[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 4 (Monday, January 27, 1997)]
[Pages 57-58]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6967--Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 1997

January 17, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    People throughout the world celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr., as a tribute to his shining example of love and 
justice.
    Dr. King was a man of clear and powerful vision who offered an 
uncompromising message of brotherhood and hope at a time when violence 
and racial intolerance tore at the seams of our Nation. In addressing 
these ills, he often referred to what he called the ``magnificent 
words'' of the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed that ``all 
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the 
pursuit of Happiness.'' He declared these words to be ``a promissory 
note to which every American was to fall heir,'' and upon which payment 
could no longer be delayed. Dr. King's struggle made it possible for all 
of us to move closer to the ideals set forth in the Declaration of 
Independence and in our Constitution.
    Although ours is the most successful multiracial, multicultural 
society in human history, in the words of Dr. King, ``our work is not 
yet done.'' We have not yet fully realized Dr. King's dream of a Nation 
of full opportunity, genuine equality, and consistent fair play for all.
    Every citizen must rise to meet that challenge because America's 
promise of freedom and opportunity cannot truly be realized for any of 
us until it is realized for every one of us. We all have an obligation 
to reach out to one another--across the artificial barriers of race, 
gender, religion, class, and age--so that each member of our society 
shares fully in the promise of the American Dream.
    In the spring of 1963, Dr. King was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, 
while protesting discrimination in public accommodations and employment. 
From his jail cell, he wrote of his faith that ultimately what was good 
in America would prevail over fear and prejudice:
      We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the 
      nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned 
      though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of 
      America. . . . We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage 
      of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our 
      echoing demands.
    As I begin my second term as the last President of the 20th century, 
I ask each American to work with me to usher in a new era of hope, 
reconciliation, and fellowship among all our people--rich and poor, 
young and old, and men and women of every race. I urge all Americans to 
put intolerance behind us, seek common ground, and strive for justice 
and community in our Nation.
    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 Monday, 
January 20, 1997, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I 
call upon the people of the United States to observe this occasion with 
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day 
of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[[Page 58]]

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., January 22, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on January 18, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
January 23.