Proclamation 5747

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

The destiny of America is shaped not only by events within the councils of government, industry, and finance, but also by the hand of God and the life and the love in each and every home in our Nation. America's families are a tremendous source of strength and faith and freedom for our children and our country, and during National Family Week we recognize this truth and pay glad tribute to the families of our land.

The family is a source of well-being, a place to give and receive love and to learn and live our traditions and the virtues and the values of responsibility, selflessness and self-reliance, loyalty, mutual respect, fairness, and the power of faith. In families we also come to know our inherent dignity and worth as individuals and to enjoy the Godgiven rights that are the basis of freedom.

We must remember during National Family Week, and especially during the Bicentennial of the Constitution, that freedom, the family, and the individual have everything to do with each other. That is a truth that the Founders of our country knew well. The more the integrity of the family is fostered-the more social and public policy influences that weaken the family are eliminated-the stronger is freedom and the healthier is society. Let us forever remember this personally and as a people, for the good of our families and the good of our country.

The Congress, by Public Law 100-166, has authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week of November 22 through November 28, 1987, as "National Family Week."

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of November 22 through 28, 1987, as National Family Week. I invite the Governors of the several States, the chief officials of local governments, and all Americans to celebrate this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of November, 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, 4:11 p.m., November 20, 1987]