Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 87.djvu/1278

 1246

PROCLAMATION 4241-SEPT. 7, 1973 PROCLAMATION

[87 STAT.

4241

National Hispanic Heritage Week, 1973 September 7, 1973

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation As America's bicentennial celebration draws near, it is particularly fitting that we pay tribute to the different ethnic groups that have worked together to build our Nation. Americans of Hispanic origin have played an instrumental role in our country's history since the days when America was first opened by European explorers, and the lives of all Americans have been enriched by the lasting and diverse contributions of Hispanic culture. In the fields as varied as music, architecture, language, education, politics, medicine, literature, industry and religion, Hispanic Americans have contributed wisdom, beauty and spiritual strength. American life today would be infinitely poorer without these contributions. With them, Americans continue to work toward the realization of a dream that is as old as the earliest Spanish explorers—the dream of a new world on a new Continent—a world in which men can reach new heights of freedom and achievement. NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICHARD NIXON, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning September 10, 1973, and ending September 16, 1973, as National Hispanic Heritage Week. I call upon all Americans, particularly those in the field of education, to observe that week with appropriate ceremonies and activities, and I urge all Americans to extend a cordial welcome to the recently arrived immigrants and visitors among us who represent the rich heritage of Hispanic lands. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventythree, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-eighth.

�