[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 50 (Monday, December 15, 1997)]
[Pages 1998-1999]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the 40th Anniversary of the Department of Justice Civil 
Rights Division

December 9, 1997

    I congratulate the Civil Rights Division of the Department of 
Justice on its 40th anniversary. For 40 years, the Civil Rights Division 
has protected the American dream for all our people. By diligently and 
faithfully enforcing our civil rights laws, the lawyers and members of 
this division have helped all of us live closer to the ideals that lie 
at the heart of that dream--freedom and equality of opportunity to work, 
to learn, to live, and to

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raise our children in communities where they can thrive and grow.
    Today, the task of fulfilling the promise of our civil rights laws, 
of keeping the American dream alive for all citizens is far from over. 
That is why I have nominated an eminently qualified person to lead this 
division into the 21st century. Bill Lann Lee has lived the American 
dream, and he has dedicated his life to making the dream come alive for 
all Americans. Bill Lann Lee deserves to be America's next Assistant 
Attorney General for Civil Rights.