[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 15, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: X94-120615]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: June 15, 1994]



 


                    Flag Day and National Flag Week, 1994




               By the President of the United States of America



                                A Proclamation



      In this week we salute the flag of the United States of America: 
      our history's proud pennant; noble banner of freedom, liberty, 
      opportunity, and independence; and the glorious emblem of our 
      national pride and patriotism.
      Woven into the Stars and Stripes and into the fabric of our 
      Nation is the legacy of our Founders, who crafted a government 
      built on a revolutionary respect for the rights of individuals. 
      Coming ashore on this new continent, they had fled the tyranny of 
      sovereigns: ``We the People'' were to be sovereigns of this new 
      land.
      On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress established the design 
      of a flag for the new Republic so that we might bestow our 
      loyalty, not to kings, but to countrymen, all of us created 
      equal. Eleven years later, the Constitutional Convention placed a 
      written rule of law at the symbolic head of government, and we 
      have since pledged our allegiance not only to the Stars and 
      Stripes, but also ``to the Republic for which it stands.'' We 
      salute the achievement and wisdom of our Founders, embodied in 
      our flag, and we honor all of the men and women who have upheld 
      and defended the ideals stitched into its billowing folds.
      Our flag's bright stars, ancient symbols of dominion and 
      sovereignty, represent the constellation of States in our federal 
      system of government--its stripes, the first States born of the 
      original thirteen colonies. Its bright colors embody the essence 
      of our American heritage: red, for valor; white, for hope and 
      purity; and blue, the color of loyalty, reverence, justice, and 
      truth. Witness to our past, it holds aloft the promise of our 
      future.
      ``Old Glory,'' as it was nicknamed in 1831 by Navy Captain 
      William Driver, was first carried into conflict at the Battle of 
      Brandywine on September 11, 1777. As the Nation now observes the 
      50th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy, we honor the 
      courageous Americans who carried our standard into the infernos 
      of war at all of our history's most critical crossroads. It has 
      saluted the final resting places of lives lost in the defense of 
      liberty, from the beaches of Normandy to the jungles of Vietnam 
      and the deserts of Iraq and Somalia.
      Our flag has been borne aloft into the heavens by our gallant 
      astronauts and has been worn bravely on the shoulders of those 
      who each day risk their lives to protect the public safety. It 
      flies freely from its place of honor in classrooms, churches, 
      businesses, government buildings, and is proudly displayed by 
      Americans serving their Nation in distant points across the 
      globe. Its silent, solemn presence makes each of those places 
      ``home'' and keeps the spirit of liberty alive in the hearts of 
      Americans wherever they may be.
      To commemorate the adoption of our flag, the Congress, by a joint 
      resolution approved August 3, 1949 (63 Stat. 492), designated 
      June 14 of each year Flag Day and requested the President to 
      issue an annual Proclamation calling for its observance and for 
      the display of the Flag of the United States on all Government 
      buildings. The Congress also requested the President, by joint 
      resolution approved June 9, 1966 (80 Stat. 194), to issue 
      annually a Proclamation designating the week in which June 14 
      occurs 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, 1994, as Flag Day 
      and the week beginning June 12, 1994, as National Flag Week. I 
      direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the 
      Flag of the United States on all Government buildings during that 
      week. I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day, June 14, and Flag 
      Week by flying the Stars and Stripes from their homes and other 
      suitable places.
      I also call upon the American people 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 
      celebrate our heritage in public gatherings and activities and to 
      publicly recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the 
      United States of America.
      IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of 
      June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, 
      and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
      hundred and eighteenth.