Proclamation 3259—Columbus Day, 1958

Whereas men of good will everywhere are seeking a new world of peace and cooperation where peoples and nations will live together in amity; and

Whereas we who long for the attainment of this goal may draw inspiration from the vision and courage of Christopher Columbus, who sailed across an uncharted sea and found a western continent and opened a new world; and

Whereas the strong faith of this man of destiny moved the Spanish court in 1492 to furnish him men and ships to aid in his venture, thus leading to the discovery of America and, ultimately, to the birth of our Nation; and

Whereas, in acknowledgment of our debt to Columbus, the Congress of the United States, by a joint resolution approved April 30, 1934 (48 Stat. 657), authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation designating October 12 of each year as Columbus Day:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Sunday, October 12, 1958, as Columbus Day; and I invite our people to observe the day in schools and churches, or in other suitable places, with ceremonies expressive of the public sentiment of gratitude on the anniversary of the discovery of America and the promise of new life and liberty which it has brought us all.

I also direct the appropriate officials of the Government to arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on the appointed day in honor of the memory of Christopher Columbus.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this seventh day of October in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-third.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State