Presidential Documents

62687

Federal Register

Vol. 62, No. 227

Tuesday, November 25, 1997

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 7052 of November 21, 1997

Thanksgiving Day, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Another year has passed on our American journey. The seasons have completed another cycle, and it is harvest time in America. Once again, millions

of us will gather with family and friends to give thanks to God for the

many blessings that He has bestowed upon us.

This Thanksgiving Day, as every day, we are grateful for the gift of freedom,

for the vision made real by our Nation’s founders and preserved by the

courage, vigilance, and sacrifice of generations of Americans. We are thankful

for the bounty and beauty of this great land, which has welcomed so many

to its shores across the years. We cherish the love of our families and

friends. We value the opportunity to provide for our children’s future with

the fruits of our honest labor. And, like the Pilgrims who celebrated Thanksgiving more than 300 years ago, we thank God for bringing us safely to

the threshold of a new world, full of exhilarating challenge and promise.

In this new world, our children are growing up free from the shadows

of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear holocaust. Nations once held

captive by communism are learning the lessons of liberty and democracy.

A revolution in technology has brought the world closer together and holds

the prospect of greater knowledge and prosperity for people across the

globe.

More than three centuries of change and growth separate us from the Pilgrims

and their Native American friends who sat down together for their Thanksgiving meal. But the example and experience of those early Americans

still hold great meaning for us today. They remind us that God’s love

strengthens and sustains us, both as individuals and as a Nation. They

remind us that everyone has something to contribute, and that we are

all richer when we learn to share. They teach us a simple but powerful

lesson that each new generation of Americans must learn and pass on:

we need one another. Like the Pilgrims, if we are to flourish in our new

world, we must do so not as isolated individuals, but as members of a

family, one America, sharing our gifts and leaving no one behind.

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 Thursday, November

27, 1997, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all Americans

to assemble in their homes, places of worship, or community centers to

share the spirit of goodwill and prayer; to express heartfelt thanks to God

for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us; and to reach out in

true friendship to our brothers and sisters across this land who, together,

comprise our great American family.
62688 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 227 / Tuesday, November 25, 1997 / Presidential Documents

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first

day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninetyseven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two

[FR Doc. 97–31112

Filed 11–24–97; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

hundred and twenty-second.

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