[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 9 (Monday, March 7, 2005)]
[Pages 351-352]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7872--Women's History Month, 2005

 March 2, 2005

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    During Women's History Month, we celebrate the achievements of our 
Nation's women. For generations, American women have helped build our 
great Nation through their leadership as writers, teachers, artists, 
politicians, doctors, and scientists, and in other professions. As 
mothers, daughters, and sisters, women have supported and strengthened 
American families and communities. Women are at the forefront of 
entrepreneurship in America, creating millions of new jobs and helping 
to build our Nation's economic prosperity.
    We celebrate those who have broken down barriers for women, such as 
Jacqueline Cochran, who was the founder and director of the Women's Air 
Force Service Pilots during World War II and the first woman to break 
the sound barrier. Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori was the first American 
woman to receive a Nobel Prize in the sciences, and her research 
significantly advanced the treatment of diabetes. In 1926, Olympic Gold 
Medalist Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English 
Channel. Marian Anderson, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, 
opened doors in music as the first African American to perform with the 
New York Metropolitan Opera. Juliette Gordon Low encouraged community 
service and the physical, mental, and spiritual development of America's 
young women as founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of 
America. As we work to advance freedom and peace and fight the war on 
terror, American women

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in uniform are serving at posts at home and across the world, taking 
great risks as they make our Nation more secure.
    As we commemorate Women's History Month, I encourage all Americans 
to celebrate the extraordinary contributions and accomplishments of 
American women and to continue our progress in making our society more 
prosperous, just, and equal.
    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 March 2005 as Women's 
History Month. I call upon the people of the United States to observe 
this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that 
honor the history, accomplishments, and contributions of American women.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of 
March, in the year of our Lord two thousand five, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
ninth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 9:22 a.m., March 3, 
2005]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 
4.