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PROCLAMATION 3829-FEB. 13, 1968

[82 STAT.

The law we recognize and respect is not the mere exercise of power. I t is not just a device to enforce the status quo. Law is a process of continuous growth that allows the creation of new rights for all men through a deliberative, democratic process. I t is a system that permits existing rights to be protected, injustices to be remedied, and disputes to be resolved, without recourse to self-defeating violence. That is the meaning of the theme of Law Day, 1968—"Only a lawful society can build a better society." I commend all those members of the bar, the bench and the law enforcement system who work to improve the performance of this system—to make it more just, more effective, and more responsive to our people's needs. America is grateful to them for their efforts to improve and extend legal services to the poor; to streamline the machinery of our courts; and to defend our society against crime and lawlessness. I call upon every citizen to assist these efforts in his own community. I deem it the duty of each man and woman to honor the law, and to work within it and through it for civil order and social justice. NOW, THEREFORE, I, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, do hereby request the observance of Wednesday, May 1, 1968, as Law Day in the United States of America. I commend the organized bar for fostering the annual observance of Law Day. I urge each citizen to join in that observance by making a personal commitment — to obey the law — to respect the rights of others — to aid law-enforcement officers — to uphold the judgments of the courts. As requested by the Congress, I suggest that our people observe Law Day with appropriate ceremonies and observances, through public bodies and private organizations, in schools and other suitable places; and I call upon public officials to display the nation's flag on public buildings on that day. I N W I T N E S S WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-second.

Proclamation 3829 AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH, 1968 February 13, 1968

By the President of the United States of America A

Proclamation

The history of the United States is not a record of blind forces sweeping human beings relentlessly along to an unknown destiny. I t is the story of countless individuals whose success and sacrifice converted an idea into a free nation.

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