Eleanor Roosevelt Day, 2000

Proclamation 7360 of October 10, 2000

Eleanor Roosevelt Day, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most influential
figures of the 20th century, and her life spanned some
of the most dramatic and challenging events in modern
history. Steadfast in her commitment to America,
democracy, and a world that honored human rights, she
told Americans across the Nation, ``We are on trial to
show what democracy means.'' Through the Great
Depression, two world wars, the Holocaust, the creation
of the United Nations, the Cold War, and the civil
rights movement, her singular integrity and clear moral
vision helped forge a better life for people around the
world.

Eleanor Roosevelt was our longest-serving First Lady,
and her dedicated efforts as a political leader,
humanitarian, social activist, and journalist have made
her an icon to millions. During the 12 years of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Administration, she
traveled tirelessly around the country, listening to
the American people's problems, concerns, joys, and
fears. She saw firsthand the ravages that poverty,
greed, ignorance, and bigotry wreaked on the lives of
ordinary Americans. She advocated strongly for our
Nation's disadvantaged--urging an end to child labor,
pushing for the establishment of a minimum wage,
speaking out for workers' rights, confronting racial
discrimination in New Deal programs, and encouraging
greater power and independence for women in the
workplace.

But perhaps her greatest achievement would come in the
years after her husband's death. A delegate to the
General Assembly of the newly created United Nations
from 1945 to 1951, Eleanor Roosevelt was elected
Chairperson of the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission in
1946. She played a pivotal role in drafting the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and its final
language vividly reflects her humanitarian ideals and
uncompromising commitment to the inherent worth of
every human being. The first article of the
Declaration, ``All human beings are born free and equal
in dignity and rights,'' set the standard by which all
future human rights charters would be judged.

Whether working for the United Nations, the NAACP, the
Girl Scouts, the Presidential Commission on the Status
of Women, or the National Conference of Christians and
Jews, Eleanor Roosevelt devoted her boundless energy to
creating a world defined by respect for and dedication
to democratic values. She was a woman ahead of her
time, and her achievements transcend her generation. As
we seek to chart a steady course for America,
democracy, and human rights in this new century, we
need only look to her values, character, and
accomplishments to provide us with an unfailing moral
compass.

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 October 11, 2000, the
anniversary of her birthday, as Eleanor Roosevelt Day.
I call upon government officials, educators, labor
leaders, employers, diplomats, human rights activists,
and citizens of the United States to observe this day
with appropriate programs and activities.

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