Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 106 Part 6.djvu/663

 PROCLAMATION 6401-JAN. 17, 1992 106 STAT. 5221 Devotion to the ideals on which the United States is founded has inspired millions of women to engage in service to our country. As demonstrated last year by U.S. military operations in the Persian Gulf, we have come a long way since the days of Sarah Edwards, who disguised herself as a young man so she could help defend the Union during the Civil War. Today women not only play highly visible and important roles in America's Armed Forces but also hold positions of leadership and responsibility in government, business, education, science, and the arts. Most important, women continue to strengthen and enrich this country by helping their children to recognize the value of learning, as well as the importance of self-respect, personal responsibility, and respect and concern for others. Indeed, our families and communities constitute the basic fabric of America, and the women who have strengthened these institutions merit as much recognition and thanks as the great historical figures whose achievements we celebrate this month. The Congress, by Public Law 102-70, has designated March 1992 as "Women's History Month" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this occasion. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim March 1992 as Women's History Month. I invite all Americans to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety- two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixteenth. GEORGE BUSH Proclamation 6401 of January 17, 1992 Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 1992 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." On the 63rd anniversary of the birth of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we honor an American who took a brave stand for justice and equality, even though his message of racial harmony met with stubborn, sometimes brutal, opposition. Martin Luther King told us that, in spite of the cruel reality of segregation in the United States, "I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed...."He believed that for this creed to be truly fulfilled, his children would "one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Throughout his years as leader of the civil rights movement, Dr. King adhered to an ethic of nonviolence. Time and again, he urged his lis-

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