[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 22 (Monday, June 3, 1996)]
[Pages 978-979]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6902--Small Business Week, 1996

May 31, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The American Dream has long held out the promise of a better life to 
our citizens--one of prosperity, security, and personal fulfillment for 
all those who are willing to work hard to reach their goals. Our 
Nation's 22 million small business owners possess the determination and 
initiative to make that promise a reality, and their entrepreneurial 
spirit helps to drive the engine of our economy. In addition, products 
developed by small firms such as the artificial heart valve, the 
pacemaker, and the personal computer, have revolutionized our daily 
lives and made this an age of extraordinary possibility.
    The number of new small businesses has increased steadily over the 
last three decades, with 800,000 new businesses incorporated in 1995 
alone. Small businesses employ some 53 percent of the private work 
force, account for 47 percent of all sales in the country, and generate 
more than half of our private gross domestic product. In addition, 
industries dominated by small business were responsible for 75 percent 
of the 1.66 million new jobs created during 1995.
    Last year, delegates to the White House Conference on Small Business 
forged an agenda that will continue such progress and prepare our 
economy for the challenges of the next century. By implementing their 
recommendations, ``reinventing'' the U.S. Small Business Administration, 
and pursuing other incentives and initiatives, we can establish an even 
better environment for small business creation and growth. These efforts 
are vital to keeping our economy strong and strengthening the proud 
legacy of innovation that has always inspired our people and made 
America great.
    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 June 2 
through June 8, 1996, as Small Business Week. I call upon Government 
officials and all the people of the United States to observe this day 
with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs that celebrate the 
achievements of small business owners and encourage the formation of new 
firms.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first 
day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twentieth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:08 a.m., June 3, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
June 4.

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