[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 44 (Monday, November 2, 1998)]
[Pages 2177-2178]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7144--National American Indian Heritage Month, 1998

October 29, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    American Indians and Alaska Natives--the first Americans--have made 
enormous contributions to the life of our country. When the first 
Europeans arrived on this continent, they did not find an empty land; 
they found instead a land of diverse peoples with a rich and complex 
system of governments, languages, religions, values, and traditions that 
have shaped and influenced American history and heritage. Generations of 
American Indians have served and sacrificed to defend our freedom, and 
no segment of our population has sent a larger percentage of its young 
men and women to serve in our Armed Forces. But American Indians are not 
just an important part of our country's past; they are also a vital part 
of today's America and will play an even more important role in 
America's future.
    There are more than 2 million American Indians living in our country 
today, from the hardwood forests of Maine to the Florida Everglades, 
across the Great Plains to the Pacific Coast, and throughout the State 
of Alaska. Through a variety of innovative enterprises, many tribes are 
sharing in the unprecedented prosperity our country enjoys today, 
prosperity that is reflected in the construction of community centers, 
schools, museums, and other cultural centers. However, many people who 
live in Indian Country are caught in a cycle of poverty made worse by 
poor health care and a lack of educational and employment opportunity. 
If we are to honor the United States Government's long-standing 
obligations to Indian tribes, we must do all in our power to ensure that 
American Indians have access to the tools and opportunities they need to 
make the most of their lives.
    As part of this endeavor, my Administration has strengthened the 
special government-to-government relationship between the Federal 
Government and the sovereign nations of Indian Country, expanded the 
role of American Indians and Alaska Natives in the Administration, and 
sought to increase educational opportunities and economic development 
throughout Indian Country. Earlier this year, I signed an Executive 
order directing the Federal Government to work together with tribal and 
State governments to improve Native American achievement in math and 
reading, raise high school graduation rates, increase the number of 
Native American youth attending college, improve science education, and 
expand the use of educational technology. We are also striving to boost 
economic development in Indian Country by working with tribal 
governments to meet their technology infrastructure needs, to coordinate 
and strengthen existing Native American economic development 
initiatives, and to help Native Americans obtain loans more easily for 
building homes and starting new businesses.
    Today's Native Americans are among the youngest segments of our 
population--a new, large generation of young people who, if empowered 
with the education, skills, opportunity, and encouragement they need to 
thrive, can lead Indian Country into a future as bright and promising as 
its extraordinary past. As we observe National American Indian Heritage 
Month, let us resolve to work together to make that future a reality.
    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 November 
1998 as National American Indian Heritage Month. I urge all Americans, 
as well as their elected representatives at the Federal, State, local, 
and tribal levels, to observe this month with appropriate programs, 
ceremonies, and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-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, 8:45 a.m., October 30, 
1998]

[[Page 2178]]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
November 2.