of America

A Proclamation

On August 21, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed Hawaii the fiftieth State. The admission of Hawaii to the Union has proved to be of immense benefit both to the United States and to the State of Hawaii. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of Hawaii's Statehood, we recognize the many contributions the people of Hawaii have made to our country.

Hawaii is blessed with clean waters, pure air and extraordinary natural beauty. These attributes have made it an outstanding center of tourism, attracting people from many different countries. Moreover, Hawaii's ethnically diverse people have shown a warm spirit of friendship toward all the peoples of the world.

Hawaii is one of our major agricultural States. It is the Nation's largest producer of sugar cane and pineapple, and the only major domestic source of coffee, macadamia nuts and certain kinds of flowers. Always on the frontiers of technological progress, the State is an outstanding leader in commercial aquaculture, astronomy, ocean science and energy research and development. It is also essential to our national security as the site of some of the country's most renowned defense facilities. Finally, it is an important international commercial center and base for cultural and technical exchange with the Pacific nations.

In honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Hawaii's admission to the Union, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 248, has resolved that August 21, 1984, shall be known throughout the Nation as ``Hawaii Statehood Silver Jubilee Day'' and authorized and requested the President to issue an appropriate proclamation in observance of this anniversary.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim August 21, 1984, as Hawaii Statehood Silver Jubilee Day, and I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate activities.

In Witnesss Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of August, 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, 11:08 a.m., August 21, 1984]