Proclamation 3865—National School Lunch Week, 1968

A well-nourished, healthy, intelligent child is the most precious asset America can possess.

It is vitally important, therefore, that every American child be offered an adequate diet and taught good food habits, no matter where he lives, or how much or little his parents earn.

The National School Lunch Program is a major factor in achieving this goal. For 22 years this Program—a Federal-State-local activity—has helped millions of youngsters obtain low-cost lunches at school. In the 1968-69 school year, nearly 20 million children are expected to benefit.

But many children still are seriously malnourished— because their families lack knowledge of a good diet or money to buy one. The consequences of malnourishment are often poor health and diminished intellectual powers.

To help prevent these human tragedies, the Nation will put still more money and manpower into teaching good nutrition and providing new and expanded food services for children. These services will include more free or reduced-price lunches in needy areas, breakfasts at school for more children, and food services for children not yet in school or in day care centers.

In recognition of the value and achievements of the National School Lunch Program, the Congress, by a joint resolution of October 9, 1962 (76 Stat. 779), has designated the seven-day period beginning on the second Sunday of October in each year as National School Lunch Week, and has requested the President to issue annually a proclamation calling for the observance of that week.

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, call upon the people of the United States to observe the week beginning October 13, 1968, as National School Lunch Week, with ceremonies and activities designed to increase public understanding and awareness of the significance of the National School Lunch Program and other food service programs to the child, to the home, to the farm, to industry, and to the Nation.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-third.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON