Proclamation 4277—Loyalty Day, 1974

Loyalty has never been a word of easy definition because loyalty is a state of mind, a condition of the heart. Loyalty is something we feel in our deepest convictions. It is not a banner to be waved so much as a quality to be demonstrated by our deeds.

Just as healthy differences exist in the ways that Americans seek progress for our Nation, loyalty to our Nation means different things to different people. But regardless of how it is manifested, a common strain runs through our loyalty and has made it a distinctly profound part of our national heritage.

Loyalty includes a sense of deep patriotism. It is patriotism which calls upon all of us to make personal sacrifices when our Nation is challenged from within or without.

Loyalty means allegiance to the country which has maintained our liberties, blessed us with an abundance of material well-being and spiritual freedom, and provided us all with opportunities which no civilization in history has ever before matched.

A little over a year ago as our returning Vietnam prisoners of war gave all Americans a sense of joyous celebration, one of those courageous men came forth holding up a small American flag. His words were simple, but moving: ". . . we never lost faith in the American people, and we knew that these colors wouldn't run."

It might not have been a dictionary definition, but those words represent loyalty as well as any free American could ever hope.

In recognition of the need to set aside a day to pay tribute to the quality of loyalty, the Congress by a joint resolution of July 18, 1958, designated May 1 of each year as Loyalty Day and requested the President to issue a proclamation inviting the people of the United States to observe such a day with appropriate ceremonies.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America, do call upon the people of the United States and upon all patriotic, civic and educational organizations to observe Wednesday, May 1, 1974 as Loyalty Day, with appropriate ceremonies in which all may join.

I call also upon appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on that day as an expression of our loyalty to the Nation symbolized by that flag.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-four and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-eighth.

RICHARD NIXON