Proclamation 4166—Country Music Month, October 1972

The heart of a people is found in their music, and no music is more deeply rooted in the soul of America than country music.

It is no accident that country music is more popular today than ever before. For in the strum of the guitar, the twang of the banjo, and the proud pure voices of country singers, we hear the echo of America's past and the hope for our future.

Strong, simple and moving, country music reflects the joys, the sorrows and the ideals of our people. Love of family, love of country, faith in God, and the happiness and heartbreak of everyday life—these are the themes that run throughout our country music, and that bind us all together as Americans.

Who can resist tapping foot and joining in when the strains of country music strike up? Country music belongs to no one region or set of people, but to us all. It has given us some of the greatest entertainers and folk heroes, and we have taken it to our heart as a nation.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, ask the people of this Nation to mark the month of October, 1972, with suitable observances as Country Music Month.

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

RICHARD NIXON