Proclamation 4220—Flag Day and National Flag Week, 1973

The outcome of the American Revolution was far from settled on June 14, 1777, when the Congress resolved that the flag of the United States should have 13 stripes, alternating red and white, and 13 white stars in a field of blue "representing the new constellation."

The creation of this fresh banner in a New World where European powers long had contended for domination signified the new unity of the American people and their determination to win their independence.

Although the constellation of stars has expanded from 13 to 50 since the 18th century, the flag we revere today has changed very little in the intervening 196 years. It continues to represent our common devotion to the principles of freedom and equality which have sustained Americans ever since those uncertain days when independence was yet to be won.

To commemorate the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as our country's flag, the Congress, by a joint resolution of August 3, 1949 (63 Stat. 492), designated June 14 of each year as Flag Day and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation calling for its observance. The Congress has also requested the President, by a joint resolution of June 9, 1966 (80 Stat. 194), to issue annually a proclamation designating the week in which June 14 occurs as National Flag Week and calling upon all the citizens of the United States to fly the flag of the United States on the days of that week.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week beginning June 10, 1973, as National Flag Week, and I direct the appropriate Government officials to display the flag on all Government buildings during that week.

I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day, June 14, and National Flag Week by flying the Stars and Stripes from their homes and other suitable places.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of June, 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