Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 105 Part 3.djvu/608

 105 STAT. 2492 PROCLAMATION 6250—FEB. 14, 1991 NOW, THEREFORE. I, GEORGE BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of March 3 through March 9, 1991, as Save Your Vision Week. I urge all Americans to participate in this observance by making eye care and eye safety an important part of their lives. I also encourage eye care professionals, the media, and all public and private organizations committed to the goal of sight conservation to join in activities that make Americans more aware of the steps they can take to protect their vision. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety- one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifteenth. GEORGE BUSH Proclamation 6250 of February 14, 1991 Lithuanian Independence Day, 1991 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation From the days of Mindaugas to modern times, Lithuanians have cherished the freedom that is the common inheritance of all mankind. Thus, on February 16, 1918, when they realized their long-denied dream of independence, the people of Lithuania celebrated the renewal of a centuries-old national tradition and the promise of a future free from foreign domination. Tragically, however, Lithuania's independence was short-lived. Under secret protocols to the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, signed by the foreign ministers of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in 1939, the independent Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were consigned to foreign occupation and conquest. In June 1940, less than 1 year later. Red Army troops invaded Lithuania and its neighbors, effectively annexing those nations to the Soviet Union. The United States has never recognized the forcible incorporation of Lithuania and the other Baltic States into the U.S.S.R.. and we have consistently supported the Baltic peoples' right to determine and control their own future. On this 73rd anniversary of Lithuanian independence, we reaffirm our support for the just aspirations of the Lithuanian people. Their ciurent struggle to assert their legitimate rights through the peaceful efforts of democratically elected representatives compels our sympathy and support. The Lithuanian people have used the democratic process in what they hoped would be a peaceful, disciplined effort to gain recognition of their right to independence. Soviet authorities responded in January with the use of force, killing at least 20 people and injuring hundreds of others. The United States has condemned as inexcusable that action against a peaceful and democratically elected government, and we have called on the Soviets to eschew further use of intimidation and violence in the Baltic States. We urge the Soviets to pursue constructive negotiations with the elected representatives of the Lithuanian

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