[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 90 (Tuesday, May 11, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 25189-25190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-12012]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 90 / Tuesday, May 11, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 25189]]

                Proclamation 7193 of May 5, 1999

                
National Day of Prayer, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                From our earliest days, whether in times of joy or of 
                challenge, Americans have raised their hearts and 
                voices in prayer. On the Great Plains, American Indians 
                prayed for peace and for blessings upon their children 
                and their friends. The Pilgrims prayed from the moment 
                they first set foot on this continent. Our Nation's 
                founders prayed as they forged a democracy based on 
                freedom and respect for human rights. Our military 
                leaders and the millions of men and women who have 
                served in our Armed Forces have prayed in the midst of 
                every conflict in which our Nation has fought. And so 
                it continues to this day, as Americans of every race, 
                background, and creed pray in churches, mosques, 
                synagogues, temples, and their own homes for guidance, 
                wisdom, and courage in confronting the challenges 
                before us.

                We can pray openly thanks to the religious freedom 
                guaranteed for us by the First Amendment to the 
                Constitution. That freedom and the diversity of faiths 
                it has fostered are among America's most important 
                achievements. They have made our Nation a beacon for 
                generations of people from around the world who have 
                traveled here seeking to worship according to their 
                conscience without fear of coercion or constraint.

                On this National Day of Prayer, observed so soon after 
                the tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, and the tornadoes 
                that devastated communities in Kansas, Texas, and 
                Oklahoma, we are more keenly aware than ever of the 
                power and solace we find in prayer. Throughout the days 
                that have followed the deaths of and injury to so many 
                of our fellow citizens, Americans have united in prayer 
                for those who died or were harmed, for the comfort and 
                peace of their families, for the wisdom to heal our 
                society, and for the strength to overcome such 
                tragedies. For as Martin Luther King, Jr., so 
                eloquently said, ``When our days become dreary with 
                low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights 
                become darker than a thousand midnights, let us 
                remember that there is a creative force in this 
                universe . . . a power that is able to make a way out 
                of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright 
                tomorrows.''

                The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, has called on our 
                citizens to reaffirm the role of prayer in our society 
                and to honor the religious diversity our freedom 
                permits by recognizing annually a ``National Day of 
                Prayer.''

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 6, 
                1999, as a National Day of Prayer. I encourage the 
                citizens of this great Nation to pray, each in his or 
                her own manner, seeking strength from God to face the 
                problems of today, requesting guidance for the 
                uncertainties of tomorrow, and giving thanks for the 
                rich blessings that our country has enjoyed throughout 
                its history.

[[Page 25190]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fifth day of May, 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. 99-12012
Filed 5-10-99; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P