Date: November 11, 1996
By: William J. Clinton
America's oldest tradition, Thanksgiving is also a reaffirmation of our
most deeply held values; a public recognition that, in the words of
Thomas Jefferson, "God who gave us life gave us liberty." In
gratitude for God's gift of freedom and "for all the great and
various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us,"
George Washington made Thanksgiving his first proclamation for the new
Nation, and it is one we are privileged to renew each year.
Much has changed for America in the two centuries since that first
Thanksgiving proclamation. Generations of hardworking men and women have
cultivated our soil and worked the land, and today America's bounty
helps feed the world. The promise of freedom that sustained our founders
through the hardships of the Revolution and the first challenging days
of nationhood has become a reality for millions of immigrants who left
their homelands for a new life on these shores. And the light of that
freedom now shines brightly in many nations that once lived in the
shadows of tyranny and oppression.
But across the years, we still share an unbroken bond with the men and
women who first proclaimed Thanksgiving in our land. Americans today
still cherish the fresh air of freedom, in which we can raise our
families and worship God as we choose without fear of persecution. We
still rejoice in this great land and in the civil and religious liberty
it offers to all. And we still -- and always -- raise our voices in
prayer to God, thanking Him in humility for the countless blessings He
has bestowed on our Nation and our people.
Let us now, this Thanksgiving Day, reawaken ourselves and our neighbors
and our communities to the genius of our founders in daring to build the
world's first constitutional democracy on the foundation of trust and
thanks to God. Out of our right and proper rejoicing on Thanksgiving
Day, let us give our own thanks to God and reaffirm our love of family,
neighbor, and community. Each of us can be an instrument of blessing to
those we touch this Thanksgiving Day -- and every day of the year.
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 Thursday, November 28,
1996, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all the people of
the United States to assemble in their homes, places of worship, or
community centers to share the spirit of goodwill and prayer; to express
heartfelt gratitude for the blessings of life; and to reach out in
friendship to our brothers and sisters in the larger family of mankind.
In Witness Where Of, I have here unto set my hand this eleventh day of
November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-first.
