Proclamation 3685—Wright Brothers Day, 1965

Whereas Orville and Wilbur Wright invented and built the first successful airplane and on December 17, 1903, made the first flight in a power-driven, heavier-than-air machine, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; and

Whereas this historic flight, a symbol of American ingenuity and resourcefulness, has opened new frontiers of technology, thereby adding an exciting dimension to man's knowledge; and

Whereas the airplane has wrought a communications miracle which has brought the people of the world closer together; and

Whereas this development has opened new territories to international trade and commerce, has expanded domestic prosperity, and has strengthened the security of our Nation; and

Whereas the Congress, by a joint resolution approved December 17, 1963 (77 Stat. 402), designated the seventeenth day of December of each year as Wright Brothers Day and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation inviting the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities:

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of this Nation, and their local and national government officials, to observe Wright Brothers Day, December 17, 1965, with appropriate ceremonies and activities, both to recall the accomplishments of the Wright brothers and to provide a stimulus to aviation in this country and throughout the world.

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

DONE at the City of Washington this first day of November in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninetieth.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

By the President:

DEAN RUSK

Secretary of State