PROCLAMATION 4385—SEPT. 8, 1975
89 STAT. 1287
standing of the Constitution, and of the rights and responsibilities of ^.^^^'^. ^^'^' United States citizens. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentyseventh day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two-hundredth. GERALD R.
Proclamation 4385
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FoRii
September 8, 1975
National Hispanic Heritage Week, 1975 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Men and women of Hispanic origin—Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and other Spanish Speaking Americans—have contributed significantly to the growth of America. They have served with courtage and distinction in our Armed Forces. In endeavors as varied as music, architecture, medicine, law, education, literature and religion, Hispanic-Americans have contributed wisdom, beauty and spiritual strength. No manner of tribute to our country's Hispanic heritage could be more appropriate in this Bicentennial year than to acknowledge the importance of the Spanish contribution to the success of our own War of Independence. Spanish-led military forces protected the Colonies' southern front and kept the Mississippi River open for navigation and the delivery of supplies to the Americans in the southwest. Don Bernardo de Galvez, Spanish Captain General and Governor of Spanish Louisiana, led these successful campaigns and, in 1781, captured the heavily fortified city of Pensacola from the British. The assistance to our Revolution from Galvez and the Hispanic troops he commanded has not always received the recognition it deserved in our history books. But the name Galvez has enjoyed commemoration through the Texas city we know as Galveston.
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