Proclamation 4381—Captive Nations Week, 1975

The history of our Nation reminds us that the traditions of liberty must be protected and preserved by each generation. Let us, therefore, rededicate ourselves to the ideals of our own democratic heritage. In so doing, we manifest our belief that all men everywhere have the same inherent right to freedom that we enjoy today. In support of this sentiment, the Eighty-sixth Congress, by a joint resolution approved July 11, 1959 (73 Stat. 212), authorized and requested the President to proclaim the third week in July of each year as Captive Nations Week.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week beginning July 13, 1975, as Captive Nations Week.

I call upon the people of the United States to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities, and I urge rededication to the aspirations of all peoples for self-determination and liberty.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-ninth.

GERALD R. FORD