[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 41 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Pages 2018-2019]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7136--Columbus Day, 1998

October 9, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Today our Nation stands on the threshold of a new millennium, an 
uncharted time of great challenge and opportunity. To fulfill

[[Page 2019]]

the promise of this new era, we must be adventurous, willing to leave 
known shores, and eager to embrace change. To find inspiration for this 
momentous journey, we need only look to the example of Christopher 
Columbus, who helped usher in a similar Age of Discovery more than 500 
years ago.
    A skilled and experienced seaman, Columbus pushed back the 
boundaries of the known world and charted a safe course across the ocean 
to a new continent. He was a master at reading and using the winds and 
discovered the best westward and eastward passages between Europe and 
North America. As Daniel Boorstin wrote in The Discoverers, ``. . . a 
sailing vessel today, after all that has been learned in the last five 
centuries, could not do better than follow Columbus' route.'' Explorers, 
adventurers, and traders from many nations would follow his lead across 
the Atlantic, as would millions of immigrants in the centuries following 
his voyages. Although both a dreamer and a visionary, Columbus--a son of 
Italy whose enterprise was funded by the Spanish crown--could never have 
foreseen the multicultural, multiracial Nation 1that would ultimately 
emerge in the New World he helped to discover.
    As we enter a new era, let us embrace Columbus' spirit of discovery 
and embrace as well the great diversity of cultures, religions, and 
ethnic traditions that we enjoy because so many have followed his course 
to this great land.
    In tribute to Columbus' many achievements, the Congress, by joint 
resolution of April 30, 1934 (48 Stat. 657), and an Act of June 28, 1968 
(82 Stat. 250), has requested the President to proclaim the second 
Monday in October of each year as ``Columbus Day.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim October 12, 1998, as Columbus Day. 
I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with 
appropriate ceremonies and activities. I also direct that the flag of 
the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed 
day in honor of Christopher Columbus.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of 
October, 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, 8:52 a.m., October 13, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
October 14.