Proclamation 6999

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

As we prepare to enter the 21st century, in the midst of a rapidly changing world, one thing remains constant-the unconditional love between a mother and her child. This love provides us with a cornerstone and sanctuary throughout our entire lives. Mothers nurture, challenge, and instill strong values in their children, find solutions, arbitrate disputes, organize activities, care and teach, influence and lead, give, share, and encourage. Their abiding moral principles shape our families, our communities, and our national life.

Today, mothers face many different challenges-from balancing the responsibilities of home and work, to raising families on their own-while contending with the often daunting challenges of modern society. They do this all while meeting the day-to-day responsibilities of class projects, car payments, and the flu season. And yet, they succeed, determined to protect what is so precious to them and to make brighter futures for themselves, their children, and their Nation.

Each year we welcome the opportunity to set aside a day to acknowledge all that our mothers-whether biological, adoptive, or foster-have given us. It is a time to reflect on all we have gained from their guidance, care, and sacrifice and a time to openly express our gratitude and love. The Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 8, 1914 (38 Stat. 770), has designated the second Sunday in May each year as "Mother's Day" and requested the President to call for its appropriate observance.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 11, 1997, as Mother's Day. Whether we are able to share this special day with our mothers or are blessed with memories of them, in our hearts they are with us always. I urge all Americans to express their love and respect for their mothers and to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., May 8, 1997]