[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 45 (Monday, November 9, 1998)]
[Pages 2211-2212]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Women's Progress Commemoration Act

October 31, 1998

    Today I am pleased to sign into law S. 2285, the ``Women's Progress 
Commemoration Act.'' This legislation establishes a 15-member 
Commission, appointed by the President and the Congress to help 
commemorate, celebrate, and preserve women's history in America.
    It is appropriate that we establish this Commission on the 150th 
anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, the first national 
congregation on the conditions and rights of women in the United States. 
It was there, at a time when women were denied many of the rights of 
citizenship, that 100 brave women and men proclaimed in their 
``Declaration of Sentiments'' that ``all men and women are created 
equal.''
    At Seneca Falls and throughout our history, women have braved 
enormous challenges and helped to build our Nation--from women patriots 
hiding General Washington's soldiers from the British, to Sojourner 
Truth and others leading slaves out of bondage, to suffragists risking 
imprisonment to secure for women the most basic rights of democracy. The 
Women's Progress Commemoration Commission will seek out the historical 
sites of such great moments in our Nation's history, and recommend the 
best way to preserve them for generations to come. The President's 
Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History, that I 
created by executive order in June of this year looks forward to working 
with the Commission created by S. 2285.
    As we approach a new century and a new millennium, it is more 
important than ever that we honor these monuments to our enduring 
ideals. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I sign this 
legislation.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
October 31, 1998.

Note: S. 2285, approved October 31, was assigned Public Law No. 105-341. 
Executive Order 13090--President's Commission on the Celebration of 
Women in American History, signed June

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29, was published in the Federal Register on July 2.