Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 99 Part 2.djvu/1009

 PROCLAMATION 5410—NOV. 15, 1985

99 STAT. 2119

casualties in their country's service, and countless more have suffered family disruptions and dislocations caused by commitments to the armed services. The nearly 1.2 million women veterans living in the United States today have contributed immeasurably to restoring and maintaining the peace. Their performance in a wide range of demanding specialties in all branches of service has been in the proudest traditions of our Armed Forces, and it is altogether fitting that we as a Nation pause to express our appreciation. The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 47, has designated the week beginning November 10, 1985, as "National Women Veterans Recognition Week" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of that week. NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning November 10, 1985, as National Women Veterans Recognition Week. I call upon the American people, the Federal government, and State and local governments to celebrate this week with appropriate observances. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set m> hand this thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and tenth. RONALD REAGAN

Proclamation 5410 of November 15, 1985

Eugene Ormandy Appreciation Day, 1985 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Eugene Ormandy was a consummate musician and a masterly conductor, as well as a father figure and an inspiration to generations of gifted American musicians. As music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years, he brought that ensemble to a point of such polish and perfection that many esteemed it the very greatest in the world. No one could mistake the "Philadelphia Sound," a perfectly pitched and artfully blended miracle of sonorities that was at once lush and supple. Virgil Thomson, the noted critic, has described Ormandy's goal as "beauty of sound and virtuosity of execution ... at the service of the music in complete humility." Maestro Ormandy achieved that goal by dint of patience, persuasion, and example. He persuaded his musicians to do it his way without taunts or tantrums. They knew how much he loved the music, how much he loved the audiences, and how much he loved them. They could not fail him—they did not. And he never stinted in giving his musicians the credit. "They play," he said once "as one great Stradivarius, not as individual musicians." It was an accurate description and a supreme tribute from a child prodigy whose musicial genius first found expression on the violin—at the age of three! Born in Budapest on November 18, 1899, Eugene Ormandy came to the United States in 1921. His first job was as a violinist with the orchestra of the Capitol motion picture theater in New York City. Soon he became its conductor. Then, after a brief stint with the Minneapolis Symphony, Or-

Ante, p. 810.

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