[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 9 (Monday, March 6, 2000)]
[Pages 427-428]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7279--Irish-American Heritage Month, 2000

March 1, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    More than two centuries ago, our founders envisioned a new Nation, a 
land free from tyranny and filled with opportunity, prosperity, and 
liberty for all. Many Irish people, faced with severe hardship in their 
homeland, embraced the dream of a more promising future and left behind 
Ireland's shores, their families, and their friends for a new beginning 
in America. Each year during the month of March, we celebrate these 
courageous men and women of Ireland and remember with pride their many 
contributions to our Nation.
    With strength, courage, wit, and creativity, Irish Americans have 
flourished in our diverse Nation of immigrants. Writers such as Flannery 
O'Connor and Eugene O'Neill have transformed our literature; 
entrepreneurs like Henry Ford helped revolutionize American industry; 
performers such as Gregory Peck and Helen Hayes have enriched the arts; 
patriots such as Audie 
Murphy, our most decorated soldier of World War II, redefined the 
meaning of

[[Page 428]]

courage; and social reformers such as suffragist Leonora Barry and labor 
organizer Mary Kenney O'Sullivan fought for the rights of others. 
Generations of Irish Americans have worked alongside their fellow 
Americans to build a more perfect Union, and America is a stronger 
Nation because of them.
    During his visit to Ireland in 1963, President Kennedy reminded us 
that ``our two nations, divided by distance, have been united by 
history.'' Today, people on both sides of the Atlantic are united not 
only by history, but also once again by a dream of a better way of life. 
In the spring of 1998, the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland sought 
to make that dream a reality at home when they voted overwhelmingly in 
support of the Good Friday Accord. America remains committed to the 
Irish people as they continue working to forge a brighter future in 
their own land. The road ahead is long, but the promise of peace is 
still within reach, and its rewards are great. This month, as we 
celebrate Saint Patrick's Day and our shared heritage with Ireland, we 
remember as well our common love of liberty, commitment to progress, and 
quest for lasting peace, and we look toward a future as proud as our 
past.
    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 March 
2000 as Irish-American Heritage Month. I call upon all the people of the 
United States to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies, 
programs, and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of 
March, 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, 11:01 a.m., March 2, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 
3.