[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 47 (Monday, November 24, 1997)]
[Pages 1880-1881]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7052--Thanksgiving Day, 1997

November 21, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Another year has passed on our American journey. The seasons have 
completed another cycle, and it is harvest time in America. Once again, 
millions of us will gather with family and friends to give thanks to God 
for the many blessings that He has bestowed upon us.
    This Thanksgiving Day, as every day, we are grateful for the gift of 
freedom, for the vision made real by our Nation's founders and preserved 
by the courage, vigilance, and sacrifice of generations of Americans. We 
are thankful for the bounty and beauty of this great land, which has 
welcomed so many to its shores across the years. We cherish the love of 
our families and friends. We value the opportunity to provide for our 
children's future with the fruits of our honest labor. And, like the 
Pilgrims who celebrated Thanksgiving more than 300 years ago, we thank 
God for bringing us safely to the threshold of a new world, full of 
exhilarating challenge and promise.
    In this new world, our children are growing up free from the shadows 
of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear holocaust. Nations once held 
captive by communism are learning the lessons of liberty and democracy. 
A revolution in technology has brought the world closer together and 
holds the prospect of greater knowledge and prosperity for people across 
the globe.
    More than three centuries of change and growth separate us from the 
Pilgrims and their Native American friends who sat down together for 
their Thanksgiving meal. But the example and experience of those early 
Americans still hold great meaning for us today. They remind us that 
God's love strengthens and sustains us, both as individuals and as a 
Nation. They remind us that everyone has something to contribute, and 
that we are all richer when we learn to share. They teach us a simple 
but powerful lesson that each new generation of Americans must learn and 
pass on: we need one another. Like the Pilgrims, if we are to flourish 
in our new world, we must do so not as isolated individuals, but as 
members of a family, one America, sharing our gifts and leaving no one 
behind.
    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 Thursday, 
November 27, 1997, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all 
Americans to assemble in their homes, places of worship, or community 
centers to share the spirit of goodwill and prayer; to express heartfelt 
thanks to God for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us; and to 
reach out in true friendship to our brothers and sisters across

[[Page 1881]]

this land who, together, comprise our great American family.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first 
day of November, 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, 8:45 a.m., November 24, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
November 25.