[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 27, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 28889-28890]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-14165]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 101 / Wednesday, May 27, 1998 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 28889]]
Proclamation 7099 of May 22, 1998
Prayer For Peace, Memorial Day, 1998
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Today Americans live in a time of great hope. Our
Nation is free, prosperous, and at peace. While very
real dangers and problems still exist in the world, the
Cold War is over, democracy is sweeping the globe, and
old adversaries are forming new partnerships.
But the blessings we enjoy today are not the happy
accidents of history; they are the culmination of
promises kept by generations of young Americans and
paid for by their courage and sacrifice. The promise of
freedom articulated in our Declaration of Independence
was made real by a ragtag army of brave Americans who
were prepared to die for their convictions. The promise
of unity was kept during the Civil War by thousands of
Americans, black and white, who were willing to fight
to preserve our Union. The promise of democracy was
kept by the hundreds of thousands of Americans who
fought and died in World War I, World War II, Korea,
Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf. On home soil and in
foreign lands, lost at sea or brought down from the
skies, our young men and women in uniform have given
their lives to keep their promise to America: to defend
our freedom, to preserve our values, and to advance the
ideals of democracy.
On this Memorial Day, we, too, have promises to keep.
We remember and honor all those gallant Americans who,
in the eloquent words of President Lincoln, ``gave the
last full measure of devotion'' for the well-being of
our Nation and their fellow citizens. We express our
profound sympathy and gratitude to the families who
have lost their sons and daughters in service to
America. We promise to keep faith with all those who
have died for our country by remaining vigilant in our
defense of freedom and democracy. And we promise always
to work for permanent peace in the world so that a new
generation of Americans will never have to know the
horrors of war.
In respect and recognition of the courageous men and
women to whom we pay tribute, the Congress, by joint
resolution approved on May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), has
requested the President to issue a proclamation calling
upon the people of the United States to observe each
Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and
designating a period on that day when the American
people might unite in prayer.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial
Day, May 25, 1998, as a day of prayer for permanent
peace, and I designate the hour beginning at 3:00 p.m.
EDT of that day as a time to join in prayer. I urge the
press, radio, television, and all other information
media to take part in this observance.
I also request the Governors of the United States and
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate
officials of all units of government, to direct that
the flag be flown at half-staff during this Memorial
Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels
throughout the United States and in all areas under its
jurisdiction and control, and I request the people of
the United States to display the flag at half-staff
from their homes for the customary forenoon period.
[[Page 28890]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-second.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 98-14165
Filed 5-26-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
