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National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week [1987]
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National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week [1987]
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections.
Collection: Correspondence, White House Office of:
Records, 1981-1989
Folder Title: National Defense Transportation Day
and National Transportation Week
Box: 81 (1987)
To see more digitized collections visit:
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digitized-textual-material
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Inventories, visit:
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/white-house-inventories
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/research-
support/citation-guide
National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
Last Updated: 10/3/2023
THE 8 OF THE UNITED
SEAL
National Defense Transportation Day and
National Transportation Week, 1987
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Throughout our history, the building and improvement of transportation links
have been vital to the exploration and settlement of our country and to the
development of its commerce. We can all be grateful that these processes
have never ceased and that the spirit of enterprise that motivated early
American pioneers still thrives today.
During the early decades of our Republic, planners, engineers, and workmen
built the Cumberland Road from western Maryland to central Illinois. This
road started what was to become a vast, 42,000-mile network of interstate and
defense highways across the United States.
Other notable undertakings illustrate the evolution of Americans' mobility. By
1825, the Erie Canal opened the Great Lakes to commerce; its success spurred
a huge inland waterway system, including the St. Lawrence Seaway. By 1850,
more than a thousand steamboats plied our rivers, and clipper ships came to
dominate trade with China. By 1869, the transcontinental railroad was com-
pleted. Technological advances of the late 19th and early 20th centuries
brought the automobile and the airplane, and further developments resulted in
space flight.
Our land, water, and air transportation systems provide us with fast, efficient,
and safe personal and commercial travel. They are vital not only to our
economy and our personal mobility, but also to the defense of our Nation. Our
ability to transport people and materials in time of emergency is a critical
aspect of our national security.
In recognition of the importance of transportation and of the millions of
Americans who serve and supply our transportation needs, the Congress has
requested, by joint resolution approved May 16, 1957 (36 U.S.C. 160), that the
third Friday in May of each year be designated as "National Defense Trans-
portation Day"; and by joint resolution approved May 14, 1962 (36 U.S.C. 166),
that the week in which that Friday falls be proclaimed "National Transporta-
tion Week."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REGAN, President of the United States of
America, do hereby proclaim Friday, May 15, 1987, as National Defense
Transportation Day and the week of May 10 through May 16, 1987, as National
Transportation Week. I urge the people of the United States to observe these
occasions with appropriate ceremonies that will give full recognition to the
importance of our transportation system to this country.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day
of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.
Ronald Reagan