[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 18 (Monday, May 10, 1999)]
[Pages 804-805]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7193--National Day of Prayer, 1999

May 5, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    From our earliest days, whether in times of joy or of challenge, 
Americans have raised their hearts and voices in prayer. On the Great 
Plains, American Indians prayed for peace and for blessings upon their 
children and their friends. The Pilgrims prayed from the moment they 
first set foot on this continent. Our Nation's founders prayed as they 
forged a democracy based on freedom and respect for human rights. Our 
military leaders and the millions of men and women who have served in 
our Armed Forces have prayed in the midst of every conflict in which our 
Nation has fought. And so it continues to this day, as Americans of 
every race, background, and creed pray in churches, mosques, synagogues, 
temples, and their own homes for guidance, wisdom, and courage in 
confronting the challenges before us.
    We can pray openly thanks to the religious freedom guaranteed for us 
by the First Amendment to the Constitution. That freedom and the 
diversity of faiths it has fostered are among America's most important 
achievements. They have made our Nation a beacon for generations of 
people from around the world who have traveled here seeking to worship 
according to their conscience without fear of coercion or constraint.
    On this National Day of Prayer, observed so soon after the tragedy 
in Littleton, Colorado, and the tornadoes that devastated communities in 
Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, we are more keenly aware than ever of the 
power and solace we find in prayer. Throughout the days that have 
followed the deaths of and injury to so many of our fellow citizens, 
Americans have united in prayer for those who died or were harmed, for 
the comfort and peace of their families, for the wisdom to heal our 
society, and for the strength to overcome such tragedies. For as Martin 
Luther King, Jr., so eloquently said, ``When our days become dreary with 
low-hovering

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clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand 
midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this 
universe . . . a power that is able to make a way out of no way and 
transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.''
    The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, has called on our citizens to 
reaffirm the role of prayer in our society and to honor the religious 
diversity our freedom permits by recognizing annually a ``National Day 
of Prayer.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim May 6, 1999, as a National Day of 
Prayer. I encourage the citizens of this great Nation to pray, each in 
his or her own manner, seeking strength from God to face the problems of 
today, requesting guidance for the uncertainties of tomorrow, and giving 
thanks for the rich blessings that our country has enjoyed throughout 
its history.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of 
May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, 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., May 10, 1999]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on May 
11.