[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 18 (Monday, May 7, 2001)]
[Pages 682-683]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7430--National Day of Prayer, 2001

 April 27, 2001

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    Turning to prayer in times of joy and celebration, strife and 
tragedy is an integral part of our national heritage. When the first 
settlers landed on the rocky shores of the New World, they celebrated 
with prayer, and the practice has continued through our history. In 
1775, the Continental Congress asked the citizens of the colonies to 
pray for wisdom in forming a Nation. General George Washington, encamped 
at Valley Forge, also sought God's guidance as Americans fought

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for their independence. The faith of our Founding Fathers established 
the precedent that prayers and national days of prayer are an honored 
part of our American way of life.
    Continuing in that tradition, many of the men and women who have 
served at the highest levels of our Nation also have turned to prayer 
seeking wisdom from the Almighty. President Lincoln, who proclaimed a 
day of ``humiliation, fasting, and prayer'' in 1863, once stated: ``I 
have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction 
that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, 
seemed insufficient for the day.'' Today, millions of Americans continue 
to hold dear that conviction President Lincoln so eloquently expressed. 
Gathering in churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and homes, we ask 
for strength, direction, and compassion for our neighbors and ourselves.
    The theme of the 2001 National Day of Prayer is ``One Nation Under 
God.'' In a prayer written specially for the occasion, Americans are 
asked to pray for ``a moral and spiritual renewal to help us meet the 
many problems we face.'' Special observances are scheduled for all 50 
States, with local volunteers planning a variety of activities including 
prayer breakfasts, concerts, rallies, and student gatherings. These 
events will bring people of all faiths together, each according to his 
or her own beliefs, to give thanks to the Almighty and to ask for 
strength and guidance.
    The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, has called on our citizens to 
reaffirm the role of prayer in our society and to honor the religious 
diversity our freedom permits by recognizing annually a ``National Day 
of Prayer.''
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of 
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 3, 2001, as 
a National Day of Prayer. I encourage the citizens of our Nation to pray 
each in his or her own manner, seeking God's blessings on our families 
and government officials and personal renewal, moral awakening, and a 
new spirit of harmony across our land. I urge all Americans to join in 
observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and 
activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh 
day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
fifth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 9:07 a.m., May 1, 2001]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on April 30, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
May 2.