[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 19 (Monday, May 16, 1994)]
[Page 1033]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6687--Older Americans Month, 1994

May 9, 1994

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Each year over 2 million of us become older Americans--entering a 
time of life that can bring new freedom, new choices, and new 
beginnings. Retirement years offer the freedom to strengthen family 
bonds and to share knowledge and talents with friends and family 
members. It can be a time to engage in cultural, intellectual, and 
recreational activities with others and to provide them with the 
guidance that comes from a lifetime of experience. It can be a time of 
new beginnings--used to pursue a second career, to gain more education, 
or to engage in volunteer work that makes our neighborhoods, 
communities, and the world a better place in which to live.
    To enjoy these opportunities, we must take greater responsibility in 
planning for a long life. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and staying 
physically fit can help us to make the most of these new freedoms, 
choices, and beginnings. While we in Government work to promote 
universal health care coverage for all Americans, all of us can 
encourage friends and families to pursue daily practices that promote 
physical and mental well-being.
    This year's Older Americans Month celebration centers around the 
theme of long life and good health with the slogan--``Aging: An 
Experience of a Lifetime.'' I am asking all Americans to help make this 
theme a reality by striving to achieve healthy and productive 
lifestyles.
    Each year, we are learning new ways to promote longer, healthier, 
and more rewarding lives. We can do this by learning to eat 
nutritiously, by giving up smoking, by moderating our consumption of 
alcoholic beverages, and by entering into a personal or group fitness 
program. New studies show that regardless of age, it's never too late to 
improve health and vitality.
    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 the month 
of May 1994, as Older Americans Month. I call upon individual Americans, 
representatives of government at all levels, businesses, and community, 
volunteer, and educational groups to work to increase opportunities for 
older Americans and to adopt healthier lifestyles.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of 
May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
eighteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:02 a.m., May 10, 
1994]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on May 11.