[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 39 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[Page 1422]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7027--Austrian-American Day, 1997

September 25, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    For more than 200 years, the life of our Nation has been enriched 
and renewed by the many people who have come here from around the world, 
seeking a new life for themselves and their families. Austrian Americans 
have made their own unique and lasting contributions to America's 
strength and character, and they continue to play a vital role in the 
peace and prosperity we enjoy today.
    As with so many other immigrants, the earliest Austrians came to 
America in search of religious freedom. Arriving in 1734, they settled 
in the colony of Georgia, growing and prospering with the passing of the 
years. One of these early Austrian settlers, Johann Adam Treutlen, was 
to become the first elected governor of the new State of Georgia.
    In the two centuries that followed, millions of other Austrians made 
the same journey to our shores. From the political refugees of the 1848 
revolutions in Austria to Jews fleeing the anti-Semitism of Hitler's 
Third Reich, Austrians brought with them to America a love of freedom, a 
strong work ethic, and a deep reverence for education. In every field of 
endeavor, Austrian Americans have made notable contributions to our 
culture and society. We have all been enriched by the lives and 
achievements of such individuals as Supreme Court Justice Felix 
Frankfurter; Joel Elias Spingarn, who helped to found the NAACP; 
psychiatrist and educator Alexandra Adler; lyricist Frederick Loewe, who 
helped to transform American musical theater; and architects John 
Smithmeyer and Richard Neutra.
    Americans of Austrian descent have also helped to nurture the strong 
ties of friendship between the United States and Austria, a friendship 
that has survived the upheaval of two World Wars and the subsequent 
division of Europe between the forces of East and West. On September 26, 
1945, a conference was convened in Vienna among the nine Austrian 
Federal States that helped to unify the nation and paved the way for 
recognition by the United States and the Allied Forces of the first 
postwar Provisional Austrian Government. Setting the date for the first 
free national elections, this important meeting laid the foundation for 
the strong, prosperous, and independent Austria we know today.
    In recognition of the significance of this date to the relationship 
between our Nation and the Federal Republic of Austria, and in gratitude 
for the many gifts that Austrian Americans bring to the life of our 
country, it is appropriate that we pause to celebrate Austrian-American 
Day.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, by virtue of the authority 
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do 
hereby proclaim Friday, September 26, 1997, as Austrian-American Day. I 
encourage all Americans to recognize and celebrate the important 
contributions that millions of Americans of Austrian descent have made--
and continue to make--to our Nation's strength and prosperity.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth 
day of September, 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-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:59 a.m., September 
29, 1997]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
September 30.