Proclamation 3998—Fiftieth Anniversary of Woman Suffrage

Fifty years ago today, Bainbridge Colby, Secretary of State of the United States, certified that the 19th Amendment had become valid as a part of the Constitution.

It is hard for any of us living in 1970 to imagine a time when women did not vote. Yet for more than seventy-five years, American women faced adversity, ridicule and derision on every level of our society as they sought this precious right. Brave and courageous women, knowing their cause was just, drawing strength and inspiration from one another through generations, fought long and hard for Woman Suffrage. Their victory was a victory for civil rights in America and it marked the beginning of a proud, new chapter in our nation's history.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America do hereby call upon all Americans to recognize the great debt we owe to those who dedicated their life's work to the cause of Woman Suffrage.

While we herald their great accomplishment, let us also recognize that women surely have a still wider role to play in the political, economic and social life of our country. And, in respect for American women, let all of us work to bring this about.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 26th day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-fifth.

RICHARD NIXON