[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 51 (Monday, December 22, 1997)]
[Page 2070]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7061--Wright Brothers Day, 1997

December 16, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright lay inside the first heavier-
than-air powered craft that permitted controlled flight. His brother 
Wilbur stood nearby, steadying the craft at one wing tip. In a few 
moments, the brothers would know if their years of hard work and 
painstaking experimentation would finally bear fruit. With Wilbur 
running beside the plane to build its momentum, Orville achieved, for a 
scant 12 seconds over a distance of 120 feet, what humankind had always 
dreamed of--he flew.
    That historic moment marked the first step in a long journey through 
the skies that would ultimately take Americans beyond Earth's atmosphere 
and into space. The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft that captured the world's 
attention and imagination this past summer reflects the same American 
ingenuity and pioneering spirit that sent the Wrights' fragile craft 
aloft so briefly over Kitty Hawk almost a century ago. With unwavering 
perseverance in the face of many failures, steady conviction in the 
possibility of flight, and a determination to bring their vision to 
reality, the Wright brothers expanded our horizons and also brought the 
world closer together.
    We are still reaping the benefits of their extraordinary 
achievement. America's aerospace industry has experienced enormous 
growth and development since the Wright brothers' first flight. It has 
strengthened our economy, created new business and recreational 
opportunities, freed us from many of the limits of time and distance, 
and made our Nation's aviation system the finest in the world. And 
thanks in large part to the efforts of the men and women throughout the 
Federal Government--in the Departments of Transportation and Defense, 
the National Transportation Safety Board, and the National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration--that system is also the safest in the world.
    The Congress, by a joint resolution approved December 17, 1963 (77 
Stat. 402; 36 U.S.C. 169), has designated December 17 of each year as 
``Wright Brothers Day'' and has authorized and requested the President 
to issue annually a proclamation inviting the people of the United 
States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim December 17, 1997, as Wright 
Brothers Day.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day 
of December, 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., December 17, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
December 18.