[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 15 (Thursday, January 23, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Page 3443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-1744]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 15 / Thursday, January 23, 1997 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 3443]]
Proclamation 6968 of January 20, 1997
National Day of Hope and Renewal, 1997
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Today as we celebrate the last Presidential
Inauguration of the 20th century and raise our sights
with hope and humility toward the challenges of a new
age, let us together ask God's guidance and blessing.
This day marks not a personal or political victory but
the triumph of a free people who have freely chosen the
course our country will take as we prepare for the 21st
century.
During the past 4 years, we have grown together as a
people and as a Nation. Touched by tragedy,
strengthened by achievement, exhilarated by the
challenges and opportunities ahead, we have come a long
way on our journey to change America's course for the
better. We have always been a people of hope--hope that
we can make tomorrow brighter than today, hope that we
can fulfill our Nation's enduring promise of freedom
and opportunity. And we have always known that, by the
grace of God and our mutual labor, we can make our
hopes reality.
Today, we live in an age of possibility--a moment of
rich opportunity that brings with it a deep
responsibility for the future and the generations to
come. We must seize this special moment with a
commitment to do right by those who will follow us in
this blessed land.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life and vision we
honor today, recognized that the destiny of each
American is bound to the destiny of all Americans; that
if we are to go forward, we must go forward together.
So, let us pledge today to continue our national
journey together. Let us reaffirm our commitment to our
shared values of family and faith, work and
opportunity. And let us resolve to work together, one
Nation under God, to build a bridge of hope and renewal
to a new American century.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by the authority vested in me
by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do
hereby proclaim January 20, 1997, a National Day of
Hope and Renewal, and I call upon the citizens of this
great Nation to observe this day by reflecting on their
obligations to one another and to our beloved country
and by facing the future with a spirit of hope and
renewal.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-first.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 97-1744
Filed 1-22-97; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
