Proclamation 4676—Columbus Day, 1979

Four hundred and eighty-seven years have passed since an Italian navigator in the service of Spain left the Old World to find the New. Christopher Columbus was determined to test an audacious theory: to reach the East, sail west. On the morning of October 12, 1492, with ninety men in three small ships, he sailed into immortality.

The voyage of this intrepid explorer marked the convergence of American and world history. His discovery opened a new age?an age that gave the world a new center.

We are the inheritors of Columbus' legacy. As a nation which has always striven for the same qualities as the Great Navigator, we must continue the search for new horizons.

It is fitting that, on the observance of this October 12, we once again recall to mind Columbus' extraordinary voyage and, in the spirit of that undertaking, rededicate ourselves to that which is best and most courageous in us.

In tribute to Columbus' achievement, the Congress of the United States of America, by joint resolution approved April 30, 1934 (48 Stat. 657), as modified by the Act of June 28, 1968 (82 Stat. 250), requested the President to proclaim the second Monday in October of each year as Columbus Day.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Monday, October 8, 1979, as Columbus Day; and I invite the people of this Nation to observe that day in schools, churches, and other suitable places with appropriate ceremonies in his honor.

I also direct that the flag of the United States of America be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in memory of Christopher Columbus.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourth.

JIMMY CARTER