[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 221 (Thursday, November 14, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 58455-58456]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-29436]



[[Page 58453]]

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Part V





The President





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Proclamation 6954--Thanksgiving Day, 1996
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 221 / Thursday, November 14, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 58455]]

                Proclamation 6954 of November 11, 1996

                
Thanksgiving Day, 1996

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                 America's oldest tradition, Thanksgiving is also a 
                reaffirmation of our most deeply held values; a public 
                recognition that, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, 
                ``God who gave us life gave us liberty.'' In gratitude 
                for God's gift of freedom and ``for all the great and 
                various favors which he hath been pleased to confer 
                upon us,'' George Washington made Thanksgiving his 
                first proclamation for the new Nation, and it is one we 
                are privileged to renew each year.

                 Much has changed for America in the two centuries 
                since that first Thanksgiving proclamation. Generations 
                of hardworking men and women have cultivated our soil 
                and worked the land, and today America's bounty helps 
                feed the world. The promise of freedom that sustained 
                our founders through the hardships of the Revolution 
                and the first challenging days of nationhood has become 
                a reality for millions of immigrants who left their 
                homelands for a new life on these shores. And the light 
                of that freedom now shines brightly in many nations 
                that once lived in the shadows of tyranny and 
                oppression.

                 But across the years, we still share an unbroken bond 
                with the men and women who first proclaimed 
                Thanksgiving in our land. Americans today still cherish 
                the fresh air of freedom, in which we can raise our 
                families and worship God as we choose without fear of 
                persecution. We still rejoice in this great land and in 
                the civil and religious liberty it offers to all. And 
                we still--and always--raise our voices in prayer to 
                God, thanking Him in humility for the countless 
                blessings He has bestowed on our Nation and our people.

                 Let us now, this Thanksgiving Day, reawaken ourselves 
                and our neighbors and our communities to the genius of 
                our founders in daring to build the world's first 
                constitutional democracy on the foundation of trust and 
                thanks to God. Out of our right and proper rejoicing on 
                Thanksgiving Day, let us give our own thanks to God and 
                reaffirm our love of family, neighbor, and community. 
                Each of us can be an instrument of blessing to those we 
                touch this Thanksgiving Day--and every day of the year.

                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 Thursday, November 28, 1996, 
                as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all the 
                people of the United States to assemble in their homes, 
                places of worship, or community centers to share the 
                spirit of goodwill and prayer; to express heartfelt 
                gratitude for the blessings of life; and to reach out 
                in friendship to our brothers and sisters in the larger 
                family of mankind.

[[Page 58456]]

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 96-29436
Filed 11-13-96; 11:03 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P