Presidential Documents

60567

Federal Register

Vol. 65, No. 197

Wednesday, October 11, 2000

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 7352 of October 5, 2000

German-American Day, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

As we celebrate German-American Day and the many contributions that

German Americans have made to our national community, we also mark

the 10th anniversary of German unification. The historic achievements of

the last 10 years are all the more remarkable when we remember the dark

days of the Cold War, a time when many citizens in Eastern Europe and

around the globe lived under governments of oppression and tyranny. Nowhere was the threat more real than in West Berlin, where Americans

and Germans stood together in defense of democracy and commitment to

freedom. Ultimately, after almost three decades of division, the Berlin Wall

came down and the people of Germany were reunited. Today, Americans

and Germans are working together to ensure that democracy will be an

abiding legacy for future generations throughout Europe.

Our present efforts are only the latest chapter of our shared history. In

1683, German Mennonites seeking religious tolerance landed near Philadelphia. Their arrival marked the beginning of waves of German immigration

that would ebb and flow with the tides of history, ultimately bringing

more than 7 million people to our shores. Today, nearly a quarter of all

Americans can trace their ancestry back to their Germanic roots, and they

continue to enrich our Nation with a proud heritage marked by a strong

commitment to family, work, duty, and country.

Many prominent German Americans have strengthened our society through

the years. Publisher Johann Peter Zenger championed freedom of the press

in the early 18th century, and Thomas Nast’s powerful cartoons increased

public awareness of corruption within Tammany Hall in 19th-century New

York. During the American Revolution, Baron de Kalb and Friedrich von

Steuben fought valiantly for our freedom, just as Dwight Eisenhower and

Chester Nimitz did in World War II. German Americans who have enriched

America’s cultural, scientific, and economic life include writers John

Steinbeck and Erich Maria Remarque; physicists Albert Einstein and Maria

Goeppert-Mayer; philosophers Hannah Arendt and Paul Tillich; and industrialists and business leaders John D. Rockefeller and John Wanamaker.

Behind the many well-known individuals who have played a prominent

part in our history are millions of German immigrants whose names are

not widely recognized, yet who profoundly shaped the America we know

today. Industrious German Americans helped settle our cities and frontiers;

defend democracy during times of conflict; promote our prosperity in times

of peace; and preserve the bonds of family and heritage that our Nation

shares with the people of Germany. As we celebrate German-American Day

and the 10th anniversary of German unification and look ahead to the

promise of a new century, America recognizes with pride and gratitude

the important role that German Americans continue to play in the life

of our Nation and celebrates the strength of our friendship with Germany.

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 the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Friday, October

6, 2000, as German-American Day. I encourage all Americans to remember

60568 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 197 / Wednesday, October 11, 2000 / Presidential Documents

and celebrate the important contributions made to our country by our millions of citizens of German descent and to celebrate our close ties to the

people of Germany.

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

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

[FR Doc. 00–26298

Filed 10–10–00; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

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

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