[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 40 (Monday, October 9, 2000)]
[Pages 2334-2335]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7352--German-American Day, 2000

 October 5, 2000

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    As we celebrate German-American Day and the many contributions that 
German Americans have made to our national community, we also mark the 
10th anniversary

[[Page 2335]]

of German unification. The historic achievements of the last 10 years 
are all the more remarkable when we remember the dark days of the Cold 
War, a time when many citizens in Eastern Europe and around the globe 
lived under governments of oppression and tyranny. Nowhere was the 
threat more real than in West Berlin, where Americans and Germans stood 
together in defense of democracy and commitment to freedom. Ultimately, 
after almost three decades of division, the Berlin Wall came down and 
the people of Germany were reunited. Today, Americans and Germans are 
working together to ensure that democracy will be an abiding legacy for 
future generations throughout Europe.
    Our present efforts are only the latest chapter of our shared 
history. In 1683, German Mennonites seeking religious tolerance landed 
near Philadelphia. Their arrival marked the beginning of waves of German 
immigration that would ebb and flow with the tides of history, 
ultimately bringing more than 7 million people to our shores. Today, 
nearly a quarter of all Americans can trace their ancestry back to their 
Germanic roots, and they continue to enrich our Nation with a proud 
heritage marked by a strong commitment to family, work, duty, and 
country.
    Many prominent German Americans have strengthened our society 
through the years. Publisher Johann Peter Zenger championed freedom of 
the press in the early 18th century, and Thomas Nast's powerful cartoons 
increased public awareness of corruption within Tammany Hall in 19th-
century New York. During the American Revolution, Baron de Kalb and 
Friedrich von Steuben fought valiantly for our freedom, just as Dwight 
Eisenhower and Chester Nimitz did in World War II. German Americans who 
have enriched America's cultural, scientific, and economic life include 
writers John Steinbeck and Erich Maria Remarque; physicists Albert 
Einstein and Maria Goeppert-Mayer; philosophers Hannah Arendt and Paul 
Tillich; and industrialists and business leaders John D. Rockefeller and 
John Wanamaker.
    Behind the many well-known individuals who have played a prominent 
part in our history are millions of German immigrants whose names are 
not widely recognized, yet who profoundly shaped the America we know 
today. Industrious German Americans helped settle our cities and 
frontiers; defend democracy during times of conflict; promote our 
prosperity in times of peace; and preserve the bonds of family and 
heritage that our Nation shares with the people of Germany. As we 
celebrate German-American Day and the 10th anniversary of German 
unification and look ahead to the promise of a new century, America 
recognizes with pride and gratitude the important role that German 
Americans continue to play in the life of our Nation and celebrates the 
strength of our friendship with Germany.
     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 the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim 
Friday, October 6, 2000, as German-American Day. I encourage all 
Americans to remember and celebrate the important contributions made to 
our country by our millions of citizens of German descent and to 
celebrate our close ties to the people of Germany.
     In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of 
October, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence 
of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
                                            William J. Clinton

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., October 10, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
11.