[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[June 14, 1993]
[Pages 841-842]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Signing the Flag Day Proclamation
June 14, 1993

    Good morning. Welcome to the Rose Garden, and thank you for joining 
us for this observance of Flag Day. As we begin, I want to introduce 
three children, to my left, to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance: 
Christopher Williams, an 8-year-old from Ketcham Elementary School; 
Delilah Johnson, who is also 8, from Ketcham Elementary School; and Sean 
Mizzer, 10 years old, from Watkins Elementary School. They are now going 
to lead us in the pledge.

[At this point, the students recited the Pledge of Allegiance.]

    Good job. Let's give them a hand. I thought they did well. Thank 
you. [Applause]
    Thank you. Please be seated. I want to acknowledge the presence of a 
few of our guests in the audience today, including Mr. James Kenney, the 
national commander of AMVETS; Mr. Louis Koerber, the president of 
National Flag Day Foundation; Mr. George Cahill, the president of the 
National Flag Foundation; and Mrs. Romaine Thomas, who is the principal 
of Ketcham Elementary School, where two of these children attend school. 
Thank you all.
    On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and 
Stripes as the official flag of our Nation. Throughout our history, this 
flag has been a potent symbol of America and what it means to be an 
American. You can hear America's reverence for the flag in our music 
from our national anthem, ``The Star-Spangled Banner,'' written by 
Francis Scott Key in 1814, to George M. Cohan's ``You're a Grand Old 
Flag,'' to John Philip Sousa's magnificent march ``The Stars and Stripes 
Forever,'' performed best by his very own United States Marine Band.
    We owe a great debt to the members of our armed services, who have 
defended this flag through two centuries now. The United States Army, 
coincidentally, also celebrates its birthday today. As we honor the 
Army's 218 years of history, let us also remember the brave Americans 
who today are defending the United Nations relief operations in Somalia. 
Their efforts are a reminder to all of us that we are blessed with 
enormous freedoms in America.
    Think of the pledge we have just made, words we have known since 
childhood, words that come easily to us, so we often recite them without 
even stopping to think about their true memory. A ``republic'' is a 
government of, by, and for the people. ``One Nation'': From our myriad 
diversity, from all of our differences, we still have a deeper measure 
of unity. ``Under God'': the reminder that self-government is a sacred 
trust. ``Indivisible'': Through a tragic civil war we learned the wisdom 
of President Lincoln's lesson that ``a house divided against itself 
cannot stand.'' It is not enough for our house to stand, however. We 
must remember that a house stands strongest when it stands together. 
``With liberty and justice for all'' is a promise that we must strive to 
make real, not just in our words but in what we do.
    These ideas have brought new Americans to our shores from the 
beginning of our existence. They make our flag a symbol of hope to 
people all around the world. To those of you here who

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are recently naturalized citizens, I say, welcome. A few of you even 
work here, and we're proud to have you. I'm proud to have you on our 
staff and more proud to be your fellow citizen and to know that all of 
you feel as deeply about this country as I do.
    Since President Truman's time it has been customary for the 
President to sign a proclamation designating June 14th as Flag Day in 
the United States. I want to do that now, and then make a presentation.

[At this point, the President signed the proclamation.]

    Since we teach citizenship at an early age, I want to ask 
Christopher Williams to come up here and to accept on behalf of his 
school, Ketcham Elementary, this flag which flew above the United States 
Capitol this morning. Christopher, I want you to take this flag, along 
with your schoolmates, back to your school and honor it. It symbolizes 
both your rights and your responsibilities as an American. You should be 
very proud of this.
    I'd also like any newly naturalized Americans to stand up. Do we 
have any new citizens here? Let's give them a hand. Look at them. 
[Applause] Thank you.
    Last night when we had the press party here at the White House, 
perhaps the most moving encounter I had was a couple came through the 
line; both of them were born in South America. But they had their little 
child with them who had just been born in the United States, and the 
child's T-shirt said ``Future President'' on it. [Laughter] There you 
are. Look, there he is right there. Give him a hand, the father of the 
child. [Applause]
    This is a special day. The children remind us of it, and so do our 
new citizens. Thank you all for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 10:36 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. The proclamation is listed in Appendix D at the end of this 
volume.