Proclamation 4121—National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week, 1972

"How is it that we can send men to the moon, yet we cannot manage our problems of transportation here on earth?" That is a question we often hear as each year it seems that less time is needed to fly around the world, and more time to drive to work.

If we have the will, we can subdue these transportation problems. The same American technology that opened wide the door to space travel, can be harnessed both to relieve the inadequacies of our domestic transportation system and to provide for future transport needs. With careful planning and conscientious direction, our technology can develop new ways to move people and goods. Thirty years ago, the idea of sending men to the moon seemed impossibly visionary. Thirty years from now, I predict, new forms of transport will be operating which seem today as unrealizable as lunar space travel once was.

From May 27 through June 4, 1972, an exposition of advanced transportation technology, called TRANSPO '72, will be staged at Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C. I encourage all Americans to attend this display, and to experience an exciting forward look at transportation concepts, designs and systems for meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century.

In recognition of the importance of our transportation system, the Congress, by joint resolutions approved May 16, 1957, and May 14, 1962, requested the President to proclaim annually the third Friday of May each year as National Defense Transportation Day, and the week of May in which that Friday falls as National Transportation Week.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Friday, May 19, 1972, as National Defense Transportation Day, and the week beginning May 14, 1972, as National Transportation Week. I urge the people of the United States to observe this period with appropriate ceremonies in recognition of the importance of our transportation system to our lives and national defense, and as a tribute to the men and women who make possible the movement of people and goods throughout our land and abroad.

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

RICHARD NIXON