[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 41 (Monday, October 13, 1997)]
[Pages 1505-1506]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7034--German-American Day, 1997

October 6, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    America has always drawn its strength from the millions of people 
who have come here in search of freedom and the opportunity to live out 
their dreams. Men and women of different nationalities, different races, 
and different religions have made their own rich and unique 
contributions to our national life.
    From their arrival at Jamestown in 1607 until the present day, 
Germans have been among the largest ethnic groups to make their home in 
our country. Like so many others, the earliest German settlements in 
America were founded by men and women in search of religious liberty. 
William Penn invited a group of German Mennonites to Pennsylvania, which 
was to remain a center of German settlement during the Colonial period. 
Other German communities were founded in New Jersey and New York, as 
well as in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, the Carolinas, and Georgia. In 
the 19th century, German pioneers began to settle in the Midwest and 
West, and today a quarter of our Nation's population can trace its 
ancestry to German origins.
    Germans and German Americans have profoundly influenced every facet 
of American life. Great soldiers, such as General Baron von Steuben in 
our Revolutionary War and General Norman Schwarzkopf in the Gulf War, 
have fought to preserve our freedom and defend America's interests. 
Scientists such as Albert Einstein and Wernher von Braun have 
immeasurably broadened our horizons, as have artists like Albert 
Bierstadt, Josef Albers, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Lillian Blauvelt, and 
Paul Hindemith. And generations of German Americans, with their energy, 
creativity, and strong work ethic, have enriched the economic and 
commercial life of the United States. All Americans have benefited 
greatly from the labor, leadership, talents, and vision of Germans and 
German Americans, and it is fitting that we set aside this special day 
to acknowledge their many contributions to our liberty, culture, and 
democracy.
    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, 
October 6, 1997, as German-American Day. I encourage all Americans to 
recognize and celebrate the many gifts that millions of people of German 
ancestry have brought to our national life.

[[Page 1506]]

    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of 
October, 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, 10:47 a.m., October 7, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
8.