Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 86.djvu/1707

 86 STAT. ]

PROCLAMATION 4154-SEPT. 14, 1972

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PROCLAMATION 4154

National Employ the Handicapped Week, 1972 By the President of the United States of America '•ul>

A Proclamation

Twenty-five years ago our Nation made a commitment to eliminating the prejudice which plagued our handicapped citizens. Following the end of World War II, a national effort was initiated to bring job equality to handicapped men and women. We decided to substitute voluntary responsibility for the compulsion of law, and to mount a citizens' campaign nationwide to persuade employers to hire the handicapped. In 1947 volunteers from industry and business, from labor organizations and government, from civic, fraternal, veterans, and professional groups, and from other areas of the public were organized as the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. The record of their achievements is compelling testimony to the power of voluntarism. Since the formation of that Committee, an estimated eight million handicapped men and women have entered the world of work, the result of neighbor talking to neighbor. Our appeal to employers, through national. State and local channels, emphasized the business advantages of hiring handicapped workers— their exceptional performance and their outstanding characteristics as employees. Over the years, handicapped workers have merited that description and justified that claim. Their talents and energies have contributed to all areas of production. As scientists, teachers, aerospace technicians, government officials, professional persons, clerks, tradesmen—in fact, in nearly every occupation—they have contributed to America's progress and to their communities' progress. It is appropriate during this anniversary year to acknowledge the great strides we have made towards our goal, to express our gratitude to the

September 14, 1972

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