[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 243 (Thursday, December 18, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 66251-66252]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33269]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 243 / Thursday, December 18, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 66251]]

                Proclamation 7061 of December 16, 1997

                
Wright Brothers Day, 1997

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright lay inside the 
                first heavier-than-air powered craft that permitted 
                controlled flight. His brother Wilbur stood nearby, 
                steadying the craft at one wing tip. In a few moments, 
                the brothers would know if their years of hard work and 
                painstaking experimentation would finally bear fruit. 
                With Wilbur running beside the plane to build its 
                momentum, Orville achieved, for a scant 12 seconds over 
                a distance of 120 feet, what humankind had always 
                dreamed of--he flew.

                That historic moment marked the first step in a long 
                journey through the skies that would ultimately take 
                Americans beyond Earth's atmosphere and into space. The 
                Mars Pathfinder spacecraft that captured the world's 
                attention and imagination this past summer reflects the 
                same American ingenuity and pioneering spirit that sent 
                the Wrights' fragile craft aloft so briefly over Kitty 
                Hawk almost a century ago. With unwavering perseverance 
                in the face of many failures, steady conviction in the 
                possibility of flight, and a determination to bring 
                their vision to reality, the Wright brothers expanded 
                our horizons and also brought the world closer 
                together.

                We are still reaping the benefits of their 
                extraordinary achievement. America's aerospace industry 
                has experienced enormous growth and development since 
                the Wright brothers' first flight. It has strengthened 
                our economy, created new business and recreational 
                opportunities, freed us from many of the limits of time 
                and distance, and made our Nation's aviation system the 
                finest in the world. And thanks in large part to the 
                efforts of the men and women throughout the Federal 
                Government--in the Departments of Transportation and 
                Defense, the National Transportation Safety Board, and 
                the National Aeronautics and Space Administration--that 
                system is also the safest in the world.

                The Congress, by a joint resolution approved December 
                17, 1963 (77 Stat. 402; 36 U.S.C. 169), has designated 
                December 17 of each year as ``Wright Brothers Day'' and 
                has authorized and requested the President to issue 
                annually a proclamation inviting the people of the 
                United States to observe that day with appropriate 
                ceremonies and activities.

[[Page 66252]]

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 
                17, 1997, as Wright Brothers Day.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                sixteenth day of December, 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. 97-33269
Filed 12-17-97; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P