Proclamation 4810

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

We are a Nation with many blessings. We have liberties enjoyed by no other Nation on Earth. We have a government admired by many. We have fought hard to preserve our independence and the independence of others, and to gain equal rights and responsibilities for all our citizens. We have much to be thankful for and much to be proud of.

Together we have built a great Nation, a Nation founded on freedom, a Nation forged by patriots. We have made America strong with our strength. We have made America a Nation at peace with our love of peace.

We live in a Nation we all care about deeply. It is important that we continue to care, that we continue to respect ourselves and each other, and that we honor our past and present by reaffirming our commitment to the greatness that is ours.

To recognize our freedoms and honor this great Nation, the Congress, by joint resolution of October 10, 1980 (P.L. 96-421), designated the week commencing with the third Monday in February 1981 as "National Patriotism Week" and requested the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to commemorate that week with appropriate celebrations and observances.

Now, THEREFORE, I, JIMMY CARTER, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of the United States to observe the week beginning with the third Monday in February 1981 as National Patriotism Week.

I call upon all primary and secondary schools to adopt an appropriate curriculum for that week which should include such elements as the study of the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem, national symbols, seals and mottos, and national monuments, heroes, and accomplishments.

I request each Federal agency recognize that week by taking such action as it may deem appropriate.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifth.

JIMMY CARTER

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 3:27 p.m., December 23, 1980]