TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending July 22, 2005

Presidential Proclamation 7913, Captive Nations Week, 2005

   President Dwight Eisenhower declared the first Captive Nations Week in 1959 when it referred to nations under the Communist regimes of those days. There were several in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

   The President’s proclamation notes that the cold war is over but the work to free all nations continues as the work of generations.

   The President establishes, in a somewhat evangelical tone, that America believe that freedom is God’s gift and that “spreading freedom’s blessings” is the “calling of our time” and that is what we are doing around the world.

   The President’s commitment on behalf of the American people and American foreign policy is this: “As a Nation forged from the ideals of freedom, justice, and human dignity, we will continue speaking out on behalf of oppressed people. We will support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation. This young century will be liberty’s century, and during Captive Nations Week, we pledge to advance the cause of liberty for all people.”

## All Rights Reserved. © 2005 TheWeekInCongress.com.

No reproduction or distribution without written permission from TheWeekInCongress.com.