Proclamation 3547—National Farm-City Week, 1963

Whereas technology and science on the farm and in the marketing of farm products have made it possible for only eight percent of our civilian labor force to produce a superabundance of food and fiber; and

Whereas, because fewer farm workers and fewer acres are required to feed and clothe a greatly increased population and to meet all export and foreign aid requirements, new economic opportunities are urgently needed for our youth in rural areas; and

Whereas our increasingly urban society urgently needs open space and outdoor recreation; and

Whereas these needs of all citizens can be more fully met through new and multiple uses of land not required for crop production and through wise use of all our soil, water, and forest resources; and

Whereas the revitalization of rural areas and the development of rural resources for the benefit of all citizens are dependent in large part on a healthy rate of national economic growth and a national understanding of the ties that bind urban and rural America:

Now, Therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week of November 22 through November 28, 1963, as National Farm-City Week; and I call upon our citizens throughout the Nation to participate fully in the observance of that week.

I request that the leaders of labor unions, civic associations, business groups, and women's clubs, and all consumers join in this observance, along with farm and other rural people, as evidence of the inter-dependence and the strong ties that bind rural and urban citizens.

I urge the Department of Agriculture, the land-grant colleges and universities, the cooperative extension services, and all appropriate officials of the Government to initiate, and to cooperate with national, State, and local organizations in preparing and carrying out, programs for the appropriate observance of National Farm-City Week, including public meetings and discussions, exhibits, and press, radio, and television features, with special emphasis an the interdependence of rural and urban families and the opportunities accruing to all citizens through economic development of rural areas, including new and expanded outdoor recreation enterprises on farms, in small watersheds, and on privately owned forest lands.

I further urge that, whenever possible, urban and rural people exchange visits so that each will better understand the other.

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 fifth day of August in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-eighth.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

By the President:

GEORGE W. BALL,

Acting Secretary of State