[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 17 (Monday, May 3, 1993)]
[Pages 709-710]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6552--Death of Cesar Chavez

 April 28, 1993

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Cesar Chavez came from the humble yet proud beginnings of a migrant 
worker to lead those same workers in a movement that irreversibly shaped 
our Nation and brought justice and dignity to thousands. After the 
Depression forced young Cesar and his family from their ranch, he began 
working in the fields at an early age. His family traveled throughout 
California following the seasonal work, and he attended nearly 70 
schools before dropping out to help support his family. Although his 
formal education ended after the seventh grade, Cesar learned much from 
the courageous example of his parents. Often among the first to resist 
exploitation and to stand up to injustice, they instilled in Cesar a 
profound respect for the intrinsic value of each human person, and a 
fervent desire to protect that value. Inspired by the teachings of a 
Catholic priest and by the writings of

[[Page 710]]

Ghandi and other great civil leaders, Cesar rose to become one of the 
great labor leaders of our time.
    The United Farm Workers, the union he founded and led for almost 
three decades, became a symbol of empowerment and pride for many 
workers. Cesar's innate understanding of the problems facing migrant 
workers allowed him to organize thousands of farm workers across the 
Nation. With natural leadership and unflagging determination, he 
achieved real progress where others had failed.
    His insistence on nonviolent tactics stood in stark contrast to the 
bitterness and brutality that were used in resistance. The strength of 
his vision and the power of his leadership enabled him to take his 
struggle directly to the American people. He focused our Nation's 
attention on the economic and social plight of migrant farm workers and, 
in the process, taught us how injustice anywhere affects us everywhere.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States, in tribute to the memory of Cesar Chavez, do 
hereby call upon the citizens of this great Nation to reflect on and 
honor the life of this distinguished leader, veteran, and American.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth 
day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and seventeenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:41 a.m., April 29, 
1993]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on April 29, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
April 30.