Leif Erikson Day, 1999

Proclamation 7236 of October 8, 1999

Leif Erikson Day, 1999

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

In preparing for the new millennium, Americans have
become increasingly aware of the richness of our
Nation's history and heritage and of the generations of
men and women whose contributions have brought us
safely to this moment in our American journey.

One of those remarkable individuals was Leif Erikson,
who led a small, intrepid band on a voyage of discovery
across the North Atlantic from Greenland, arriving on
the coast of North America almost a thousand years ago.
The courage, resourcefulness, and fortitude of Leif
Erikson and the other Viking seafarers foreshadowed the
strength and character of the many Nordic pioneers who
would make their own voyage to America centuries later.
Building new lives through hard work, they also helped
build our Nation and sustain our fundamental values of
freedom, justice, and democracy.

The millions of Nordic Americans who have contributed
so much to our peace and prosperity through the decades
have also strengthened the bonds of friendship between
the United States and the people of Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Sweden, and Norway. With a shared past and
common ideals, we have worked in partnership to promote
democracy and opportunity around the world. Through our
Northern European Initiative, the Nordic countries and
the United States continue to promote our common values
in the region and to facilitate Baltic and Russian
integration into Western institutions.

The next millennium will hold great challenge and great
promise for our Nation and for the people of the Nordic
countries. We have only to look back on the
achievements of Leif Erikson to rekindle our spirit of
adventure and to inspire us as we embark on our own
exploration of the uncharted territory of the future.

In honor of Leif Erikson, son of Iceland, grandson of
Norway, the Congress, by joint resolution approved on
September 2, 1964 (Public Law 88-566), has authorized
and requested the President to proclaim October 9 of
each year as ``Leif Erikson Day.''

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 9,
1999, as Leif Erikson Day. I encourage the people of
the United States to observe this occasion with
appropriate ceremonies and activities commemorating our
rich Nordic American heritage.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighth day of October, 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-
fourth.