National Commission for the Observance of World Population Year 1974

The United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 observed 1974 as “World Population Year”. President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 established the National Commission to aid U.S. participation in this United Nations observance. Neither the Commission nor any of its members participated in the August 1975 international conference held in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

.

Enabling authority

• Executive Order 11763 (January 17, 1974) 39 Federal Register
  Federal Register
  The Federal Register , abbreviated FR, or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains most routine publications and public notices of government agencies...
  
  2349

• Amended by Executive Order 11806 (September 25, 1974) 39 Federal Register 34641

Purposes

• Advertise U.S. activities relating to the observance of UN World Population Year
• Educate U.S. citizens about the political, economic, and social issues surrounding a growing world population
• Report on these enterprises to the President

Membership

• Chair, Clifford M. Hardin, Vice-President Ralston-Purina, Co.
• Vice Chair, Mrs. Norman C. Armitage, President, National Federation of Republican Women
  National Federation of Republican Women
  The National Federation of Republican Women is the women's wing of the Republican Party in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is a grassroots political organization with more than 1,600 local clubs in the 50 states and in the U.S. territories...
  
  
• Vice Chair, Sprague H. Gardiner, Professor of Obstetrics, Indiana University
  Indiana University
  Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
  
  
• 17 Members-at-Large

Activities

• Sponsored a national meeting of leading U.S. authorities on population issues in March 1974.
• Maintained a high public visibility in April 1974 thru press conferences and special programs for television and radio on population issues.
• Cooperated with Columbia University
  Columbia University
  Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
  
  in holding six regional public meetings throughout the country in June thru October 1974. These meetings focused on issues relating to population growth and hunger.

Recommendation

• The President should create a government entity to oversee all future U.S. efforts regarding population issues.

Sources

Report to the President by the National Commission for the Observance of World Population Year (Washington, DC: GPO, 1975) 18pp.

Donna Batten, et.al.
Encyclopedia of Governmental Advisory Organizations (Detroit, MI: Gale, 1973- . annual editions). Entry number 1634.

Steven D. Zink, Guide to the Presidential Advisory Commissions, 1973-1987 (Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey, Inc,, 1987). Pages 27–29.