Proclamation 5868

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

National American Indian Heritage Week, 1988, offers us a fine opportunity to reflect upon the profound, many-sided, and lasting impact of American Indians and their forebears on our Nation, history, and way of life. During this time, we can all join American Indians and Alaska Natives in celebrating their ancient and diverse heritages. We can also thank them for their achievements in every area of endeavor.

Those achievements continue today. Despite past periods of conflict and changes in Indian affairs policies, the government-to-government relationship between the United States and Indian tribes has endured. The Constitution, treaties, laws, and court decisions have consistently recognized a unique political relationship between tribal elected governments and the United States. We look to a future of increasing economic independence and self-sufficiency on Indian reservations, and we support efforts to foster greater Indian control of Indian resources.

May our national observance of this truly special week in tribute to American Indians inspire us to seek a deeper understanding of our past and a wider hope for the future we must walk together in this great and bounteous land.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 322, has designated the period of September 23 through September 30, 1988, as "National American Indian Heritage Week" and authorized and requested 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 the period of September 23 through September 30, 1988, as National American Indian Heritage Week, and I request all Americans to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:18 p.m., September 29, 1988]