereas, through wider communication and better application of existing knowledge, still more lives can be saved; and

Whereas we seek to enlist the continuing participation of every individual and of concerned groups and organizations in a broad and concerted effort to control and eventually to eliminate cancer; and

Whereas the Congress, by a joint resolution approved March 28, 1938 (52 Stat. 148), authorized and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation setting apart the month of April of each year as Cancer Control Month:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the month of April 1959 as Cancer Control Month; and I invite the Governors of the States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the areas subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to issue similar proclamations. I also urge the medical profession, the allied health professions, the press, the radio, television, and motion picture industries and all other interested agencies, and individuals to unite during the appointed month in public dedication to programs directed toward the control of cancer.

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 March in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-nine, 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