Proclamation 4180—Announcing the Death of Lyndon Baines Johnson

To the People of the United States:

It is my sad duty to announce officially the death of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the thirty-sixth President of the United States, on January 22, 1973.

President Johnson served his country for more than thirty years as Congressman, Senator, Vice President and President. Yet it can be said of Lyndon Johnson that he served his country all his life, for his was a complete and wholehearted love of our Nation. From his early days as a teacher, to his last days as a distinguished eider statesman, he did his best to make the promise and the wonder of America become as real in the lives of all his countrymen as it was in his own.

He once said that he was a free man, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order. He was also a great patriot.

Although he will no longer walk among us, Lyndon Johnson's influence on our times, which often seemed so much larger than life, cannot be stolen from us by death. Not only the things that he did, but also the spirit with which he did them, will be remembered long after time heals our sorrow at his leaving.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America, in tribute to the memory of President Johnson, and as an expression of public sorrow, do hereby direct that the flag of the United States be displayed at half-staff at the White House and on all buildings, grounds, and Naval vessels of the United States for a period of thirty days from the day of his death. I also direct that for the same length of time the representatives of the United States in foreign countries shall make similar arrangements for the display of the flag at half-staff over their Embassies, Legations, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and stations.

I hereby order that suitable honors be rendered by units of the Armed Forces under orders of the Secretary of Defense on the day of the funeral.

I do further appoint Thursday, January 25, 1973 to be a National Day of Mourning throughout the United States. I recommend that the people assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President Johnson. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.

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

RICHARD NIXON