[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 214 (Monday, November 6, 1995)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 56113-56114]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-27594]




[[Page 56111]]

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Part V





The President





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Proclamation 6847--National American Indian Heritage Month, 1995
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  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 214 / Monday, November 6, 1995 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 56113]]

                Proclamation 6847 of November 2, 1995

                
National American Indian Heritage Month, 1995

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                 November is traditionally the season for thanksgiving 
                in America, the time when we reflect on the abundance 
                with which we have been blessed. It is especially 
                fitting, then, that we set aside this month to pause 
                and reflect on the many gifts bestowed on our land and 
                our heritage by American Indians and Alaska Natives.

                 American Indians have a great reverence for the earth 
                and its bounty, and they generously shared their 
                knowledge and their food with the early European 
                settlers in our country. We still enjoy that harvest 
                today, with an agricultural industry that supports 
                America and the world with the corn, potatoes, beans, 
                cotton, and countless other crops first cultivated on 
                this continent by American Indians.

                 A second and equally precious gift is that of courage. 
                American Indians and Alaska Natives have fought and 
                died for the United States of America in time of war, 
                answering the call to service to defend our freedoms. 
                The Navajo, Lakota, and Dakota Codetalkers were crucial 
                to our victory in the Pacific during World War II, and 
                it was a Pima Indian, Ira Hayes, who helped to raise 
                the American flag on Iwo Jima. They and so many others 
                have endured separation, hardship, and sacrifice so 
                that the world might know peace.

                 The gift of wisdom is one that our society has 
                struggled to learn. Living in harmony with nature 
                instead of seeking domination, American Indians have 
                shown us how to be responsible for our environment, to 
                treasure the beauty and resources of the land and water 
                for which we are stewards, and to preserve them for the 
                generations who will come after us. They have taught us 
                as well the value of sharing, of recognizing that there 
                must be room at America's table for all her peoples.

                 American Indians and Alaska Natives have made 
                invaluable contributions to our common heritage; in 
                every field of human endeavor, from the arts, sciences, 
                and humanities to politics, religion, and public 
                service, they have added immeasurably to the strength 
                of our civilization.

                 As we celebrate National American Indian Heritage 
                Month, we give thanks for these contributions and 
                acknowledge the special legal relationship that exists 
                between the tribes and the Government of the United 
                States of America.

                 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 November 1995 as 
                National American Indian Heritage Month. I urge all 
                Americans, as well as their elected representatives at 
                the Federal, State, local, and tribal levels, to 
                observe this month with appropriate programs, 
                ceremonies, and activities.

[[Page 56114]]


                 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                second day of November, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twentieth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 95-27594
Filed 11-2-95; 4:36 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P