[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 194 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Page 51081]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-25104]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: October 7, 1994]




                        Presidential Documents 


Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 194
Friday, October 7, 1994

____________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President
                Proclamation 6731 of October 4, 1994

 

German-American Day, 1994

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                In a joyous celebration at Germany's Brandenburg Gate 
                just 3 months ago, the United States and Germany 
                proudly welcomed and affirmed the new era of trans-
                Atlantic cooperation between our nations. Together, our 
                countries are working to support democratic and market 
                reforms that promise greater prosperity and security 
                for Europeans, as well as for their American friends 
                and allies. And our citizens look forward to the future 
                of this partnership with unprecedented optimism and 
                confidence.

                For this important covenant, history has meaningful 
                precedent. In the first days after the signing of 
                America's Declaration of Independence in 1776, a 
                prominent firm in Philadelphia translated and published 
                the Declaration's text in German. That decision 
                reflected the significant number of German-American 
                colonists whose involvement in our struggle for freedom 
                helped to fashion our democratic system. The 
                Declaration's publication in German was intended to 
                spread the word of independence to the courageous 
                German colonists, who shared an abiding love of 
                liberty--if not yet a language--with their English-
                speaking compatriots. The leaders of the revolution 
                recognized the integral importance of the German 
                population, and Germans were proud to play a central 
                role in the birth of American democracy.

                Germans who already had settled in the colonies and 
                others who came to fight in the War for Independence, 
                such as Baron von Steuben, aided significantly in 
                ensuring the American triumph. The translated version 
                of the Declaration of Independence is a lasting symbol 
                both of the depth of the American-German friendship and 
                of Germans' extraordinary intellectual and material 
                contributions to the birth of representative government 
                in the United States. In the nearly 220 years since 
                that great victory, generations of German Americans 
                have remained active and invaluable participants in the 
                American experiment. Today, more citizens of the United 
                States can claim German ancestry than that of any other 
                ethnic group. Inspired by two centuries of shared 
                freedom, German Americans throughout the land are 
                helping to lead our Nation toward a future as bright as 
                our past--a future of growing understanding and certain 
                peace.

                To honor today's stewards of the rich German-American 
                heritage, the Congress, by Public Law 103-100, has 
                designated October 6, 1994, as ``German-American Day'' 
                and has authorized and requested the President to issue 
                a proclamation in observance of this day.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 6, 
                1994, as German-American Day, in appreciation of the 
                countless contributions that people of German descent 
                have made to our Nation's liberty, democracy, and 
                prosperity.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fourth day of October, 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 
                nineteenth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)>

[FR Doc. 94-25104
Filed 10-5-94; 4:11 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P