[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 6 (Monday, February 9, 1998)]
[Page 210]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report of the National Endowment 
for the Humanities

February 5, 1998

To the Congress of the United States:

    I am pleased to present to you the 1996 annual report of the 
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Federal agency charged 
with fostering scholarship and enriching the ideas and wisdom born of 
the humanities. The agency supports an impressive range of projects 
encompassing the worlds of history, literature, philosophy, and culture. 
Through these projects, Americans of all walks of life are able to 
explore and share in the uniqueness of our Nation's democratic 
experience.
    The activities of the NEH touch tens of millions of our citizens--
from the youngest students to the most veteran professors, to men and 
women who simply strive for a greater appreciation of our Nation's past, 
present, and future. The NEH has supported projects as diverse as the 
widely viewed documentary, The West, and research as specialized as that 
conducted on the Lakota Tribe. Small historical societies have received 
support, as have some of the Nation's largest cultural institutions.
    Throughout our history, the humanities have provided Americans with 
the knowledge, insights, and perspectives needed to move ourselves and 
our civilization forward. Today, the NEH remains vitally important to 
promoting our Nation's culture. Not only does its work continue to add 
immeasurably to our civic life, it strengthens the democratic spirit so 
essential to our country and our world on the eve of a new century.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
February 5, 1998.