Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 85.djvu/984

 954

PROCLAMATION 4093-NOV. 5, 1971

[85 STAT.

But more than that, they revealed a new possibility for the expression of man's spirit. In the sure unfolding of that possibility man has begun to experience a world in which he may do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with his God forever. For what those early settlers established, we give thanks in a way which began with them. In their first years on the hard cold edge of man's bright golden dream, they were tried and their faith was tested. But when their bodies failed, their faith did not. The stark simple words on a sarcophagus in a little village on the seacoast of Massachusetts tell the story well: "This monument marks the first burying-ground in Plymouth of the passengers of the Mayflower. Here, under cover of darkness, the fast dwindling company laid their dead; leveling the earth above them lest the Indians should learn howmany were the graves." Yet, because mankind was not created merely to survive, in the face of all hardship and suffering, these men and women—and those of the other early settlements—prevailed. And the settlers gathered to give thanks for God's bounty, for the blessings of life itself, and for the freedom which they so cherished that no hardship could quench it. And now their heritage is ours. What they dared to imagine for this land came to pass. What they planted here prospered. And for our heritage—a land rich with the bountiful blessings of God, and the freedom to enjoy those rich blessings—we give thanks to God Almighty in this time, and for all time.

82 Stat. 250.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICHARD NIXON, President of the United States of America, in accordance with the wish of the Congress ^s cxprcsscd in Section 6103 of Title 5 of the United States Code, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 25, 1971, as a day of national thanksgiving. I call upon all Americans to share this day, to give thanks in homes and in places of worship for the many blessings our people enjoy, to welcome the elderly and less fortunate as special participants in this day's festivities and observances, thereby truly showing our gratitude to God by expressing and reflecting His love. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-sixth.

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