Proclamation 5678

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

In this, the year prior to the 1988 Olympics, it is fitting that we celebrate the coming event throughout the United States with appropriate ceremonies and activities. One such way to recognize this major athletic event is to join together in support of American athletes now in training to represent this great country in Canada and Korea. Thousands of American athletes participate annually in the Olympic movement all over the world. The International Olympic Games are held every 4 years and are the culmination of the skill and prowess resulting from countless hours of work and preparation.

The United States Olympic Festival is an amateur athletic competition that enables potential Olympians to participate in events identical to those performed in the International Games. During this Festival, skills are refined and a camaraderie is fostered among our athletes that signifies American unity and exemplifies the spirit of the Olympic movement. Some 4,000 athletes, trainers, and coaches, in addition to 7,000 volunteers and more than 300,000 spectators, will participate in the 1987 United States Olympic Festival in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, and Greensboro, North Carolina.

In recognition of the role the United States Olympic Festival plays in strengthening America's place in international competition, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 138, has designated the period beginning on July 13, 1987, and ending on July 26, 1987, as United States Olympic Festival-1987 Celebration and July 17, 1987, as United States Olympic Festival-1987 Day and authorized the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this event.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim July 13-July 26, 1987, as United States Olympic Festival-1987 Celebration and July 17, 1987, as United States Olympic Festival-1987 Day.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twelfth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:59 p.m., July 16, 1987]