Proclamation 4291—Older Americans Month, 1974

America possesses no greater natural resource than the collective wisdom and experience of its older citizens.

The first White House Conference on Aging, held in January of 1961, resulted in a Senior Citizen's Charter on the rights and obligations of older persons and represented an important first step toward giving proper recognition to our older citizens. The second White House Conference on Aging, which was held in December of 1971, broadened that recognition and deepened our national commitment to the welfare of the elderly.

The eve of our Nation's Bicentennial seems a most fitting moment for considering the development of a new Declaration of Rights and Obligations of Older Persons. Consideration of that new declaration should begin immediately at the community level so that it may be proclaimed at the State and national levels as part of our Bicentennial celebration.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the month of May 1974, as Older Americans Month, and urge all who participate in State and community programs in observance of this month to call attention to the 1961 Senior Citizen's Charter and to undertake consideration of ways and means of achieving the goal of proclaiming a new Declaration of Rights and Obligations for Older Persons which can become a rallying point for our Nation during the Bicentennial year of 1976.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of May, 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