Proclamation 5281

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Strong families are the foundation of society. Through them we pass on our traditions, rituals, and values. From them we receive the love, encouragement, and education needed to meet human challenges. Family life provides opportunities and time for the spiritual growth that fosters generosity of spirit and responsible citizenship.

Family experiences shape our response to the larger communities in which we live. The best American traditions echo family values that call on us to nurture and guide the young, to help enrich the lives of the handicapped, to assist less fortunate neighbors, and to cherish the elderly. Let us summon our individual and community resources to promote healthy families capable of carrying on these traditions and providing strength to our society.

National Family Week gives us a chance to honor families and to renew our commitment to the family strength that gives people the ability to withstand external influences and maintain their individual integrity. We should take this occasion to commend the loyalty family members show one another in facing the adversities as well as the joys of life together. And let us especially honor those Americans who, through adoption or foster care, have extended their families as centers of love and life to those in need of true family support.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 211, has designated the week of November 18 through November 24, 1984, as "National Family Week" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of November 18 through November 24, 1984, as National Family Week. I invite the Governors of the several states, the chief officials of local governments, and all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities. As we celebrate this Thanksgiving Week, I also invite all Americans to give thanks for the many blessings that they have derived from their family relationships and to reflect upon the importance of maintaining strong families.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of November, 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

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:41 a.m., November 15, 1984]