Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 99 Part 2.djvu/873

 PROCLAMATION 5270—OCT. 30, 1984

99 STAT. 1983

Indeed, the native American Thanksgivings antedated those of the new Americans. In the words of the eloquent Seneca tradition of the Iroquois, "... give it your thought, that with one mind we may now give thanks to Him our Creator." From the first Pilgrim observance in 1621, to the nine years before and during the American Revolution when the Continental Congress declared days of Fast and Prayer and days of Thanksgiving, we have turned to Almighty God to express our gratitude for the bounty and good fortune we enjoy as individuals and as a nation. America truly has been blessed. This year we can be especially thankful that real gratitude to God is inscribed, not in proclamations of government, but in the hearts of all our people who come from every race, culture, and creed on the face of the Earth. And as we pause to give thanks for our many gifts, let us be tempered by humility and by compassion for those in need, and let us reaffirm through prayer and action our determination to share our bounty with those less fortunate. NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, in the spirit and tradition of the Iroquois, the Pilgrims, the Continental Congress, and past Presidents, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 22, 1984, as a day of National Thanksgiving. I call upon every citizen of this great Nation to gather together in homes and places of worship to celebrate, in the words of 1784, "with grateful hearts... the mercies and praises of their all Bountiful Creator...." IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and ninth. RONALD REAGAN Proclamation 5270 of October 30, 1984

National Christmas Seal Month, 1984 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Chronic diseases of the lungs are responsible for large numbers of deaths and disabilities among Americans. More than 17 million people have chronic lung diseases, and an estimated 225,000 Americans will die this year from them. The cost to this Nation is nearly $30 billion in medical expenses and lost wages, and untold millions more in lost productivity. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis afflict ten million Americans. Asthma affects another seven million people, two million of whom are children. Before the end of this decade, lung cancer will have surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among American women. The American Lung Association (ALA], through its community lung associations, continues the tradition started in 1904 of leading the effort to control and prevent pulmonary diseases. The ALA is this Nation's first voluntary, nonprofit public health organization. Formed originally to combat tuberculosis, the ALA, together with its medical/scientific arm—the American Thoracic Society—now has widened its scope to include all forms of lung disease and its causes, including smoking, air pollution, and occupational hazards.

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