[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 25, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 62941-62942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31219]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 227 / Tuesday, November 25, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 62941]]


                Proclamation 7054 of November 21, 1997

                
National Family Week, 1997

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                As we approach the end of the 21st century, our world 
                is becoming increasingly complex, our society more 
                mobile, and our pace of life more rapid. It is at times 
                like this, full of dynamic challenge and change, that 
                we need to remember the fundamental values and 
                institutions that strengthen and uplift us. Among the 
                most precious of these are our families.

                Families come in many forms and sizes. They can number 
                several generations or only one; they can include birth 
                parents and stepparents, foster children and adopted 
                children. Families are created by ties of blood or law, 
                but they are sustained by ties of love and caring.

                Few people in our lives will have so profound an effect 
                on us as our family members. From the day we are born, 
                the people who live with us, nurture us, and guide us 
                play a crucial role in shaping the kind of men and 
                women we become. They challenge us to look beyond 
                ourselves and to respect and care for others. At their 
                best, they help us to be our best. Families are the 
                most basic--and the most important--unit of our 
                society.

                Recognizing this, we realize that many of our dreams 
                for America begin with strong families. We want to be a 
                caring people, and the lessons of tolerance, sharing, 
                and compassion are best taught in the home. We want to 
                be a peaceful people, and we look to families to teach 
                our young people how to respect one another's 
                differences and resolve disputes without resorting to 
                violence. We want to be wise people, so we need 
                families that value education and acknowledge the 
                importance of lifelong learning.

                Nothing is more important to our future than preserving 
                and promoting strong, loving families. This week, as we 
                gather with our own families to celebrate Thanksgiving, 
                let us resolve to do all we can as individuals, and as 
                a Nation to help families who are in need, to provide 
                support and encouragement for troubled families, and to 
                promote policies at the local, State, and Federal level 
                that will help America's families to flourish.

                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 23 through November 
                29, 1997, as National Family Week. I call upon Federal, 
                State, and local officials to honor American families 
                with appropriate programs and activities; I encourage 
                educators, community organizations, and religious 
                leaders to celebrate the strength and values we draw 
                from family relationships; and I urge all the people of 
                the United States to reaffirm their family ties and to 
                reach out to others in friendship and goodwill.

[[Page 62942]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-first day of November, 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-second.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 97-31219
Filed 11-24-97; 11:55 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P