[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 79 (Friday, April 24, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 20511-20512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11139]



[[Page 20509]]

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Part IV





The President





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Proclamation 7086--National Park Week, 1998
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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 79 / Friday, April 24, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 20511]]

                Proclamation 7086 of April 22, 1998

                
National Park Week, 1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Within our national parks, we find all the rich 
                diversity and extraordinary beauty of America's natural 
                heritage. From the majestic Grand Tetons to the 
                mysterious Everglades, our parks preserve for us the 
                treasures of our magnificent country: the astonishing 
                variety of plant and animal life, the tranquility of 
                forests and meadows, and the breathtaking grandeur of 
                our great rivers, deserts, and mountains. Our national 
                park sites also provide us with vital links to our 
                heritage as a people and a Nation. They tell us the 
                stories of the individuals, places, and events that 
                have shaped the American character.

                The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis 
                Island are tangible reminders of the more than 12 
                million immigrants who came to the United States 
                through this small gateway to a new world and a new 
                life. For many Americans, this national park site tells 
                a very personal story of family struggles and triumphs 
                and of the courage it takes to seek freedom.

                Many African Americans took a different but equally 
                brave route to freedom. Their story has been preserved 
                for us by the National Park Service in the many 
                historic sites marking the route of the Underground 
                Railroad. In homes, churches, and farms in communities 
                throughout Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, and 
                elsewhere, we can experience the determination and 
                indomitable spirit of African American men and women 
                fleeing the bonds of slavery, and we can learn more 
                about the many heroes like Harriet Tubman who helped 
                them on their dangerous trek north to freedom.

                This summer, our Nation will celebrate the 150th 
                anniversary of the first Women's Rights Convention in 
                Seneca Falls, New York. That event will be commemorated 
                at Women's Rights National Historical Park, where we 
                are reminded that the idea that men and women are 
                created equal was once considered radical. On this 
                site, visionaries such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady 
                Stanton, and Frederick Douglass helped our Nation take 
                an important first step toward legal, political, and 
                educational rights for American women.

                At these and so many other historic places across our 
                Nation, the National Park Service preserves and 
                protects the American legacy, reminding us not only of 
                who we are as a people, but also of how far we have 
                traveled together on our great American journey. Our 
                national parks are classrooms and laboratories, windows 
                on our past and doorways to our future. As we celebrate 
                National Park Week, I commend all the talented and 
                dedicated men and women of the National Park Service 
                for telling the story of the people and places that 
                have shaped our destiny and for preserving for our 
                children the riches of our natural and cultural 
                heritage.

                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 April 20 through April 26, 
                1998, as National Park Week.

[[Page 20512]]

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-11139
Filed 4-23-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P