[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 40 (Monday, October 10, 1994)]
[Pages 1921-1922]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6729--Child Health Day, 1994

September 30, 1994

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    It has been said that ``(i)n every child who is born . . . the 
potentiality of the whole human race is born again.'' Since James Agee 
wrote those words in 1941, generations of children have been born into 
our world, each individual holding as much promise and potential as the 
children of ages past. In recent decades, children have grown up to see 
the human race produce a vaccine for polio and pull back from the 
precipice of nuclear war. Indeed, in many ways, the world is a much 
safer place for all of us. It would seem that today's children would 
have a better chance than ever to fulfill the tremendous potential of 
humanity.
    Yet as we celebrate Child Health Day this year, our young people 
face challenges to their well-being that their grandparents and great-
grandparents could scarcely have imagined. In virtually every school and 
community, drugs and guns threaten our youths' safety, and gangs have 
become the closest thing to family that many young people will ever 
know. Girls too young to be mothers are struggling to meet the demands 
of parenthood, and many boys too young to be fathers are turning from 
the profound responsibilities they should shoulder. Among the primary 
health risks confronting our young

[[Page 1922]]

people, homicide and suicide have become the leading causes of death.
    If our Nation is to succeed in the years to come, we must take new 
responsibility for the lives of our children, from promoting proper 
nutrition and basic health and safety to raising awareness of the 
terrible dangers of substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and AIDS. Already, 
we have made important progress in those efforts. We have enacted 
legislation that expands and improves the Head Start program, providing 
health, education, and social services for children of low-income 
families. My Childhood Immunization Initiative will help to vaccinate at 
least 90 percent of our Nation's infants--the most sweeping effort of 
its kind in American history. Our new crime bill supports programs that 
encourage youth to develop a sense of self-worth apart from gangs, and 
it goes a long way toward keeping guns out of the hands of juveniles. 
Already, we are saving children's lives.
    But for all that we have accomplished in the past year, much remains 
to be done. We must forge active partnerships among health, child 
development, education, and social services organizations. We must 
involve parents and siblings, schools and communities in protecting our 
youth. Every child needs and deserves our concern and respect, and these 
begin with personal involvement. Children need love, tempered by 
discipline. They need the freedom to dream, tempered by the knowledge of 
hard work. They need someone who will lift them up when they fall, who 
will care for their bruises and scrapes, who will kiss their tears away 
when they falter and applaud them when they succeed. Only we can do 
these things. And it is only in reaching out to children that we may 
discover the true potential within ourselves.
    The Congress, by joint resolution approved May 18, 1928, as amended 
(36 U.S.C. 143), has called for the designation of the first Monday in 
October as ``Child Health Day'' and has requested the President to issue 
a proclamation in observance of this day.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim Monday, October 3, 1994, as Child 
Health Day. I call upon all Americans to rededicate themselves to 
ensuring that every generation of children enjoys bright and healthy 
futures.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day 
of September, 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 nineteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 1:42 p.m., October 3, 
1994]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
5. This item was not received in time for publication in the appropriate 
issue.