Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2001

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Part V

The President

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Proclamation 7447--Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2001

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7447 of June 6, 2001

Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2001

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On June 14, 2001, Americans will observe the 224th
birthday of the flag of the United States of America.
This special day provides a time for our Nation to
reflect on our flag's rich history and its meaning to
Americans and people around the world.

The Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes
as the official flag of our young republic on June 14,
1777. Describing the new flag, the Congress wrote,
``White signifies Purity and Innocence; Red, Hardiness
and Valor; Blue signifies Vigilance, Perseverance and
Justice.'' Over time, the flag's design evolved to keep
pace with our Nation's development and growth, but its
meaning as a symbol of democracy and freedom has
remained constant.

Flag Day was first celebrated throughout the country in
1877 to mark the centennial of the birth of our
national symbol. As so often happens in our
communities, a caring teacher encouraging students to
develop a love for learning sparked renewed interest in
the flag. Wisconsin schoolteacher B.J. Cigrand arranged
for his pupils in 1885 to observe the 108th anniversary
of the flag's official adoption.

In magazine and newspaper articles and public addresses
in the following years, Cigrand promoted an official
national celebration of June 14 as ``Flag Birthday'' or
``Flag Day.'' Groups in Pennsylvania, New York, and
Illinois took up the cause. After three decades of
State and local celebrations, President Woodrow Wilson
officially established Flag Day by proclamation in
1916.

During the darkest hours of World War II, Americans
looked to the purity, hardiness, valor, vigilance,
perseverance, and justice represented by the flag as
ideals worthy of the ultimate sacrifice in order to
defeat tyranny. In celebration of the flag's powerful
meaning to Americans and its place in our culture and
history, Flag Day became a national observance by Act
of Congress in 1949 and was signed into law by
President Harry Truman.

To commemorate the adoption of our flag, the Congress,
by joint resolution approved August 3, 1949 (63 Stat.
492), designated June 14 of each year as ``Flag Day''
and requested the President to issue an annual
proclamation calling for a national observance and for
the display of the flag of the United States on all
Federal Government buildings. In a second joint
resolution approved June 9, 1966 (80 Stat. 194), the
Congress requested the President to also issue annually
a proclamation designating the week during which June
14 falls as ``National Flag Week'' and called upon all
citizens of the United States to display the flag
during that week.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim June 14, 2001, as Flag Day
and the week beginning June 10, 2001, as National Flag
Week. I direct the appropriate officials to display the
flag of the United States on all Federal Government
buildings during the week. I also call upon the people
of the United States to observe with pride and all due
ceremony those

days from Flag Day through Independence Day, also set
aside by the Congress (89 Stat. 211), as a time to
honor America, to celebrate our heritage in public
gatherings and activities, and to recite publicly the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States
of America.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand
one, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.

(Presidential Sig.)B