Irish-American Heritage Month, 1999

Proclamation 7169 of March 1, 1999

Irish-American Heritage Month, 1999

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

During the month of March each year, as millions of
Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we remember with
special pride our Irish heritage. We remember our
ancestors who stood on Ireland's western shores,
yearning for the promise of America. Fleeing famine and
injustice, they longed for a new world of
opportunities. Millions of these courageous men and
women set sail from Ireland, leaving behind all that
they had ever known to seek the promise of America.
They gave to their new homeland their strength and
spirit, sinew and determination, eloquence and wit. In
return, America offered them the opportunity for a
better life, the chance to rise above poverty and
discrimination, and a future where they could live out
their dreams.

The Irish who came to America endured many hardships,
but they prospered and helped to build our country with
innumerable physical and intellectual contributions.
They gave us Presidents like Woodrow Wilson, John
Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan; patriots like John Barry
and Stephen Moylan, who fought fiercely for American
independence in the Revolutionary War; jurists like
Justice William Brennan, who championed justice and
equality; suffragists and social reformers like Maria
McCreery; journalists, peacekeepers, artists,
playwrights, labor leaders, and educators. These and so
many other Irish Americans seized the opportunity of
freedom America promised. From their grand literary
tradition to their deep religious faith, Irish
Americans and their descendants have enriched every
facet of American history.

But Irish-American Heritage Month is a time to look to
the future as well as to the past. Today we rejoice at
the promise of peace in Northern Ireland and the
resolve of her people to approach their differences not
with weapons, but with words. While the path to peace
is rarely easy, it is by necessity a community effort.
Americans are a vital part of the process in Northern
Ireland by virtue of our shared heritage and shared
goal of lasting peace and a better future for all God's
children. By lending our hearts, minds, and prayers to
the work of peace, we can best fulfill our obligation
to the generations of Irish men and women who have
given so much to our Nation's life and history.

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 1999 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 nineteen
hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
third.