Proclamation 5969—Smith-Lever Act 75th Anniversary, 1989

For 75 years, the Cooperative Extension Service has made significant contributions to U.S. agriculture by helping rural Americans to apply the latest techniques and state-of-the-art technology to everyday farming.

In 1914, Hoke Smith, a Senator from Georgia, and Asbury Lever, a Congressman from South Carolina, proposed the creation of the Cooperative Extension Service as the educational arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Smith-Lever Act -- which President Wilson signed into law on May 8, 1914 -- established the Cooperative Extension System as a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and State land-grant universities. Today this beneficial System includes offices in nearly all of the Nation's 3,150 counties, cities, and boroughs, at Tuskegee University, and at land-grant institutions in the 50 States and six territories. In celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Smith-Lever Act, we pay tribute to our dedicated Extension System educators.

The Cooperative Extension System has done much to ensure that rural and urban adults and youth have the opportunity to develop to their full potential. The System has built on the spirit and traditions of its founders, successfully adapting to new challenges over the years, while assisting the American farm family with the efficient production of a reliable supply of food and fiber for consumers in our country and around the world. System employees and the three million volunteers who ably assist them help individual farmers, families, and communities to apply research-generated knowledge and leadership techniques to the problems facing American agriculture today.

In recognition of the contributions of the Cooperative Extension System, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 124, has authorized and requested the issuance of a proclamation to commemorate the enactment of the Smith-Lever Act of May 8, 1914.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 8, 1989, as the 75th Anniversary of the signing of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

GEORGE BUSH