Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 62 Part 2.djvu/278

 PROCLAMATIONS-SEPT. 13, 1948 September 13, 1948 [No. 2812] NATIONAL EMPLOY THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED WEEK, 1948 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Establishment of President's Commit- tee on National Em- ploy the Physically Handicapped Week. Observance of week beginning Oct. 3 ,1948, as National Employ the Physically llandi- capped Week. WHEREAS our Nation would be materially strengthened and our democracy enriched if all citizens capable of performing any kind of useful labor were afforded opportunities for suitable employment; and WHEREAS the millions of disabled persons in the United States, both military and civilian, should be encouraged to avail themselves of the facilities for rehabilitation and training, as well as the services for placement, provided by our Federal, State, and local governments; and WHEREAS war-production records and recent industrial surveys show that handicapped workers, when selectively placed, perform their tasks as well as or better than those without handicaps; and WHEREAS acceptance of the handicapped by employers will be the means of bringing opportunity for economic independence and full participation in our democratic life to citizens who, despite physical impairments, are willing and able to perform a wide variety of essen- tial tasks; and WHEREAS, in order to secure greater voluntary cooperation in employment of the handicapped on the part of the public generally, I have established the President's Committee on National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, composed of leaders of organiza- tions outside the Government; and WHEREAS the Congress, by a joint resolution approved August 11, 1945 (59 Stat. 530), has designated the first week in October of each year as National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, during which time appropriate ceremonies are to be held throughout the Nation, and has requested the President to issue a suitable procla- mation each year: NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of the United States to observe the week beginning October 3, 1948, as National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week. I also call upon the Governors of States, the mayors of cities, and other public officials, as well as leaders of industry and labor, of civic, veterans', farm, women's, and fraternal organizations, and of other groups represent- ative of our national life, to lend full support to the observance of the week, in order to enlist public interest in effectuating full employment of the handicapped. 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 1 3 t h day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-eight, [SEAL] and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-third. HARRY S TRUMAN By the President: G C MARSHALL Secretary of State. 1556 [62 STAT.

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