    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 25 (Monday, June 21, 2004)]
    [Pages 1060-1061]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 7796--Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2004

    June 12, 2004

    By the President of the United States

    of America

    A Proclamation

        For more than 200 years, the American flag has served as a symbol of
    our country's enduring freedom and unity. Old Glory has welcomed
    generations of immigrants to America's shores and is displayed proudly
    on homes, at schools, and over businesses across our country. During
    times of war, our flag has rallied our citizens to defend the blessings
    of liberty at home and abroad. It has accompanied our troops into battle
    and been given to grieving families at the grave sites

    [[Page 1061]]

    of fallen heroes. Today, as our brave men and women in uniform fight
    terrorism and advance freedom, the flag inspires patriotism and pride
    across our Nation and around the world.
        Each year on June 14, we honor the American flag and recall the
    adoption of our first official national flag by the Continental Congress
    in 1777. The first Flag Day observances began quietly in the 19th
    century as State and local celebrations recognizing the anniversary of
    the Stars and Stripes. Inspired by these patriotic gatherings, President
    Woodrow Wilson established the first national observance by proclamation
    in 1916. To commemorate the adoption of our flag, the Congress, by joint
    resolution approved August 3, 1949, as amended (63 Stat. 492),
    designated June 14 of each year as ``Flag Day'' and requested that the
    President issue an annual proclamation calling for its observance and
    for the display of the Flag of the United States on all Federal
    Government buildings. The Congress also requested, by joint resolution
    approved June 9, 1966, as amended (80 Stat. 194), that the President
    issue annually a proclamation designating the week in which June 14
    occurs as ``National Flag Week'' and calling upon all citizens of the
    United States to display the flag during that week.
        Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of
    America, do hereby proclaim June 14, 2004, as Flag Day and the week
    beginning June 13, 2004, as National Flag Week. I direct the appropriate
    officials to display the flag on all Federal Government buildings during
    that week, and I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day and National
    Flag Week by flying the Stars and Stripes from their homes and other
    suitable places. I also call upon the people of the United States to
    observe with pride and all due ceremony those days from Flag Day through
    Independence Day, also set aside by the Congress (89 Stat. 211), as a
    time to honor America, to celebrate our heritage in public gatherings
    and activities, and to publicly recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the
    Flag of the United States of America.
        In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of
    June, in the year of our Lord two thousand four, 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, 9:14 a.m., June 15,
    2004]

    Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on June
    16.