[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 41 (Monday, October 16, 2000)]
[Pages 2429-2430]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7360--Eleanor Roosevelt Day, 2000

October 10, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most influential figures of the 
20th century, and her life spanned some of the most dramatic and 
challenging events in modern history. Steadfast in her commitment to 
America, democracy, and a world that honored human rights, she told 
Americans across the Nation, ``We are on trial to show what democracy 
means.'' Through the Great Depression, two world wars, the Holocaust, 
the creation of the United Nations, the Cold War, and the civil rights 
movement, her singular integrity and clear moral vision helped forge a 
better life for people around the world.
    Eleanor Roosevelt was our longest-serving First Lady, and her 
dedicated efforts as a political leader, humanitarian, social activist, 
and journalist have made her an icon to millions. During the 12 years of 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Administration, she traveled tirelessly 
around the country, listening to the American people's problems, 
concerns, joys, and fears. She saw firsthand the ravages that poverty, 
greed, ignorance, and bigotry wreaked on the lives of ordinary 
Americans. She advocated strongly for our Nation's disadvantaged--urging 
an end to child labor, pushing for the establishment of a minimum wage, 
speaking out for workers' rights, confronting racial discrimination in 
New Deal programs, and encouraging greater power and independence for 
women in the workplace.
    But perhaps her greatest achievement would come in the years after 
her husband's death. A delegate to the General Assembly of the newly 
created United Nations from 1945 to 1951, Eleanor Roosevelt was elected 
Chairperson of the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission in 1946. She played a 
pivotal role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and 
its final language vividly reflects her humanitarian ideals and 
uncompromising commitment to the inherent worth of every human being. 
The first article of the Declaration, ``All human beings are born free 
and equal in dignity and rights,'' set the standard by which all future 
human rights charters would be judged.
    Whether working for the United Nations, the NAACP, the Girl Scouts, 
the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, or the National 
Conference of Christians and Jews, Eleanor Roosevelt devoted her 
boundless energy to creating a world defined by respect for and 
dedication to democratic values. She was a woman ahead of her time, and 
her achievements transcend her generation. As we seek to chart a steady 
course for America, democracy, and human rights in this new century, we 
need only look to her values, character, and accomplishments to provide 
us with an unfailing moral compass.
    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 October 
11, 2000, the anniversary of her birthday, as Eleanor Roosevelt Day. I 
call upon government officials, educators, labor leaders, employers, 
diplomats, human rights activists, and citizens of the United States to 
observe this day with appropriate programs and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth 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 12, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on October 11, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
October 13.

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