Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 99 Part 2.djvu/906

 99 STAT. 2016 Ante, p. 4.

PROCLAMATION 5302—FEB. 16, 1985

nomic strength and to introducing young Americans to the opportunities and rewards of free enterprise, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 36, has designated the week of February 10, 1985, through February 16, 1985, as "National DECA 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 February 10 through February 16, 1985, as National DECA Week, and I call upon all government agencies, interested organizations, community groups, and the people of the United States to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. ' wS <: IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of < February, 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 ninth. RONALD REAGAN

Proclamation 5302 of February 16, 1985

Lithuanian Independence Day, 1985 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Sixty-seven years ago, a small nation achieved freedom in the aftermath of World War I. Proclaiming the Lithuanian Republic, its founders stepped forward on February 16, 1918, to assert their country's independence and commitment to a government based on justice, democracy, and the rights of individuals. Twenty-two years later, Soviet tyranny imposed itself on Lithuania and denied the Lithuanian people their just right of national self-determination as well as basic human freedoms. Among the freedoms most consistently attacked by Soviet authorities is the freedom of religion. The victims of these attacks have often been Catholic Church figures, such as Father Alfonsas Svarinskas, Father Sigitas Tamkevicius, and, most recently. Father Jonas-Kastytis Matulionis. Their crimes: administering to the spiritual needs of the faithful. Yet the people of Lithuania refuse to submit quietly. Hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions demanding the release of priests and other human and civil rights leaders. Underground publications such as the sixtyfourth issue of the "Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania" and forty-first issue of "The Dawn," which have recently come to the West, continue to inform the world of ongoing persecutions. Americans are united in an enduring belief in the right of peoples to live in freedom. The United States has refused to recognize the forcible incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union. We must be vigilant in the protection of this ideal because we know that as long as freedom is denied to others, it is not truly secure here. We mark this anniversary of Lithuanian Independence with a renewed hope that the blessings of liberty will be restored to Lithuania.

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