Proclamation 4061—National Postal Service Day

For nearly two hundred years the people of this country have been served by a national post office. When America was growing, and our people were pushing the frontier out across the land, the United States Post Office helped bind our people together in one nation.

As the nation has grown and its needs have changed, the Post Office has grown and changed to meet those new needs. The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 is a part of this change, heralding a new United States Postal Service. The new Service will provide management and methods appropriate to a great and vital communications system in the twentieth century. Behind the new Service, as from the beginning, the high ideals of public service and fidelity to the public well-being, which for so long has distinguished the Post Office, will continue.

On July 1, 1971, the United States Postal Service will begin operation as an independent establishment of the executive branch of the United States Government. It is appropriate to set aside that day to give recognition to the contributions made through the years by the men and women of the Post Office who have served the Nation so faithfully and to mark the inauguration of the United States Postal Service.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Thursday, July 1, 1971, as National Postal Service Day.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-fifth.

RICHARD NIXON