[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 21 (Monday, May 25, 1998)]
[Pages 950-951]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7099--Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1998

May 22, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Today Americans live in a time of great hope. Our Nation is free, 
prosperous, and

[[Page 951]]

at peace. While very real dangers and problems still exist in the world, 
the Cold War is over, democracy is sweeping the globe, and old 
adversaries are forming new partnerships.
    But the blessings we enjoy today are not the happy accidents of 
history; they are the culmination of promises kept by generations of 
young Americans and paid for by their courage and sacrifice. The promise 
of freedom articulated in our Declaration of Independence was made real 
by a ragtag army of brave Americans who were prepared to die for their 
convictions. The promise of unity was kept during the Civil War by 
thousands of Americans, black and white, who were willing to fight to 
preserve our Union. The promise of democracy was kept by the hundreds of 
thousands of Americans who fought and died in World War I, World War II, 
Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf. On home soil and in foreign lands, 
lost at sea or brought down from the skies, our young men and women in 
uniform have given their lives to keep their promise to America: to 
defend our freedom, to preserve our values, and to advance the ideals of 
democracy.
    On Memorial Day, we have our own promises to keep. We remember and 
honor all those gallant Americans who, in the eloquent words of 
President Lincoln, ``gave the last full measure of devotion'' for the 
well-being of our Nation and their fellow citizens. We express our 
profound sympathy and gratitude to the families who have so freely given 
their sons and daughters in service to America. We promise to keep faith 
with all those who have died for our country by remaining vigilant in 
our defense of freedom and democracy. And we promise always to work for 
permanent peace in the world so that a new generation of Americans will 
never have to know the horrors of war.
    In respect and recognition of the courageous men and women to whom 
we pay tribute, the Congress, by joint resolution approved on May 11, 
1950 (64 Stat. 158), has requested the President to issue a proclamation 
calling upon the people of the United States to observe each Memorial 
Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period on 
that day when the American people might unite in prayer.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 25, 1998, as a 
day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning at 
3:00 p.m. EDT of that day as a time to join in prayer. I urge the press, 
radio, television, and all other information media to take part in this 
observance.
      
    I also request the Governors of the United States and the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all units 
of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff during 
this Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels 
throughout the United States and in all areas under its jurisdiction and 
control, and I request people of the United states to display the flag 
at half-staff from their homes for the customary forenoon period.
      
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second 
day of May, 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, 8:45 a.m., May 26, 1998]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on May 
27.