German-American Day, 1997

Proclamation 7034 of October 6, 1997

German-American Day, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

America has always drawn its strength from the millions
of people who have come here in search of freedom and
the opportunity to live out their dreams. Men and women
of different nationalities, different races, and
different religions have made their own rich and unique
contributions to our national life.

From their arrival at Jamestown in 1607 until the
present day, Germans have been among the largest ethnic
groups to make their home in our country. Like so many
others, the earliest German settlements in America were
founded by men and women in search of religious
liberty. William Penn invited a group of German
Mennonites to Pennsylvania, which was to remain a
center of German settlement during the Colonial period.
Other German communities were founded in New Jersey and
New York, as well as in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley,
the Carolinas, and Georgia. In the 19th century, German
pioneers began to settle in the Midwest and West, and
today a quarter of our Nation's population can trace
its ancestry to German origins.

Germans and German Americans have profoundly influenced
every facet of American life. Great soldiers, such as
General Baron von Steuben in our Revolutionary War and
General Norman Schwarzkopf in the Gulf War, have fought
to preserve our freedom and defend America's interests.
Scientists such as Albert Einstein and Wernher von
Braun have immeasurably broadened our horizons, as have
artists like Albert Bierstadt, Josef Albers, Ernestine
Schumann-Heink, Lillian Blauvelt, and Paul Hindemith.
And generations of German Americans, with their energy,
creativity, and strong work ethic, have enriched the
economic and commercial life of the United States. All
Americans have benefited greatly from the labor,
leadership, talents, and vision of Germans and German
Americans, and it is fitting that we set aside this
special day to acknowledge their many contributions to
our liberty, culture, and democracy.

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 Monday, October 6, 1997, as
German-American Day. I encourage all Americans to
recognize and celebrate the many gifts that millions of
people of German ancestry have brought to our national
life.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-second.