Proclamation 6525

by Bill Clinton

{{center|By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

As I assume the office of President, I stand humbly before God and ask for His guidance and blessings for our great Nation. At the same time, I ask the citizens of America to join me in renewing our commitment to the American ideals of fellowship and hope.

The obligation of a President is more than the fulfillment of a set of constitutional duties. The President must carry the mantle of hope and optimism in the battle against fear and despair. I ask that every American help as we attempt, in the words of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., "to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope" and "transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."

We must always remember that the essence of our democracy is the recognition that we are united in a common purpose, working toward a common good.

In renewing our commitment to fellowship throughout our great Nation, we recall the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, who said on the occasion of his first inaugural address, "Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things."

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 22, 1993, a National Day of Fellowship and Hope and call upon the citizens of this great Nation to reflect on their obligations to their fellow Americans and look forward to the challenges of the new year with a spirit of hope.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred seventeenth.

William J. Clinton