Proclamation 4295—Flag Day and National Flag Week, 1974

The Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on June 14, 1777, and its journal for that date, now in the National Archives, shows that its members primarily concerned themselves with routine matters. But two resolutions approved on that day were to be of great moment.

The first: "Resolved, that Captain John Paul Jones be appointed to command the said ship Ranger." It was an appointment that made naval history.

The second: "Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, • representing a new constellation." This short and unadorned declaration gave birth to our flag.

The outcome of the Revolutionary War remained in doubt on that Saturday in June 197 years ago. But the simple words that created our national standard epitomized the sense of purposeful determination of the people of this land to live together in independence.

We won our independence and an enduring Union was forged. The flag that had been adopted in those uncertain days flew over a new nation. With the addition of stars, it remains our flag today and symbolizes our commitment, as a people, to freedom, equality, and independence.

To commemorate the adoption of our 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 also requested the President, by 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 to call upon all citizens of the United States to display the flag of the United States on those days.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week beginning June 9, 1974, as National Flag Week, and I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag on all Government buildings during that week. I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day, June 14, and 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 thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-four, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-eighth.

RICHARD NIXON