Proclamation 6191—General Pulaski Memorial Day, 1990

Long before he gave his life for the sake of America's Independence, General Casimir Pulaski had demonstrated the depth of his devotion to the cause of liberty and human dignity of his devotion to the cause of liberty and human dignity. As a young count and patroit in Poland, the beloved land of his birth, Pulaski fought against tyranny and foreign domination with unrelenting courage and determination. Finally, when forced into exile, he chose to join our ancestors in their struggle for freedom and independence. Pulaski volunteered for the Continental Army, where he eventually became leader of his own cavalry unit.

On October 9, 1779, while leading a charge during the siege of Savannah, General Pulaski was mortally wounded. Two days later, this loyal friend of the American Revolution and tireless champion of freedom went to his eternal rest.

General Pulaski did not live to enjoy the triumph of the American Revolutinary War, but today we know that his sacrifices -- and the sacrifices of all those who labored to support our fledgling Nation in its struggle for liberty -- were not made in vain. Today, more than 200 years after his death, the United States continues to be blessed with freedom, peace, and prosperity. General Pulaski's fellow Poles ahve thrown off the oppressive weight of communist rule and have begun to enter the community of free nations.

Like many of his contemporaries, Casimir Pulaski knew that the hopes of freedom-loving peoples around the world were invested in our Nation's great experiment in self-government. In joining the American war for Independence, he affirmed a belief we cherish to this day: because liberty is the God-given right of all men, the cause of freedom is universal. When the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are secured anywhere, they are strengthened and reaffirmed everywhere.

This October 11, as we recall the death of General Casimir Pulaski, one of the great heroes of the Revolutionary War and first of many individuals of Polish descent to earn a place of honor in American history, let us also renew our commitment to the ideals for which he gave his life.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, October 11, 1990, as General Pulaski Memorial Day and direct the appropriate government officials to display the flag of the United States on all government buildings on that day. In addition, I encourage the people of the United States to commemorate this occasion as appropriate throughout the land.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifteenth.

GEORGE BUSH