[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 3 (Monday, January 19, 2004)]
[Page 79]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7751--Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2004

 January 15, 2004

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    On the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, our Nation honors 
an American who dedicated his life to the fundamental principles of 
freedom, opportunity, and equal justice for all. Today, all Americans 
benefit from Dr. King's work and his legacy of courage, dignity, and 
moral clarity.
    Forty years ago this past August, on the steps of the Lincoln 
Memorial, Dr. King spoke passionately of his dream for America. He 
dreamed of an America where all citizens would be judged by the content 
of their character and not by the color of their skin. He dreamed of an 
America where all would enjoy the riches of freedom and the security of 
justice. He dreamed of an America where the doors of opportunity would 
be open to all of God's children.
    Dr. King's leadership moved Americans to examine our hearts--to 
reject what he called the ``tranquilizing drug of gradualism'' on the 
path to racial justice--and to live up to the ideals of our Constitution 
and Declaration of Independence. America has come far in realizing Dr. 
King's dream, but there is still work to be done. In remembering Dr. 
King's vision and life of service, we renew our commitment to 
guaranteeing the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness for all Americans.
    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, do hereby proclaim Monday, January 19, 2004, 
as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I encourage all 
Americans to observe this day with appropriate activities and programs 
that honor the memory and legacy of Dr. King.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day 
of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand four, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
eighth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:38 a.m., January 16, 
2004]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
January 20.