Albert Sidney Johnston Camp #67

Sons of Confederate Veterans

EISENHOWER PROCLAMATION

CIVIL WAR PROCLAMATION NO. 3882

By The President of The United States of America

The years 1861-1965 will mark the one hundredth anniversary of the American Civil War.

The war was America's most tragic experience. But like all truly great tragedies, it carries with it an enduring lesson and a profound inspiration. It was a demonstration of heroism and sacrifice by men and women of both sides, who valued principles above life itself and whose devotion to duty is a proud part of our national inheritance.

Both sections of our magnificently reunited country sent into their armies' men who become soldiers as good as any who ever fought under any flag. Military history records nothing finer than the courage and spirit displayed at such battles as Chickamauga, Antietam, Kennesaw Mountain and Gettysburg. That America could produce men so valiant and so enduring is a matter for deep and abiding pride.

The same spirit on the part of the people back home supported those soldiers through four years of great trial. That a Nation which contained hardly more than 30 million people, North and South together, could sustain 600,000 deaths without faltering is a lasting testimonial to something unconquerable in the American spirit. And that a transcending sense of unity and larger common purpose could, in the end, cause the men and women who had suffered so greatly to close ranks once the contest ended and to go on together to build a greater, freer and happier America must be a source of inspiration as long as our country may last.

By a joint resolution approved on September 7, 1957, the Congress established the Civil War Centennial Commission to coordinate the nationwide observances of the one hundredth anniversary of the Civil War. This resolution authorized and requested the President to issue proclamations inviting the people of the United States to participate in those observances.

NOW THEREFORE, I, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, President of the United States of America, do hereby invite all of the people of our country to take direct and active part in the Centennial of the Civil War.

I request all units and agencies of government, Federal, State and local, and their officials, to encourage, foster and participate in Centennial observances. And I especially urge our Nations schools and colleges, it's libraries and museums, its churches and religious bodies, its civic, service and patriotic organizations, its learned and professional societies, its arts, sciences and industries, its informational media, to plan and carry out their own appropriate Centennial observances during the years 1961 to 1965; all to the end of enriching our knowledge and appreciation of this chapter in our Nation's history and of making this memorial period truly a Centennial for all Americans.

 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 6th day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty, and of the Independence of the Untied States of America the one hundred and eighty-fourth.

By the President

Dwight D. Eisenhower