Presidential Documents

37263

Federal Register

Vol. 65, No. 115

Wednesday, June 14, 2000

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 7321 of June 9, 2000

Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Our long national journey has brought the United States safely to a new

century and to a position of unprecedented leadership in the world. Throughout that journey, one symbol has endured as a badge of honor for every

American and a beacon of hope for the oppressed: the flag of the United

States.

For more than two centuries, ‘‘Old Glory’’ has challenged us to make real

the highest ideals of the patriots and visionaries who chose it as our national

symbol in the early days of our Republic. The flag of the United States

has inspired us in battle, reassured us in times of peace, and comforted

us at moments of great national grief. In its white stripes, we recognize

the sanctity of the American ideals on which our Republic was founded:

liberty, justice, equality, and the guarantee of individual rights. In its red

stripes, we salute the generations of American patriots who have shed their

blood to keep our flag flying over a free Nation. And in the cluster of

white stars on an unchanging blue field, we read the story of America’s

remarkable evolution from 13 small colonies to 50 great States, with millions

of citizens from every race, creed, and country united by the hopes and

history we share as Americans.

To commemorate the adoption of our flag, the Congress, by joint resolution

approved August 3, 1949 (63 Stat. 492), designated June 14 of each year

as ‘‘Flag Day’’ and requested the President to issue an annual proclamation

calling for a national observance and for the display of the flag of the

United States on all Federal Government buildings. In a second joint resolution approved June 9, 1966 (80 Stat. 194), the Congress requested the President also to issue annually a proclamation designating the week during

which June 14 falls as ‘‘National Flag Week’’ and calling upon all citizens

of the United States to display the flag during that week.

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

of America, do hereby proclaim June 14, 2000, as Flag Day and the week

beginning June 11, 2000, as National Flag Week. I direct the appropriate

officials to display the flag on all Federal Government buildings during

that week, and I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day and National

Flag Week by flying the Stars and Stripes from their homes and other

suitable places.

I also call upon the people of the United States to observe with pride

and all due ceremony those days from Flag Day through Independence

Day, also set aside by the Congress (89 Stat. 211), as a time to honor

our Nation, to celebrate our heritage in public gatherings and activities,

and to recite publicly the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United

States of America.

37264 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 115 / Wednesday, June 14, 2000 / Presidential Documents

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

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

[FR Doc. 00–15169

Filed 6–13–00; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

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

œ–