[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 40 (Monday, October 11, 1999)]
[Pages 1985-1986]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7236--Leif Erikson Day, 1999

October 8, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    In preparing for the new millennium, Americans have become 
increasingly aware of the richness of our Nation's history and heritage 
and of the generations of men and women whose contributions have brought 
us safely to this moment in our American journey.
    One of those remarkable individuals was Leif Erikson, who led a 
small, intrepid band on a voyage of discovery across the North Atlantic 
from Greenland, arriving on the coast of North America almost a thousand 
years ago. The courage, resourcefulness, and fortitude of Leif Erikson 
and the other Viking seafarers foreshadowed the strength and character 
of the many Nordic pioneers who would make their own voyage to America 
centuries later. Building new lives through hard work, they also helped 
build our Nation and sustain our fundamental values of freedom, justice, 
and democracy.
    The millions of Nordic Americans who have contributed so much to our 
peace and prosperity through the decades have also strengthened the 
bonds of friendship between the United States and the people Denmark, 
Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway. With a shared past and common 
ideals, we have worked in partnership to promote democracy and 
opportunity around the world. Through our Northern European Initiative, 
the Nordic countries and the United States continue to promote our 
common values in the region and to facilitate Baltic and Russian 
integration into Western institutions.
    The next millennium will hold great challenge and great promise for 
our Nation and for the people of the Nordic countries. We have only to 
look back on the achievements of Leif Erikson to rekindle our spirit of 
adventure and to inspire us as we embark on our own exploration of the 
uncharted territory of the future.
    In honor of Leif Erikson, son of Iceland, grandson of Norway, the 
Congress, by joint resolution approved on September 2, 1964 (Public Law 
88-566), has authorized and requested the President to proclaim October 
9 of each year as ``Leif Erikson Day.''
    Now Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States 
of America, do hereby proclaim October 9, 1999, as Leif Erikson Day. I 
encourage the people of the United States to observe this occasion with 
appropriate ceremonies and activities commemorating our rich Nordic 
American heritage.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of 
October, 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-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[[Page 1986]]

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:56 a.m., October 12, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
October 13.