Proclamation 3996—United Nations Day, 1970

In this year 1970 the United States and all other UN members commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations, and celebrate its accomplishments on behalf of peace, justice and progress.

We are proud that our country played an important role in the founding of the United Nations at San Francisco in 1945. Ever since the United States has continued to be a strong supporter of the UN. In these 25 years we have worked—and encouraged others to work—through the United Nations to resolve disputes, to preserve or restore the peace, to promote self-determination, to advance the cause of human rights for all races and peoples, and to cooperate for economic and social development. We continue to look to the United Nations as a place where advances can be made toward building a more humane and livable world.

As the world has grown more complex and interdependent, the tasks of the UN have become increasingly difficult. We should appraise candidly the ability of the United Nations to fully achieve the aims of its Charter; examine objectively the strengths and weaknesses of the Organization; and search intensely for practical and realistic ways to improve the effectiveness of its agencies.

If our UN policies are to be effective they must engage the attention of a concerned and informed citizenry. We must strive for the greatest possible participation of our population, including the youth of our country, in determining our future participation in the UN. This 25th Anniversary Year is an appropriate time for the American people and the American Government to jointly reexamine our goals and policies towards the UN and, together, to seek to find creative solutions for the many problems.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Saturday, October 24, 1970, as United Nations Day and I urge the citizens of this Nation to observe that day by means of community programs which will contribute to a realistic understanding of and support for the United Nations and its associated organizations.

I also call upon officials of the Federal and State Governments and upon local officials to encourage citizens' groups and agencies of communication—press, radio, television, and motion pictures—to engage in appropriate observance of United Nations Day this year in cooperation with the United Nations Association of the United States of America and other interested organizations.

Moreover, in recognition of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Year of the United Nations, I call upon the citizens of this Nation and its citizens' groups to organize programs that will realistically appraise the potentialities of the UN and focus attention on how best to strengthen it.

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

RICHARD NIXON