Proclamation 4186—American Heart Month, 1973

Diseases of the heart and blood vessels impose an intolerable burden on the American people. They afflict one-eighth of our population—more than 27 million citizens. With every 30 seconds that pass, cardiovascular diseases claim another American life. The toll for 1973 will be staggering: more than one million lives, more than 200 million man-years lost from work and some $30 billion in lost income and the cost of medical care.

In 1948, the National Heart Act launched a nationwide effort to help alleviate this burden. This landmark bill created the Federal Government's National Heart Institute, bringing the public sector into a close alliance with the private sector, as exemplified by the American Heart Association, a national voluntary health agency.

In the nearly twenty-five years that have followed, science and medicine have made dramatic advances against this dread enemy. As cardiovascular medicine and surgery have undergone sweeping changes, new hope has been given to thousands of heart patients. Still heart and blood vessel diseases remain our Nation's deadliest health threat, and our cardiovascular disease rate is the second highest in the world.

June of this year will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the National Heart Act. On September 19, 1972, I signed into law a greatly expanded version of this authorization—the National Heart, Blood Vessel, Lung, and Blood Act of 1972---calling for significant increases in cardiovascular research and prevention programs. This legislation marks yet another milestone in our continued fight against preventable heart attack and stroke.

To encourage a continuing effective attack on cardiovascular diseases, the Congress, by a joint resolution approved December 30, 1963 (77 Stat. 843), requested the President to issue annually a proclamation designating February as American Heart Month.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the month of February, 1973, as American Heart Month. I invite the Governors of the States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and officials of other areas subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to issue similar proclamations.

I urge the people of the United States to consider fully the nationwide problem of cardiovascular diseases, and to support programs essential to bring about its solution.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of February, 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