Irish-American Heritage Month, 2000

Proclamation 7279 of March 1, 2000

Irish-American Heritage Month, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

More than two centuries ago, our founders envisioned a
new Nation, a land free from tyranny and filled with
opportunity, prosperity, and liberty for all. Many
Irish people, faced with severe hardship in their
homeland, embraced the dream of a more promising future
and left behind Ireland's shores, their families, and
their friends for a new beginning in America. Each year
during the month of March, we celebrate these
courageous men and women of Ireland and remember with
pride their many contributions to our Nation.

With strength, courage, wit, and creativity, Irish
Americans have flourished in our diverse Nation of
immigrants. Writers such as Flannery O'Connor and
Eugene O'Neill have transformed our literature;
entrepreneurs like Henry Ford helped revolutionize
American industry; performers such as Gregory Peck and
Helen Hayes have enriched the arts; patriots such as
Audie Murphy, our most decorated soldier of World War
II, redefined the meaning of courage; and social
reformers such as suffragist Leonora Barry and labor
organizer Mary Kenney O'Sullivan fought for the rights
of others. Generations of Irish Americans have worked
alongside their fellow Americans to build a more
perfect Union, and America is a stronger Nation because
of them.

During his visit to Ireland in 1963, President Kennedy
reminded us that ``our two nations, divided by
distance, have been united by history.'' Today, people
on both sides of the Atlantic are united not only by
history, but also once again by a dream of a better way
of life. In the spring of 1998, the people of Ireland
and Northern Ireland sought to make that dream a
reality at home when they voted overwhelmingly in
support of the Good Friday Accord. America remains
committed to the Irish people as they continue working
to forge a brighter future in their own land. The road
ahead is long, but the promise of peace is still within
reach, and its rewards are great. This month, as we
celebrate Saint Patrick's Day and our shared heritage
with Ireland, we remember as well our common love of
liberty, commitment to progress, and quest for lasting
peace, and we look toward a future as proud as our
past.

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 March 2000 as Irish-American
Heritage Month. I call upon all the people of the
United States to observe this month with appropriate
ceremonies, programs, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
first day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.