[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 9 (Monday, March 3, 1997)]
[Pages 240-241]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6973--American Red Cross Month, 1997

February 24, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Founded over a century ago by Clara Barton, the American Red Cross 
has evolved from a branch of the International Red Cross into a uniquely 
American institution, serving our Nation in peace and in war, and 
through countless natural disasters. Since the Spanish-American War, 
when the first volunteers brought emergency first-aid and news from home 
to wounded soldiers, generations of Americans have followed in this 
grand tradition of service.
    Today, in communities across our Nation, a million and a half 
volunteers stand ready to help their neighbors at a moment's notice. 
Last year, Red Cross paid and volunteer staff assisted disaster victims 
across the country by opening more than 3,200 shelters and giving 
comfort to 172,000 people. The Red Cross also reached 16 million 
Americans through health and safety courses, including HIV and AIDS 
education and community outreach programs; collected more than 6 million 
units of lifesaving blood to keep our national blood supply ready, 
strong, and safe; and provided immediate counseling and support to the 
bereaved families of the victims of TWA Flight 800 and ValuJet Flight 
592.
    Overseas, American Red Cross workers provided emergency 
communications for our troops in Bosnia; worked with foreign Red Cross 
societies to rebuild the lives of civilian refugees in places such as 
the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; and provided personnel, financial aid, 
and gifts of goods and services to the victims of international 
disasters and armed conflicts in every corner of the globe.
    Since 1881, the size, scope, and complexity of major disasters have 
placed an ever-greater demand on the resources of the Red Cross. Yet, 
the generosity of our citizens has enabled the American Red Cross to 
continue

[[Page 241]]

to fulfill its humanitarian mission, providing assistance to those in 
need and easing suffering around the world. We must continue this 
tradition, and, in the spirit of service, support this voluntary agency 
because it truly belongs to all Americans. Each of us can help keep the 
American Red Cross strong through our donations of time, money, and 
blood.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America and Honorary Chairman of the American Red Cross, by 
virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the 
United States, do hereby proclaim March 1997 as American Red Cross 
Month. I urge all the people of the United States to support the 
humanitarian work of their local Red Cross chapters by volunteering and 
participating in Red Cross blood drives.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth 
day of February, 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

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., February 26, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on February 25, and it was published in the Federal Register 
on February 27.