[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 2 (Monday, January 17, 2000)]
[Pages 85-86]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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Proclamation 7268--Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2000

January 14, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Just this month, thousands of Americans gathered at the Lincoln 
Memorial to welcome a new year, a new century, and a new millennium. 
There--where 37 years ago Martin Luther King, Jr., so eloquently voiced 
his dream for America's future--we pledged not only to keep Dr. King's 
dream alive, but also to bring it to reality in the 21st century.
    We are living in a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity for 
our Nation, where the struggles of the valiant and visionary men and 
women who came before us have borne fruit with the guarantee of civil 
rights at home and the triumph of freedom in nations across the globe. 
But we cannot afford to become complacent. As Dr. King so wisely 
observed, ``We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea 
like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as 
brothers. Our abundance has brought us neither peace of mind nor 
serenity of spirit.''
    We must seize this rare moment in our Nation's history to build a 
society in which we accept our differences and honor our common 
humanity. We must unite against the forces of hatred, fear, and 
ignorance that seek to divide us. We must use our economic success and 
our technological prowess to widen the circle of opportunity, to 
eliminate poverty, and to give all our children the education, values, 
and encouragement they need to reach their full potential.
    Each year since 1994, when I signed into law the King Holiday and 
Service Act, Americans have marked this observance by devoting the day 
to service projects in their communities. By renovating schools, 
cleaning up neighborhoods, tutoring children, donating blood, organizing 
food drives, or reaching out in some other way to those in need, our 
citizens can work together to make this a day on, not a day off, and to 
make their own contributions to Dr. King's legacy of service.
    Martin Luther King, Jr., was not content to rest on past successes 
or to compromise his convictions. If he were with us now to mark his 
71st birthday, he would exhort us not to grow weary in doing good but to 
reach out to one another in the spirit of service and forge a future in 
which all Americans are proud of our diversity and united in our 
reverence for freedom, justice, and equality.
    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 Monday, 
January 17, 2000, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I 
call upon all Americans to observe this occasion with appropriate 
programs, ceremonies, and activities in honor of Dr. King's life and 
achievements and in response to his call to service.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day 
of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand, 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, 8:45 a.m., January 18, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
January 19.

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