Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 79.djvu/1527

 79 STAT. ]

PROCLAMATION 3653-APR. 10, 1965

1487

Proclamation 3653 SENIOR CITIZENS MONTH, 1965 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

WHEREAS there are now more than eighteen million men and women over the age of sixty-five in the United States; and WHEREAS every twenty seconds another American reaches this milestone of maturity; and WHEREAS the present rapid rate of growth in this segment of our population—our honored senior citizens—is a uniquely modern development that can be attributed to the forces of industrialization, urbanization, and advancing medical science and technology; and WHEREAS the aged must be integrated into American life as full partners in the Great Society; and WHEREAS the aged have special needs that must be met; and WHEREAS the needs of older Americans are a matter of utmost concern to all of us, and must be met by all of us so that we may enrich their lives today, our own lives tomorrow, and the lives of our children in the decades to come; and WHEREAS Federal, State, and local governmental efforts, in partnership with private, voluntary organizations, can and should offer leadership and assistance in stimulating community action on behalf of older Americans: NOW, THEREFORE, I, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the month of May 1965 as Senior Citizens Month; and I urge all Federal, State, and local governmental agencies, as well as all public and private organizations and all citizens, to give effective expression to the theme of this special month—Meeting the Challenge of Aging Through Community Action for Older Americans. I t is necessary, desirable, rewarding, and satisfying to help transform into realities the dreams that we have for our fathers, our mothers, and our other aging citizens. Let us make this month outstanding by giving our full support to the common efforts of public and private agencies at the Federal, State, and local levels that are working together to improve the added ^ears which our civilization has made possible for so many of our citizens. I also invite the Governors of the States, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and appropriate officials in other areas subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to join in the observance and promotion of Senior Citizens Month. I N W I T N E S S WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed. D O N E at the City of Washington this tenth day of April in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-five, and of [SEAL] the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-ninth. LYNDON B. JOHNSON

By the President: DEAN R U S K,

Secretary of State.

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