Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
311873316
label
Captive Nations Week [1987]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
311873316
contentType
document
title
Captive Nations Week [1987]
citationUrl
identifierLocal
RR-108
collections
Records of the White House Correspondence Office
Proclamations Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
311873316
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
f2cfdede0346e82c
ocrText
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, 1981-89
Folder Title: Captive Nations Week
Box: 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: 05/23/2023
THE 8 OF THE UNITED
Captive Nations Week, 1987
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
For nearly three decades Captive Nations Week has symbolized the American
people's solidarity with all throughout the world who courageously seek
freedom and independence from Soviet domination. During this week, we
recall that the liberties we enjoy are denied to many by the Soviet empire; and
we publicly affirm our admiration for captive nations, who keep the light of
freedom burning brightly as they oppose military occupation and brutal
totalitarian oppression.
Our Nation offers the world a vision of inalienable political, religious, and
economic rights. This vision has always been shared among peoples subjugat-
ed by Soviet imperialism; and so has resistance, ever the catalyst of liberty.
Today, a struggle that began in Ukraine 70 years ago is taking place through-
out the Soviet empire. In the last year alone, people have risen up to demand
basic human rights in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Ka-
zakhstan, Latvia, Moldavia, and among the Crimean Tatars. And across the
globe, in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, and Nicaragua, courageous freedom
fighters battle tyranny. All captive nations deserve and require our special
support. For those seeking to enjoy humanity's birthright of liberty, independ-
ence, and justice, we serve as guardians of their dream.
Thus, we must and will continue to speak out on the plight of captive nations.
We will continue to call for the speedy release of the persecuted and the
falsely imprisoned-people such as Gunars Astra, Lev Lukyanenko, Mart
Niklus, and Viktoras Petkus. So long as brave individuals suffer because of
their nationality, faith, and desire for human rights, the United States of
America will demand that every signatory of the United Nations Charter and
the Helsinki Accords live up to its obligations and respect the principles and
spirit of these international agreements.
So that we who cherish liberty may proclaim our commitment to those to
whom its blessings are presently denied, the Congress, by joint resolution
approved July 17, 1959 (73 Stat. 212), has authorized and requested the
President to issue a proclamation designating the third week in July of each
year as "Captive Nations Week."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of
America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning July 19, 1987, as Captive
Nations Week. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this week
with appropriate ceremonies and activities, and I urge them to reaffirm their
devotion to the aspirations of all peoples for justice, self-determination, and
liberty.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of
July, 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 twelfth.
Ronald Reagan