Proclamation 3617—National Day of Prayer, 1964

Whereas the Congress of the United States, by a joint resolution approved April 17, 1952, provided that the President "shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals":

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do set aside and proclaim Wednesday, the twenty-first of October, as the National Day of Prayer in the year 1964.

Under our laws,

--every man has the right to pray;

--no man can be told how he must pray;

--each man prays as his own conscience dictates.

I call upon all of our citizens, therefore, to observe the National Day of Prayer in accordance with our custom-each in his own way and in his own faith.

I urge that each of us turn to God on that day

--acknowledging that our country continues, as it was founded, "with a firm reliance upon the protection of divine Providence";

--thanking Him for the blessings of mind and spirit which He has heaped upon us in a land of vast bounty;

--begging His forgiveness for our shortcomings;

--asking for the patience, the wisdom, the understanding, and the courage we need to carry on His work.

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 twenty-second day of September in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-ninth.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

By the President:

GEORGE W. BALL,

Acting Secretary of State.