[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 21 (Monday, May 26, 1997)]
[Pages 772-773]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7006--Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1997

May 22, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The observance of Memorial Day is one of America's noblest 
traditions. At its core lies the most basic of the beliefs on which our 
Nation was founded: that freedom is so precious it is worth the price of 
our lives to preserve it.
    Throughout our history, we have been blessed by the courage and 
commitment of Americans who were willing to pay that price, and more 
than 1.3 million of them have died for our Nation. From Lexington and 
Concord to Iwo Jima and the Persian Gulf, on fields of battle across 
America and around the world, our men and women in uniform have risked--
and lost--their lives to protect America's interests, to advance the 
ideals of democracy, and to defend the liberty we hold so dear.
    This spirit of selfless sacrifice is an unbroken thread woven 
through our history. Wherever they came from, whenever they served, our 
fallen heroes knew they were fighting to preserve our freedom. On 
Memorial Day we remember them, and we acknowledge that we stand as a 
great, proud, and free Nation because of their devotion.
    But this is not the only day on which we honor their service and 
sacrifice. Whenever we lend our hearts and hands and voices to the work 
of peace in the world, whenever we show respect for the flag, cast a 
vote in an election, or exercise our freedoms of speech, assembly, and 
worship, we honor our fellow Americans who guaranteed those freedoms 
with their lives.
    In respect and recognition of these courageous men and women, the 
Congress, by joint resolution approved on May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), 
requested that the President issue a proclamation calling upon the 
people of the United States to observe each Memo

[[Page 773]]

rial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period 
on that day when the American people might unite in prayer.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 26, 1997, as a 
day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in 
each locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to join in prayer. I 
urge the press, radio, television, and all other information media to 
take part in this observance.
    I also request the Governors of the United States and the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all units 
of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff during 
this Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels 
throughout the United States and in all areas under its jurisdiction and 
control, and I request the people of the United States to display the 
flag at half-staff from their homes for the customary forenoon period.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second 
day of May, 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, 10:59 a.m., May 23, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on May 27.