[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 50 (Monday, December 20, 1999)]
[Pages 2627-2628]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7261--55th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge

December 16, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    By the winter of 1944, the United States and our Allies had turned 
the tide of the Second World War. Allied forces had liberated

[[Page 2628]]

the Italian peninsula and were gaining ground in France and the Low 
Countries. In mid-December, in a desperate attempt to halt this steady 
advance, Adolf Hitler launched a furious and massive counteroffensive. 
On December 16, 29 German divisions flooded the Allied line in the 
Ardennes Forest region of Belgium and Luxembourg. The Battle of the 
Bulge had begun.
    Facing superior enemy numbers, rugged terrain, and bitter weather, 
the American troops at first fell back. But their determination to 
defeat the Nazis never wavered. For 6 weeks, U.S. soldiers responded to 
fierce German offensives with equally determined counterattacks, 
refusing to succumb to the Nazi onslaught. The siege of Bastogne in 
Belgium remains an enduring symbol of their indomitable spirit. At that 
strategic crossroads, a small detachment of the 101st Airborne Division 
and other attached troops were encircled. When called upon to surrender 
by the much larger German force, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe 
dismissed the demand with his legendary one-word reply: ``Nuts.'' 
Against all odds, he and his men held firm during the siege until 
reinforcements arrived and helped halt the German offensive at a 
critical point in the Battle.
    Inevitably, the spirit, toughness, valor, and resolve of the U.S. 
forces led to victory. By late January of 1945, the American and Allied 
counterattack had succeeded in pushing back the Nazi forces, eliminating 
the threat of further German offensives and ultimately sealing the fate 
of the Nazi regime. But this victory was costly. At the end of the 
Battle of the Bulge, some 19,000 Americans lay dead, and thousands more 
were wounded, captured, or missing in action.
    Now, more than half a century later, we still stand in awe of the 
courage and sacrifice of the more than 600,000 U.S. soldiers and airmen 
who fought that epic battle. These seemingly ordinary Americans achieved 
extraordinary things. Leaving their homes, their families, and their 
civilian lives behind them, they stepped forward to wage a crusade for 
freedom. They laid the foundations of the peace and security we enjoy 
today and planted the seeds of democracy that now are bearing fruit 
throughout Europe. Many of these heroes and patriots have gone to their 
final rest; but their service, their sacrifice, and their achievements 
will live forever in the memories and hearts of their fellow Americans.
    The Congress by House Joint Resolution 65, has authorized and 
requested the President to issue a proclamation honoring the veterans of 
the Battle of the Bulge.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim the period of December 16, 1999, 
to January 25, 2000, as a time to commemorate the 55th anniversary of 
the Battle of the Bulge. I call upon the people of the United States to 
express our profound gratitude to the veterans of the Battle of the 
Bulge and to honor them with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and 
activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day 
of December, 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

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:59 a.m., December 20, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
December 21.