Proclamation 4557—Pan American Day and Pan American Week, 1978

For more than one hundred and fifty years the nations of the Western Hemisphere have recognized that peace and understanding can be achieved only if we are willing to put aside our differences and join together to solve our problems and share our opportunities. Drawing upon a common heritage and shared hopes for the future, the nations of the Americas constantly seek ways to strengthen their ties with each other. Their success in achieving these goals is due in large measure to the Organization of American States, the world's oldest regional organization.

Through the Organization of American States we in the Western Hemisphere have developed a unique system of cooperation which promotes political understanding, economic progress and social justice. An organization of great vitality and adaptability, it is now responding vigorously to the new challenges of the last quarter of the twentieth century. For these reasons, the United States continues, and will continue, to lend its full support to the Organization of American States and the Inter-American System. Accordingly, it is appropriate that we join with its other members in reaffirming our mutual commitment to friendship, trust and cooperation.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Friday, April 14, 1978, as Pan American Day, and the week beginning April 9, 1978 as Pan American Week and call upon all Americans to honor these observances with ceremonies and activities that will reflect the continuing commitment of the United States of America to a peaceful and productive relationship among the nations and peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

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

JIMMY CARTER