[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 3, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 10381-10382]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-5462]



[[Page 10379]]

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Part VI





The President





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Proclamation 7169--Irish-American Heritage Month, 1999

Proclamation 7170--Women's History Month, 1999

Proclamation 7171--Save Your Vision Week, 1999
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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 41 / Wednesday, March 3, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 10381]]

                Proclamation 7169 of March 1, 1999

                
Irish-American Heritage Month, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                During the month of March each year, as millions of 
                Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we remember with 
                special pride our Irish heritage. We remember our 
                ancestors who stood on Ireland's western shores, 
                yearning for the promise of America. Fleeing famine and 
                injustice, they longed for a new world of 
                opportunities. Millions of these courageous men and 
                women set sail from Ireland, leaving behind all that 
                they had ever known to seek the promise of America. 
                They gave to their new homeland their strength and 
                spirit, sinew and determination, eloquence and wit. In 
                return, America offered them the opportunity for a 
                better life, the chance to rise above poverty and 
                discrimination, and a future where they could live out 
                their dreams.

                The Irish who came to America endured many hardships, 
                but they prospered and helped to build our country with 
                innumerable physical and intellectual contributions. 
                They gave us Presidents like Woodrow Wilson, John 
                Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan; patriots like John Barry 
                and Stephen Moylan, who fought fiercely for American 
                independence in the Revolutionary War; jurists like 
                Justice William Brennan, who championed justice and 
                equality; suffragists and social reformers like Maria 
                McCreery; journalists, peacekeepers, artists, 
                playwrights, labor leaders, and educators. These and so 
                many other Irish Americans seized the opportunity of 
                freedom America promised. From their grand literary 
                tradition to their deep religious faith, Irish 
                Americans and their descendants have enriched every 
                facet of American history.

                But Irish-American Heritage Month is a time to look to 
                the future as well as to the past. Today we rejoice at 
                the promise of peace in Northern Ireland and the 
                resolve of her people to approach their differences not 
                with weapons, but with words. While the path to peace 
                is rarely easy, it is by necessity a community effort. 
                Americans are a vital part of the process in Northern 
                Ireland by virtue of our shared heritage and shared 
                goal of lasting peace and a better future for all God's 
                children. By lending our hearts, minds, and prayers to 
                the work of peace, we can best fulfill our obligation 
                to the generations of Irish men and women who have 
                given so much to our Nation's life and history.

                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 March 1999 as Irish-American 
                Heritage Month. I call upon all the people of the 
                United States to observe this month with appropriate 
                ceremonies, programs, and activities.

[[Page 10382]]

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-5462
Filed 3-2-99; 11:21 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P