87 STAT. ]
PROCLAMATION 4224-JUNE 15, 1973
1217
hope that the river would lead to the Pacific Ocean and give access to the riches of the Orient. Father Jacques Marquette and Louis JoUiet never reached the Pacific, but their mission was an immense success, for the river they found has brought America wealth beyond measure. The waters of the Mississippi are the most wide-ranging navigation system in the land; they provide recreational opportunities for millions of Americans; they have been the source of all history and culture that enriches the lives of us all; they nurture our farms and our cities; and they bind our people and the shores of our land from sea to sea. To commemorate the opening of the upper Mississippi River by Marquette and JoUiet, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 533, has asked that June 17, 1973 be designated as a day of commemoration of this event.
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NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICHARD NIXON, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate June 17, 1973, as a day of commemoration of the opening of the upper Mississippi River by Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673, and I call upon the people of the United States to join together in acknowledging and appreciating one of our Nation's greatest natural resources and one of the most significant wellsprings of our cultural heritage. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-seventh. C>T^»^C<u«.»/y ^^fc*^^««v-x——
PROCLAMATION 4224
Father's Day, 1973 By the President of the United States of America
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A Proclamation Each year, the third Sunday in June is set aside to honor the American father. In a complex and sometimes coldly impersonal age, Father's Day brings us back to basics. A basic unit of our society is the family which a father helps to form and hold together. A basic force in our economic life is the work a father does to provide for his wife and children. One of the strongest leadership 22-150 0 - 7 5 - 7 9
june is, 1973
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