[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 101 (Tuesday, May 27, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 28793-28794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14013]



[[Page 28791]]

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Part IV





The President





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Proclamation 7006--Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day 1997
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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 101 / Tuesday, May 27, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 28793]]

                Proclamation 7006 of May 22, 1997

                
Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1997

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The observance of Memorial Day is one of America's 
                noblest traditions. At its core lies the most basic of 
                the beliefs on which our Nation was founded: that 
                freedom is so precious it is worth the price of our 
                lives to preserve it.

                 Throughout our history, we have been blessed by the 
                courage and commitment of Americans who were willing to 
                pay that price, and more than 1.3 million of them have 
                died for our Nation. From Lexington and Concord to Iwo 
                Jima and the Persian Gulf, on fields of battle across 
                America and around the world, our men and women in 
                uniform have risked--and lost--their lives to protect 
                America's interests, to advance the ideals of 
                democracy, and to defend the liberty we hold so dear.

                This spirit of selfless sacrifice is an unbroken thread 
                woven through our history. Wherever they came from, 
                whenever they served, our fallen heroes knew they were 
                fighting to preserve our freedom. On Memorial Day we 
                remember them, and we acknowledge that we stand as a 
                great, proud, and free Nation because of their 
                devotion.

                But this is not the only day on which we honor their 
                service and sacrifice. Whenever we lend our hearts and 
                hands and voices to the work of peace in the world, 
                whenever we show respect for the flag, cast a vote in 
                an election, or exercise our freedoms of speech, 
                assembly, and worship, we honor our fellow Americans 
                who guaranteed those freedoms with their lives. In 
                respect and recognition of these courageous men and 
                women, the Congress, by joint resolution approved on 
                May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), requested that the 
                President 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 26, 1997, as a day of prayer for permanent 
                peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each 
                locality at 11:00 a.m. 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.

[[Page 28794]]

                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-seven, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-first.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 97-14013
Filed 5-23-97; 10:59 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P