Proclamation 5278 -- Women in Agriculture Week, 1984

November 13, 1984

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Women have always played an equal role with men in the agriculture of the Nation. Early America was an agricultural society, and colonial women worked beside men to develop the new land. Together, they learned local agriculture from the Indians, erected log cabins, and cleared farmland. Pushing their clearings to the foothills of the Alleghenies, they passed through mountain gaps and crossed the prairies together in covered wagons.

Women were partners in American life from the founding of our first settlements. Men and women together in family enterprises began to process food, weave fabrics, and market food and fiber. As the settlements became towns and then cities, and as agricultural jobs became more specialized, women remained partners in the maturing of the agriculture of our Nation.

Today, agriculture employs 22 million people who work with food and fiber in growing, harvesting, processing, transporting, and retailing. Women are active in farm management, finances, and community life and in establishing agricultural policy. They are also active in all phases of agribusiness and in agricultural processing and marketing. It is appropriate, therefore, that we set aside a week to recognize the role of women in this most basic of all industries.

The Congress, by House Joint Resolution 554, has designated the week of November 11 through 17, 1984, as ``Women in Agriculture Week'' and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of November 11 through November 17, 1984, as Women in Agriculture Week. I call on all Americans to participate in appropriate events to pay tribute to women in agriculture whose talents, hard work, and dedication significantly contribute to the production and marketing of the Nation's food supplies.

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

Ronald Reagan

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:03 a.m., November 14, 1984]

Proclamation 5279 -- National Farm-City Week, 1984

November 13, 1984

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

One of this Nation's greatest blessings is the abundant food supply on which we all depend each and every day of our lives. Our food stores, with row after row of wholesome, nutritious foods, display a sight so commonplace that Americans tend to forget the enormous effort involved in our complex system of food production, distribution, and marketing.

Our food supply depends upon the farmers who plant their crops and through hard work, faith, and patience, bring in a golden harvest. But it also depends on many people who live in towns and cities. It relies on those who provide farm equipment and production supplies for farmers, as well as on the processors who prepare the products for delivery throughout the Nation by a dependable network of transportation. Finally, we rely on the merchants who store and sell the agricultural products.

It is appropriate that we recognize the interdependence of all those involved in the system with a National Farm-City Week near Thanksgiving. As we give thanks for our food in this great land of freedom, let us also pause to salute the 23 million Americans who work directly in some essential task in agriculture, on farms, and in cities.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the period November 16 through November 22, 1984, as National Farm-City Week. I call upon all Americans, in rural areas and in cities alike, to join in recognizing the accomplishments of our productive farm families and of our urban residents in working together in a spirit of cooperation.

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

Ronald Reagan

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:04 p.m., November 14, 1984]

Proclamation 5280 -- National Adoption Week, 1984

November 13, 1984

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Families have always stood at the center of our society, preserving good and worthy traditions from our past and entrusting those traditions to our children, our greatest hope for the future. At a time when many fear that the family is in decline, it is fitting that we give special recognition to those who are rebuilding families by promoting adoption.

More children with permanent homes mean fewer children with permanent problems. That is why we must encourage a national effort to promote the adoption of children, and particularly children with special needs. Through the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, some 6,000 children have been adopted who otherwise might not have been, and the number is growing. The recently enacted Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act will provide further assistance to couples who adopt children with special needs.

We must never forget those couples who know the anguish of prolonged waiting to welcome an adopted child into their home. One aspect of the tragedy of the 1.5 million abortions performed each year is that so many women who undergo abortions are unaware of the many couples who desperately want to share their loving homes with a baby. No woman need fear that the child she carries is unwanted. We must continue to promote constructive alternatives to abortion through the Adolescent Family Life program and by encouraging the efforts of private citizens who are helping women with crisis pregnancies.

National Adoption Week gives us an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to give every child waiting to be adopted the chance to become part of a family. During this Thanksgiving season, let us work to encourage community acceptance and support for adoption and take time to recognize the efforts of the parent groups and agencies that assure adoptive placements for waiting children. Most importantly, let us pay tribute to those special couples who have opened their homes and hearts to adopted children, forming the bonds of love that we call the family.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 238, has designated the week of November 19 through November 25, 1984, as ``National Adoption Week'' and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of November 19 through November 25, 1984, as National Adoption Week, and I call on all Americans and governmental and private agencies to observe the week with appropriate activities.

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

Ronald Reagan

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:05 p.m., November 14, 1984]

 

Date
11/13/1984