National Day of Prayer, 1999

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7193 of May 5, 1999

National Day of Prayer, 1999

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

From our earliest days, whether in times of joy or of
challenge, Americans have raised their hearts and
voices in prayer. On the Great Plains, American Indians
prayed for peace and for blessings upon their children
and their friends. The Pilgrims prayed from the moment
they first set foot on this continent. Our Nation's
founders prayed as they forged a democracy based on
freedom and respect for human rights. Our military
leaders and the millions of men and women who have
served in our Armed Forces have prayed in the midst of
every conflict in which our Nation has fought. And so
it continues to this day, as Americans of every race,
background, and creed pray in churches, mosques,
synagogues, temples, and their own homes for guidance,
wisdom, and courage in confronting the challenges
before us.

We can pray openly thanks to the religious freedom
guaranteed for us by the First Amendment to the
Constitution. That freedom and the diversity of faiths
it has fostered are among America's most important
achievements. They have made our Nation a beacon for
generations of people from around the world who have
traveled here seeking to worship according to their
conscience without fear of coercion or constraint.

On this National Day of Prayer, observed so soon after
the tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, and the tornadoes
that devastated communities in Kansas, Texas, and
Oklahoma, we are more keenly aware than ever of the
power and solace we find in prayer. Throughout the days
that have followed the deaths of and injury to so many
of our fellow citizens, Americans have united in prayer
for those who died or were harmed, for the comfort and
peace of their families, for the wisdom to heal our
society, and for the strength to overcome such
tragedies. For as Martin Luther King, Jr., so
eloquently said, ``When our days become dreary with
low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights
become darker than a thousand midnights, let us
remember that there is a creative force in this
universe . . . a power that is able to make a way out
of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright
tomorrows.''

The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, has called on our
citizens to reaffirm the role of prayer in our society
and to honor the religious diversity our freedom
permits by recognizing annually a ``National Day of
Prayer.''

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 6,
1999, as a National Day of Prayer. I encourage the
citizens of this great Nation to pray, each in his or
her own manner, seeking strength from God to face the
problems of today, requesting guidance for the
uncertainties of tomorrow, and giving thanks for the
rich blessings that our country has enjoyed throughout
its history.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifth day of May, 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.