German-American Day, 2000

Proclamation 7352 of October 5, 2000

German-American Day, 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
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.