[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 3 (Monday, January 19, 1998)]
[Pages 82-83]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7064--Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 1998

January 16, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    America has been blessed with heroes throughout our history, men and 
women of vision and courage who have set our feet firmly on the path of 
freedom and equality. Some became heroes by leading us in times of 
struggle; some by shaping our values and challenging us to greatness. 
And a few, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., have done all this and 
more.
    A thoughtful man and one of deep personal faith, his conscience 
called him into action for the soul of our Nation. He mobilized 
thousands of other brave and principled Americans--black and white, 
renowned and unknown--and began a crusade for justice that continues 
today. In sit-ins, marches, demonstrations, and boycotts, he and many 
others met violence with nonviolence and ignorance with determination. 
They awakened the conscience of our Nation and succeeded in winning 
passage of historic civil rights legislation: the Civil Rights Act of 
1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. 
Pouring out his life in service, Dr. King made enormous and lasting 
contributions to improve the lives of millions of his fellow Americans.
    Almost 35 years have passed since Dr. King challenged us from the 
steps of the Lincoln Memorial to live out the true meaning of our 
creed--that all men are created equal--and almost 30 years have passed 
since he was taken from us after an all-too-brief sojourn on this earth. 
A generation of young Americans has come of age without experiencing 
firsthand the power of his vision or the eloquence of his voice. Much 
has changed for the better in that time, but we still have much to do if 
we are to finish the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.
    Following his example of service, we must build communities where 
everyone shares an equal opportunity for a good education and a good 
job, where our children can grow up without living in the shadow of 
guns, gangs, and drugs, and where we reject separation and isolation and 
instead celebrate together the blessing of our diversity. Last June, I 
established my initiative, ``One America in the 21st Century,'' to 
encourage a national dialogue among Americans about race and to spur 
concerted action that will bring Americans together. We must put aside 
the bitter refrains of accusation and recrimination and instead discuss 
and implement new ideas for

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forging a single Nation in the 21st Century out of our ever-increasing 
racial and ethnic diversity. By learning to talk to one another, to 
trust one another, and to work together in hope, we can and will come to 
the time Dr. King foresaw when ``justice rolls down like waters.''
    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, 
January 19, 1998, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I 
call upon the people of the United States to observe this occasion with 
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities and to participate in 
the many community service activities taking place across the country on 
this day.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day 
of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
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, 11:19 a.m., January 20, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
January 21.