Thanksgiving Day Proclamation
By the President of the United States of America
1996
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 WHEREOF, I
have hereunto 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.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
2008 Presidential Proclamation
2007 Presidential Proclamation
2006 Presidential Proclamation
2005 Presidential Proclamation
2004 Presidential Proclamation
2003 Presidential Proclamation
2001 Presidential Proclamation
1999 Presidential Proclamation
1998 Presidential Proclamation
1789 Presidential Proclamation