Proclamation 4441

May 27, 1976

On the third Sunday in June, 1976, Americans will observe Father's Day as they have most of this century.

Father's Day, 1976, should be of special significance in our Nation's Bicentennial Year. Through two centuries our American fathers have successfully and heroically defended the liberties of this Nation in war and in peace. American fathers have preserved the precious legacy of liberty and passed it, enhanced, to their children and future generations.

On this special day, at a time when more Americans live in greater freedom than ever before, let us honor our fathers not only for their loving counsel, guidance, protection and support, but also for their courage in assuming the challenges and responsibilities synonymous with fatherhood.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, in accordance with a joint resolution of the Congress (36 U.S.C. 142a), do hereby request that Sunday, June 20, 1976, be observed as Father's Day, with appropriate public and private expressions of the love and gratitude we bear for our fathers. I call upon the appropriate Government officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on that day, and urge all citizens to do likewise at their homes and other suitable places.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundredth.



GERALD R. FORD