On August 15th, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation that authorized the establishment of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in northwest Georgia. This new unit of the National Park System was a result of a 1964 National Park Service management policy memorandum calling for the expansion of the System "through inclusion of additional areas of scenic, scientific, historical and recreational value to the Nation" and a 1969 policy memorandum that noted the System's "serious gaps and inadequacies which must be remedied while opportunities still exist."