Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1997

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Part IV

The President

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Proclamation 7006--Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day 1997

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7006 of May 22, 1997

Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The observance of Memorial Day is one of America's
noblest traditions. At its core lies the most basic of
the beliefs on which our Nation was founded: that
freedom is so precious it is worth the price of our
lives to preserve it.

Throughout our history, we have been blessed by the
courage and commitment of Americans who were willing to
pay that price, and more than 1.3 million of them have
died for our Nation. From Lexington and Concord to Iwo
Jima and the Persian Gulf, on fields of battle across
America and around the world, our men and women in
uniform have risked--and lost--their lives to protect
America's interests, to advance the ideals of
democracy, and to defend the liberty we hold so dear.

This spirit of selfless sacrifice is an unbroken thread
woven through our history. Wherever they came from,
whenever they served, our fallen heroes knew they were
fighting to preserve our freedom. On Memorial Day we
remember them, and we acknowledge that we stand as a
great, proud, and free Nation because of their
devotion.

But this is not the only day on which we honor their
service and sacrifice. Whenever we lend our hearts and
hands and voices to the work of peace in the world,
whenever we show respect for the flag, cast a vote in
an election, or exercise our freedoms of speech,
assembly, and worship, we honor our fellow Americans
who guaranteed those freedoms with their lives. In
respect and recognition of these courageous men and
women, the Congress, by joint resolution approved on
May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), requested that the
President issue a proclamation calling upon the people
of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a
day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a
period on that day when the American people might unite
in prayer.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial
Day, May 26, 1997, as a day of prayer for permanent
peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each
locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to join in
prayer. I urge the press, radio, television, and all
other information media to take part in this
observance.

I also request the Governors of the United States and
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate
officials of all units of government, to direct that
the flag be flown at half-staff during this Memorial
Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels
throughout the United States and in all areas under its
jurisdiction and control, and I request the people of
the United States to display the flag at half-staff
from their homes for the customary forenoon period.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-second day of May, 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-first.