Proclamation 4428—Pan American Day and Pan American Week, 1976

Eighty-six years ago the International Union of the American Republics, the predecessor of today's Organization of American States was founded. During the long history of this distinguished international body-the oldest of the world's regional organizations-it has made important contributions to the preservation of peace and the promotion of social and economic welfare in our hemisphere. The purposes of the OAS remain the same, but conditions in the world are changing and new adaptations are required. Last year the nations of the hemisphere agreed on an updating and strengthening of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance. The United States strongly supports the common effort presently underway to modernize and revitalize the Organization of American States, the key organ of the Inter-American System. We hope this important effort will be crowned by success and that it will con­tinue to serve as an example of international cooperation.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, April 14, 1976, as Pan American Day, and the week beginning April 11 and ending April 17 as Pan American Week, and I call upon the Governors of the fifty States, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and appropriate officials of all other areas under the flag of the United States to issue similar proclamations.

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

GERALD R. FORD