[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 30 (Monday, July 27, 1998)]
[Page 1477]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7111--Parents' Day, 1998

July 24, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Parents play a central role in the life of our society and our 
Nation. They are a link with the past, teaching our children the history 
and values of our individual families and of our national community. 
They are the stewards of the future, shaping the hearts and minds of the 
next generation of leaders, thinkers, and workers.
    Being a good parent means much more than protecting our children 
from harm. It means teaching our children how to love and how to learn; 
it means working to give them the opportunities they need to make the 
most of their lives; it means fostering their self-esteem and 
independent spirit so they can make their own contributions to our 
world. Being a parent is a challenge, a privilege, and a lifelong 
commitment.
    My Administration has worked hard to help parents raise happy, 
healthy children. With the Family and Medical Leave Act, we gave working 
parents up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a family member in need. We 
protected family incomes through an increase in the minimum wage, 
expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the new Child Tax Credit. 
We stood up for reliable health insurance with the Kennedy-Kassebaum law 
and improved childhood immunization, with our new Children's Health 
Insurance Program. We opened the doors of higher education to more 
families by making student loans less expensive and easier to repay and 
by providing new tax credits and larger Pell Grant scholarships. We have 
proposed an historic initiative to ensure that parents have access to 
quality, affordable child care for their children. I pledge to continue 
supporting these types of effective programs and legislation so that 
America's parents have the tools they need to give their children a 
strong start in life.
    Too often in the rush of daily existence, we fail to remember or 
acknowledge the many blessings we enjoy because of the love of our 
parents. On Parents' Day, we have an opportunity to express our profound 
appreciation to our own parents, to remember with love and gratitude 
those who are no longer with us, and to pay tribute to the millions of 
men and women across our Nation whose devotion as parents strengthens 
our society and forms the foundation of a bright future for America.
    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 and consistent with Public 
Law 103-362, do hereby proclaim Sunday, July 26, 1998, as Parents' Day. 
I invite the States, communities, and the people of the United States to 
join together in observing this day with appropriate ceremonies and 
activities to honor our Nation's parents.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth 
day of July, 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-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:51 a.m., July 27, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
July 28.