Proclamation 4541—Wright Brothers Day, 1977

The era of modern aviation began near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, when Wilbur and Orville Wright, bicycle makers and inventors, made the first successful flight in a heavier-than-air, powered aircraft.

The achievement of the two brothers, almost unnoticed at the time, has since been recognized as one of history's most significant accomplishments. Trips that once took months now take a few hours and all the peoples of the earth have become neighbors.

It is particularly appropriate to remember this first powered flight during 1977, the 50th anniversary of Charles A. Lindbergh's solo, nonstop trans-Atlantic flight on a plane, the "Spirit of St. Louis", which was powered by a Wright Whirlwind engine.

To commemorate the historic achievements of the Wright brothers, the Congress, by a joint resolution of December 17, 1963 (77 Stat. 402, 36 U.S.G. 169), designated the seventeenth day of December of each year as Wright Brothers Day and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation inviting people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of this Nation, and their local and national government officials, to observe Wright Brothers Day, December 17, 1977, with appropriate ceremonies and activities, both to recall the accomplishments of the Wright brothers and to provide a stimulus to aviation in this country and throughout the world.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and second.

JIMMY CARTER