[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 48 (Monday, December 1, 2003)]
[Pages 1678-1679]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7739--National Family Week, 2003

November 21, 2003

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    As Americans gather during Thanksgiving week, we honor our families, 
and we recognize the family as a source of help, hope, and stability for 
our citizens and for our country.
    Strong families make our Nation better. They teach our children 
values and help them become responsible citizens. We must encourage 
families to be loving and compassionate, generous and supportive, and to 
serve and help others.
    On this Thanksgiving week, we also pay respect to our brave military 
families whose loved ones are on active duty, many on the front lines of 
freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. These families provide a bond of love 
and encouragement to our men and women in uniform as they defend liberty 
and protect our Nation.
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of 
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 23 through 
November 29, 2003, as National

[[Page 1679]]

Family Week. I invite the States, communities, and all the people of the 
United States to join together in observing this week with appropriate 
ceremonies and activities to honor our Nation's families.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first 
day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
eighth.
                                                George W. Bush

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., November 25, 
2003]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on November 22, and it was published in the Federal Register 
on November 26.