[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 197 (Wednesday, October 13, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 55613-55614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-26931]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 197 / Wednesday, October 13, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 55613]]


                Proclamation 7236 of October 8, 1999

                
Leif Erikson Day, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                In preparing for the new millennium, Americans have 
                become increasingly aware of the richness of our 
                Nation's history and heritage and of the generations of 
                men and women whose contributions have brought us 
                safely to this moment in our American journey.

                One of those remarkable individuals was Leif Erikson, 
                who led a small, intrepid band on a voyage of discovery 
                across the North Atlantic from Greenland, arriving on 
                the coast of North America almost a thousand years ago. 
                The courage, resourcefulness, and fortitude of Leif 
                Erikson and the other Viking seafarers foreshadowed the 
                strength and character of the many Nordic pioneers who 
                would make their own voyage to America centuries later. 
                Building new lives through hard work, they also helped 
                build our Nation and sustain our fundamental values of 
                freedom, justice, and democracy.

                The millions of Nordic Americans who have contributed 
                so much to our peace and prosperity through the decades 
                have also strengthened the bonds of friendship between 
                the United States and the people of Denmark, Finland, 
                Iceland, Sweden, and Norway. With a shared past and 
                common ideals, we have worked in partnership to promote 
                democracy and opportunity around the world. Through our 
                Northern European Initiative, the Nordic countries and 
                the United States continue to promote our common values 
                in the region and to facilitate Baltic and Russian 
                integration into Western institutions.

                The next millennium will hold great challenge and great 
                promise for our Nation and for the people of the Nordic 
                countries. We have only to look back on the 
                achievements of Leif Erikson to rekindle our spirit of 
                adventure and to inspire us as we embark on our own 
                exploration of the uncharted territory of the future.

                In honor of Leif Erikson, son of Iceland, grandson of 
                Norway, the Congress, by joint resolution approved on 
                September 2, 1964 (Public Law 88-566), has authorized 
                and requested the President to proclaim October 9 of 
                each year as ``Leif Erikson Day.''

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 9, 
                1999, as Leif Erikson Day. I encourage the people of 
                the United States to observe this occasion with 
                appropriate ceremonies and activities commemorating our 
                rich Nordic American heritage.

[[Page 55614]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                eighth day of October, 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-
                fourth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-26931
Filed 10-12-99; 11:56 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P