Presidential Documents

28889

Federal Register

Vol. 63, No. 101

Wednesday, May 27, 1998

Title 3—

The President

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.
28890 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 101 /Wednesday, May 27, 1998 / Presidential Documents

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

[FR Doc. 98–14165

Filed 5–26–98; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

and twenty-second.

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