Presidential Documents

2837

Federal Register

Vol. 65, No. 12

Wednesday, January 19, 2000

Proclamation 7268 of January 14, 2000

Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Just this month, thousands of Americans gathered at the Lincoln Memorial

to welcome a new year, a new century, and a new millennium. There—

where 37 years ago Martin Luther King, Jr., so eloquently voiced his dream

for America’s future—we pledged not only to keep Dr. King’s dream alive,

but also to bring it to reality in the 21st century.

We are living in a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity for our

Nation, where the struggles of the valiant and visionary men and women

who came before us have borne fruit with the guarantee of civil rights

at home and the triumph of freedom in nations across the globe. But we

cannot afford to become complacent. As Dr. King so wisely observed, ‘‘We

have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but

we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers. Our

abundance has brought us neither peace of mind nor serenity of spirit.’’

We must seize this rare moment in our Nation’s history to build a society

in which we accept our differences and honor our common humanity.

We must unite against the forces of hatred, fear, and ignorance that seek

to divide us. We must use our economic success and our technological

prowess to widen the circle of opportunity, to eliminate poverty, and to

give all our children the education, values, and encouragement they need

to reach their full potential.

Each year since 1994, when I signed into law the King Holiday and Service

Act, Americans have marked this observance by devoting the day to service

projects in their communities. By renovating schools, cleaning up neighborhoods, tutoring children, donating blood, organizing food drives, or reaching

out in some other way to those in need, our citizens can work together

to make this a day on, not a day off, and to make their own contributions

to Dr. King’s legacy of service.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was not content to rest on past successes or to

compromise his convictions. If he were with us now to mark his 71st

birthday, he would exhort us not to grow weary in doing good but to

reach out to one another in the spirit of service and forge a future in

which all Americans are proud of our diversity and united in our reverence

for freedom, justice, and equality.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution

and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Monday, January 17,

2000, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I call upon all Americans to observe this occasion with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and

activities in honor of Dr. King’s life and achievements and in response

to his call to service.

2838 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 12 / Wednesday, January 19, 2000 / Presidential Documents

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day

of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence

[FR Doc. 00–1346

Filed 1–18–00; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.

œ–