Proclamation 4365—National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week, 1975

Throughout the history of the United States, our progress as a Nation has been closely tied to progress in the development of our transportation system. Generations of men and women who pioneered and developed the great networks by which we move goods and people today stand high in the ranks of those who have helped make America great.

As the Nation grew, so did its need for mobility. During the last century, this need was well served by expanding rail and water transportation systems. Today, the need is served by a broader range of systems. Motor vehicles and aircraft provide rapid access to every region.

There are still changing needs and new demands for the movement of our people and the goods they produce. Yesterday's methods may not be adequate to overcome the problem of congestion in many of our large population centers. Also, fuels that have powered our transportation machinery in the past may not be sufficient to meet the demands of the future.

So, once again, we look to the people in our transportation industry to make the adjustments required by the changing times. We look to them with the confidence that they will perform as they have in the past and provide improvements that will ensure fast, safe, efficient, and convenient transportation.

In acknowledgement of the importance of our transportation system, the Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 16, 1957 (71 Stat. 30, 36 U.S.C. 160), requested the President to proclaim the third Friday in May of each year as National Defense Transportation Day, and, by a joint resolution approved May 14, 1962 (76 Stat. 69, 36 U.S.C. 166), requested the President to proclaim the week in which that Friday falls as National Transportation Week.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Friday, May 16, 1975, as National Defense Transportation Day, and the week beginning May 11, 1975, as National Transportation Week.

I particularly urge that governors and other elected officials as well as the people of America join with the Department of Transportation in observing this week. It is an observance that is well deserved.

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

GERALD R. FORD