Flags to half staff in memory of JFK
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November 21, 2013 |
By President Barack Obama
 A
half century ago, America mourned the loss of an
extraordinary public servant. With broad vision
and soaring but sober idealism, President John
F. Kennedy had called a generation to service
and summoned a Nation to greatness.
Today, we honor his memory and celebrate his
enduring imprint on American history.
In his three years as President of the United
States, John F. Kennedy weathered some of the
most perilous tests of the Cold War and led
America to the cusp of a bright new age.
His leadership through the Cuban Missile Crisis
remains the standard for American diplomacy at
its finest. In a divided Berlin, he delivered a
stirring defense of freedom that would echo
through the ages, yet he also knew that we must
advance human rights here at home.
During his final year in office, he proposed a
civil rights bill that called for an end to
segregation in America. And recognizing women's
basic right to earn a living equal to their
efforts, he signed the Equal Pay Act into law.
While President Kennedy's life was tragically
cut short, his vision lives on in the
generations he inspired -- volunteers who serve
as ambassadors for peace in distant corners of
the globe, scientists and engineers who reach
for new heights in the face of impossible odds,
innovators who set their sights on the new
frontiers of our time.
Today and in the decades to come, let us carry
his legacy forward. Let us face today's tests by
beckoning the spirit he embodied -- that
fearless, resilient, uniquely American character
that has always driven our Nation to defy the
odds, write our own destiny, and make the world
anew.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby
proclaim November 22, 2013, as a Day of
Remembrance for President John F. Kennedy. I
call upon all Americans to honor his life and
legacy with appropriate programs, ceremonies,
and activities. I also call upon Governors of
the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, officials of the other territories subject
to the jurisdiction of the United States, and
appropriate officials of all units of
government, to direct that the flag be flown at
half-staff on the Day of Remembrance for
President John F. Kennedy. I further encourage
all Americans to display the flag at half-staff
from their homes and businesses on that day.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
this Twenty-first day of November, in the year
of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the
two hundred and thirty-eighth. |
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