March 23, 1981
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Two centuries ago in this country, small business owners -- the merchants, the builders, the traders -- rebelled against excessive taxation and government interference and helped found this Nation. Today we are working to bring about another revolution, this time against the intolerable burdens inflation, over-regulation, and over-taxation have placed upon the Nation's 12 million small businesses, which provide the livelihood for more than 100 million of our people.
To revitalize the Nation, we must stimulate small business growth and opportunity. Small business accounts for over 60 percent of our jobs, half of our business output, and at least half of the innovations that keep American industry strong. The imagination, skills, and willingness of small business men and women to take necessary risks symbolize the free enterprise foundation of the American economy and must be encouraged.
I urge all Americans who own or work in a small business to continue their resourcefulness and successes, for these efforts contribute so much to the entrepreneurial spirit which made this Nation great. It is with justifiable pride that the American small business man can point to himself as the backbone of our Nation.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning May 10, 1981, as Small Business Week. I call upon every American to join me in this tribute.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 23rd day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred eighty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifth.
Ronald Reagan
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 3:53 p.m., March 24, 1981]
Note: The text of the proclamation was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on March 24.